The Race
Author: Christobel Mattingley
The Race depicts an Australian schoolboy’s desperate struggle at establishing a sense of belonging, a common theme, shared in a wide range of children’s literary texts, specifically in literature representing disability. Even though he is a highly motivated and engaged student, Greg’s hearing problem impedes his ability to effectively participate in school activities and casts him in the role of an outsider, as he is labelled as a daydreamer who does not pay attention.
The significance of the story is while traditionally, a belonging-type script in children’s literature requires the central characters to resolve conflict on their own terms and focus on the central characters’ journey toward self-discovery, in Mattingly’s story, it is up toa new teacher to enter the scene, identify Greg’s problem and take action to resolve the conflict.
The narrative is in the third person, but the story is narrated almost entirely from the deaf child and his teacher’s point of view. So, the deaf protagonist and his new teacher (who holds a progressive view of deafness) are focalized and accordingly, they become the only figures in the text whose thoughts and feelings seem accessible to readers.
Anne Spudvilas’s portrait-like illustrations enhance the same viewpoint. The illustrations beautifully highlight Greg’s integrated personality, emotions such as embarrassment, despair, loneliness as well as his positive dispositions like friendliness and determination.
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