Topic: In his short stories, Caswell often explores recurring themes. Choose one theme and discuss its use in any THREE short stories in A Dream of Stars. .
Brian Caswell uses many recurring themes in his book A Dream of Stars. Identity means the distinct personality of an individual. This theme is in "Five-finger discount", "And be one traveller" and "Runaway". There are also many other themes such as Deceptive appearances, Power and Responsibility.
"Five-finger discount" is about an aboriginal girl called Stacey who was adopted by an English couple. One day, she is caught shop-lifting to be "cool". Her father is furious and after the incident, they never quite have the same close relationship as before. Stacey feels guilty about everything and one night she feels so furious that she explodes at her father. Afterwards, they make up and everything is back to normal.
She thinks back to what the store manager said " we lose so much money because of your kind- Your kind meant teenagers who shoplifted but Stacey didn't feel she was one of that group. She had bowed down to peer pressure and it had ended badly. She had to define herself apart from everyone else and show that she wasn't one of "them". Stacey goes through trying to identify who she is with her Aboriginal background and her group of friends. .
"And be one traveller" is another story that deals with identity. 12 year-old Alison was on a plane trip when she suddenly gets sucked into the future. In this future, she is married and her husband has just died in a car crash. She feels guilty because she feels it should have been her and not her husband, Gary, who died that day. She sees a psychiatrist and tries to break the guilt. The story is confusing at times but sees Alison mature from this experience and find her character as an individual. .
When Jamie's mum wants to get married again Jamie is furious to find out that her stepfather is going to be her deceased father's old partner, Chris van der Veer.