“No two people can share the same reality.”
The Age
March 3, 2011
“Dogs rule!” states dog lover, Crystal Ambers.
DOGS have puppy eyes, love your company and most definitely enjoy those routine walks. Cats have a preference to treat their owners as scratching posts and laze in the sun. “No, cats are much cuter. Dogs are scary, I’ve always been afraid that they’ll bite me!” claims my friend. Despite the endless argument in an attempt to persuade my friend that dogs were the ideal pet, my friend was still unconvinced of dogs being “man’s best friend”.
Similarly, different preferences occur sometime in our lives.
Robert Drewe explains some of his experiences of different perception in his memoir, The Shark Net. As a child, Robert longed for dessert boots, however due to his father being a “Dunlop man” and his mother’s Melbourne point of view, his was never allowed dessert boots, as Dunlop bumpers had thick soles that were perfect for the sand dunes and would not make him appear as a rebellious child. As a result of this, it made him quite self-conscious of something about him that he had no power to change.This is quite similar to Chief Bromden in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. Chief Bromden’s height is one of the factors as to why he is rejected by the rest of the patients in the
ward. It is something he has no control over, however, like Robert; his problems are overcome when he finally befriends one of his acquaintances. Randle McMurphy understands Chief Bromden and the two get on very well. Randle builds up Chief’s courage, as Nick Howell builds up Robert’s collection of information about the other gender, enabling him to comfortably talk to girls.As Atticus Finch, from Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mocking Bird, said: “People never really understand a person… until they consider things from the person’s point of view by climbing into his skin and walking around in it”. This is reflected in Robert Drewe as he attends Eric Cooke’s trial. Robert could only see Eric as a friendly worker at Dunlop with whom he’s shared positive memories with, not the notorious serial killer that he is portrayed as by the newspapers. It is due to Robert’s friendly acquaintance with Eric that he seems to sympathise and understand Eric’s actions.