'THE RUNNER' BY ROBERT NEWTON
RUNNER QUOTES AND DRAMATIC POTENTIAL
‘Remember what I said now. Sit at the front. Ya’ll learn nothing with the daydreamers down the back.’- MA
‘To be poor was to be cold… but me I refused to let it take me.’
‘the street was my classroom now’
‘left, right, left, right, left, right.’ P. 150
‘splish, splash, splish, splash’
The difference between his narration and his talking voices
‘buisinessman, business man, business man’ – p. 25 by Charlie’s ma re. squizzy
He promised himself he would live in a house with pink walks – p.27
‘the poor were denied the luxury of grieving’ – Charlie p.28
‘stepped into the long pants of adulthood’
‘you learnt quickly how to survive in the slums. You learnt how to read people. It was in their walk, their clothes and their eyes. Especially their eyes.’ – p.32
The new boots – p.48
First pay day – p.52
‘and give my regards to Squizzy’
Hallucinations of the women on the wall page 66
‘That night I turned sixteen years old’ and the rape pg. 68
‘The streets of Richmond were like pages in a book. They told a story.’ Pg. 69
‘This story was full of hardships. Hard to mouth and day to day, that’s how it was.’ Pg. 69
Squizzy’s reaction to Charlie’s bad behaviour p. 73
Dolly is pleased to see him
‘Squizzy reminded me of my father. Not in looks so much. It was more in the way he was able to make things right.’
Theres a lot of pressure on Charlie to be ‘the man of the house’
P.g. 103 – 104 is when he first goes to collect the money from Fox ‘polite but firm’ its like hes really feeling the power towards the end
‘as a new comer seeing it’s shops and hotels for the first time, youd be fooled into think that here was a bright and bustling suburb. But if you were to scratch beneath the surface and stroll behind the rosy façade, youd soon discover an underbelly of a different sort.’ P. 106 Charlie on Fitzroy and how it is similar to Richmond
The Cornwells first appearance p.111
‘something good, something good, something good.’
Angry squizzy for the first time p. 117
Mr Redmonds warning p122
‘nip. Smack. Nip. Smack. Nip. Smack’ p. 124 there is so much repetition in this book I really like
‘ding! Ding! … Ding! Ding!’ p. 139
‘I have no doubt that some of them would have gone the knuckle for half a bottle of beer’ p. 141
‘run, Charlie! Run!’ p. 147
‘Crack!’ p. 148
‘heads or tails. Yes or no. go or say.’ P. 149
Around pages 147-155 is the whole bashing scene good for mood
168 – 170 is the Squizzy v. Charlie
‘in the weeks leading up to race day all hell broke loose. The rival gangs in Richmond and Fitzroy went head to head in a bloody battle so violent that the sound of gunfire was a regular occurance in the streets at night.’ Page 173
They called it the Fitzroy Vendetta, ‘gangsterism had arrived.’ P. 173