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About the masterpiece of “The last inch”

Not only literature, but life itself can give us many examples of courage, self-control and desire to survive that have helped a person overcome difficult challenges, even death.
Throughout his life, James Aldridge carried with him the love of nature of ordinary people, retaining his passion for fishing and hunting. His stories are picked up by children and adults alike. The theme of childhood is expressed by the writer in the unity between man and nature and through the beauty of the pure relationships between people. In the Australian story cycle, Aldridge was able to skillfully convey the child's psyche, revealing the spiritual world of teenage boy Edgar. In his small works, Aldridge tried to show the power and beauty of man, his great potential. The writer owns the line: "I have stories" The Last Inch. " Its essence is to stop at the right time, not to cross the border. In fact, it's a metaphor. Today, a lot of weapons have been accumulated in the world, down to the last inch before the disaster. global, turns out to be humanity. Everyone must be aware of their responsibility for the destiny of the world, the destiny of civilization... so as not to go more than the last inch of land. To have humans on Earth…”
The novel “The Last Inch” captivates us not with its combination of startling episodes but with its inner drama. ⁸
The protagonists of James Aldridge's "Last Inch" story are old pilot Ben and his son Davy. Wharf. Worked in many countries: Canada, USA, Iran. Recently, he worked for an oil company looking for oil in Egypt. They couldn't find any oil, and Ben lost his job as a pilot for the company. He was forty-three years old, so Ben could hardly count on anything else. He decided to make money shooting sharks on the orders of an underwater television company. Ben lives in Cairo with a French maid and Davy. Her son is ten years old and they have a very difficult relationship. Ben worked all the time: when his son was born, when he grew up, when he began to walk and talk. So he spends very little time with his children. His wife, Joanna, was dissatisfied with life in the Arabian desert and eventually left her husband and son to return to their homeland, New England. So Ben has to raise his son - not before.
Davy wasn't very nice to his parents either. This is because he is always alone, with no one involved in it. I think he really lacked parental care and suffered a lot because of it. His father always spoke to him in a dry voice and often scolded him. Davy at the age of ten felt very lonely and restless. This is because he sees: "his mother is not interested in him, and his father is a stranger, lively and talkative, not knowing what to say to him in the rare moments they stay together". And so, to somehow be closer to his son, Ben took him with him on a flight. They flew into Shark Bay over the Red Sea. It was so called because there were a lot of predators in it, and Ben decided to shoot here. He was paid a lot of money for this job, so he decided to try his luck, even though it was dangerous. Also, there is a big desert around Shark Bay, and if something happens to them, no one can come to the rescue. When they landed, Ben started carrying some diving gear and cameras, and Davy helped him. The father sternly ordered his son and his tone was sharp: “Ben suddenly felt that he was speaking to the boy as if he were talking to his wife, whose indifference always irritated him with a high-pitched and commanding voice. No wonder the poor boy avoids both. Davy himself is very quiet. He was always afraid of making his father angry, so he always tried to do whatever he wanted, without saying too much.
When his father entered the water for the first time, Davy felt very lonely and feared that he would die if something happened to his father. Even when they had just arrived, Davy kept asking Dad if they could meet here. Ben thinks the boy is afraid they will be caught and replies that no one will find them here. This only scared the poor boy even more. He sat down and looked out at the sea: "There was nothing visible under the water, and in the scorching silence, in the loneliness that he did not regret, though he suddenly felt it vividly, The boy wondered what would happen to him if his father had ever risen from the depths of the sea.
But for the first time, nothing happened to Ben - he filmed the sharks with his camera, went ashore, and they sat down to breakfast. Turns out the pilot hadn't guessed to bring water - just drank beer for himself. I think this is very clear proof that Ben doesn't care about his son. After breakfast, Ben took the bait - a horse's leg, went into the water, attached it to the coral, and he began to pick up the sharks, which immediately attacked the meat. But Ben didn't notice that he was covered in blood.
