Why do you think Aaron is drawn to wild places? In the novel, what does the contrast between these places and those tamed by human habitation show us?

The bush, the rock tree, and the Kiewarra River are the scenes of several major events in the novel. Why do you think Aaron is drawn to these places? What does the contrast between the wild places in the novel and those tamed by human habitation show us?

I think it gives him peace. He needed to calm his soul. No matter how hard we as humans try to tame wild places, if left alone long enough, they will always go back to wild.

In spite of their wildness, they are quiet - probably much more so than the streets of Melbourne. Aaron has come to depend upon himself - his inner self - and it is in the wild and it's quiet that he can still find the place that provides solace and allows him to think clearly. Those places tamed by human habitation are never truly quiet - farms may appear that way - Mal Deacon's ranch is a good example of that. Though it may appear quiet, there is a great deal of uproar hidden from the human eye and contact. The entire community of Kiewarra, supposedly tamed, is not the least bit quiet or peaceful for various reasons.

I think Aaron is drawn to the wild places because that's where he last had peace. Before Ellie's death and the destruction of life as he's always known it, Aaron was safest and happiest in the wild with his friends. The river, the wide open plains, and the woods offered Aaron peace, certainty, and reliability that he didn't seem to get at home. With the death of his mother, we are given the impression that Falk's home life with his father wasn't exactly a desirable place.
I think that even though we call it the "wild" places, I think Faulk felt most in control of his life there.

It was in the wild places that Aaron found solace as a child, and he feels safe in the wild places. If Kiewarra is considered "tamed" by human habitation, then being "tamed" makes for incivility, pettiness and grudges, the worst that humanity has to offer. The wild places in the novel aren't really "wild" in the conventional sense of the word, they are instead deserted. The "tamed" place is the one that is actually wild, in the sense of being violent.