The narrator relates his childhood with his oldest sister, Dawn, who has Down syndrome. He describes how after Dawn - at their mother's insistence - underwent a surgery to remove her uterus, they went on a beach holiday. Dawn and the narrator, out from under their mother's thumb for once, learn to fish with the help of Captain Hodge, who Dawn falls in love with. When the holiday is over, Captain Hodge asks the narrator for help; the narrator gives Dawn the message that Captain Hodge is married and so cannot marry her. Now a middle-aged man with his own family, the narrator remembers that what he told Dawn was a lie.
Writing Disability in Australia:
Type of disability | Down syndrome. |
Type of character | Primary. |
Point of view | First person (not the disabled character). |