Ben realizes that they are dying and there is only one way out: Davy will have to fly the plane. Once he taught his son how to fly an airplane and he mastered a lot. But he knows the boy will get scared if you immediately tell him he's going to fly the plane. "What is needed is to find the way to the child's fearless, immature consciousness." So Ben began to gradually convince his son: first bandage the wound, then help crawl onto the plane, then help climb inside. When they finally got on the plane, Ben said, "You've got to work on your own, Davy." The father told his son what to do and instructed to take off. But when they took off, he passed out. It's good that he explained to his son which way to go. Ben woke up when they had flown to Cairo. At the end of the flight, he helped the boy again - this time landing the plane. They were saved thanks to ten-year-old Davy and the courage of Ben, who even before his death (he thought he was going to die) only thought of saving his son. Ben lost his left hand in the hospital - it had to be amputated, but survived. And most importantly - he was able to find his way to his son's heart. After this incident, they became much closer to each other. I even think they fell in love - like father and son. Now Ben has decided that he will never let Davy leave him and that he will take care of his upbringing. He decided he had to turn himself into a real person.
Describing the passage of the boy passing every last inch, Aldridge revealed the horror and excitement that left the child stunned. Devi's face is focused, attentive. He has to do the work of an adult. Looks like he's grown up himself. He has developed a sense of responsibility to himself and to his father. So really, the last centimeters often come or stay in life, and on top of that, Ben now has all the life his son has given him. James Aldridge repeatedly draws the reader's attention to the descriptions of the sea, the desert, and the behavior of the heroes. Indeed, it is in these fragments of the work that the writer's thoughts about the end of man appear, about his spiritual beauty. The topic of responsibility is one of the most important, for man is the creator of his own destiny. The writer emphasizes that it is a perfect work of nature and should be worthy of its place in the natural world. ⁹
British writer James Aldridge has achieved great fame not only in his own country but also abroad.
“In my books, the main theme is always the same – choice,” Aldridge writes. "Choose a path, choose an action, choose a worldview." 1 The author has engaged with this subject throughout his career, approaching it at different levels. Often in his works the problem of mutual understanding between people is taken into account. So, the novel "The Last Inch" especially attracts the attention of readers not so much by a combination of unusual circumstances (hero, pilot, get his stuff: he goes to the bottom Red Sea, where he made the shooting of a marine predatory submarine for television at the risk of his life), but his inner drama. As you read this book, you feel as if you are witnessing it firsthand - with such certainty, such power of feeling, such penetrating lines, such precision and conviction. so it sounds.
We vividly imagine that a man who has not had a very successful life, at the age of forty-three "has nothing but his indifferent wife, who does not need him, but his ten-year-old son. she's... a stranger to both." We imagine a boy "lonely and restless", unhappy at the age of 10, he understood: "mother does not care about me, and father is a foreigner, active and quiet". The writer reveals to us all the path that father and son took in a difficult situation. But the main thing is the path they take towards each other - this is the path of mutual understanding and friendship. Taking off from a swarm of underwater sharks and being attacked by one, Ben desperately plunges into battle with the predator and finally lands. He was bleeding, he couldn't feel his arms and legs, but he was thinking only of one thing: you have to get out of here, save your son. The only way to get home is by plane. But Ben can't control it. This must be done by Davy. Gathering all his last strength, the father tried to find the right words and manners so as not to frighten the child's soul. "The boy must not know that he will have to drive the car," he thought. "Telling him will threaten to kill him." The father tries to stay awake, convincing his son that the plane will fly on its own and "it's the wind that will take them" home. Ben thinks the main thing is to hold Cairo and "show him how to land the plane". He tried to speak so that his words reassured his frightened son. And here, Davy showed all the strength of his character and followed what his father taught him. He did not lose his temper, he strictly followed all of Ben's instructions and brought the plane to its destination. They fly. And survive.