How has growing up without a mother affected Falk's life? In what ways does this become especially apparent after moving to Melbourne? How do you think his life might have been different if his mother had survived?

"Falk felt a sharp pang of longing for what might have been" (p. 112). How has growing up without a mother affected Falk's life? In what ways does this become especially apparent when he and his father move to Melbourne and cut all ties with his childhood home? How do you think his life might have been different if his mother had survived?

they would not have left. His mother would have reached the truth. That's what loving mothers do. His father, had she not died in childbirth, would also have fought for truth just as Luke's father did.

He may have had a chance to solidify his life in the town of his birth, surrounded by people he knew and who knew him. Instead he was forced to leave a place of some security and move hours away, to a much larger city with the only person he knew there - his father - who did not fully trust that he was innocent. A lot to battle for a teenager. This made him stronger in the end, however. He became a strong minded and willed individual and this led him to working to find truth and justice, and this served him well and motivated him once he did return to his home town. Had his mother lived, he may not have become the man he is because he would not have to "go it on his own" quite so much.

Life without a mother probably affected his understanding of Ellie and was probably why he and his dad left town when they did. The roles of women and children was important in the development of the story. Men were worried about their wife and child; men mistreated wife and child presenting an unpleasant view of marriage for some.

I think any child who loses a parent will wonder what might have been had they lived. They will feel deprived. In Aaron's case he missed out on the feminine perspective and advice she may have offered. His father seemed a bit remote, his mother may have been able to help him navigate the forced move to the city, may have helped him recover from the shock of both his friend's death and the town's betrayal.

Growing up without a mother drove Aaron closer to Barb Hadler when he was young. She functioned as a "Mother substitute." Since he had to flee the town at a young age, he then lost this mother figure as well. It is mentioned in the story that he hasn't been able to sustain an intimate relationship, and he has never married. Perhaps if he had grown up with a mother, he would have had a better idea of how to relate to women, and how women think.