Travel, Teens, and Tethering: the Impact of Mobile Phones on Childhood Journeys in Ostrich Boys and Unhooking the Moon

Journey narratives are common in children’s literature. Novels such as J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1937) use the journey motif as a metaphor for the internal growth and development of their protagonists (Hunt 179). The journey trope is taken up by two contemporary teen novels, Ostrich Boys (2008) by Keith Gray and Unhooking the Moon (2010) by Gregory Hughes; however, the protagonists in these novels embark upon their respective journeys with an object unavailable to their literary predecessors. Mobile phones, “a highly salient part of many young people’s daily lives” (Walsh et al. 334), are present in these contemporary journey narratives. Mobile phones and other technologies are frequently represented in contemporary children’s novels, but their impact within the childhood journey narrative has not received significant attention. How is the development of

fictional characters in childhood journey narratives impacted by the presence of mobile phones? In Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less From Each Other (2011), sociologist Sherry Turkle describes Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) and highlights the "process through which children separate from their parents" (173) in the bildungsroman narrative. Turkle asserts that the "rite of passage is now transformed by technology" (173) and suggests that technology negatively impacts the development of independence in 'real' children (173). This leads us to question whether mobile phones are similarly detrimental to the development of fictional children in these journey narratives.
What is the function of mobile phones within these contemporary childhood journeys and what might these examples suggest about contemporary versions of the journey trope? In this essay I will examine the impact of mobile phones on the journeys of child protagonists and argue that the mobile phone can be seen as both a positive point of connection and a 'tethering' device that restricts independence. Drawing on Maria Nikolajeva and Peter Applebaum, I will argue that mobile phones can be considered 'magical objects' allowing the child protagonist to metaphorically travel through time and receive information unavailable to their peers.

MOBILE PHONES AS TETHERS TO HOME
The young protagonists in Ostrich Boys embark upon a circular journey. Following their friend Ross's tragic death, Blake, Kenny, and Sim decide to take his ashes from Cleethorpes, England to Ross, Scotland. The boys express frustration following Ross's funeral, describe its numerous inadequacies, and agree that "'[e]veryone there was a hypocrite' […] '[e]xcept us'" (29). In "'Home ' and 'Not Home' in Children's Stories: Getting There -and Being Worth It" (1993), John C.
Stott and Christine Doyle Francis explore the movement from 'not home' to 'home' in children's literature differentiating between circular and linear journeys (224, 228). Stott and Francis posit that circular journeys are often precipitated by attitudes held by the protagonists that transform what is otherwise 'home' to a place that is 'not home ' (224). Blake, the narrator, explains "I've been let down a lot by adults: by parents who don't listen, teachers who don't care and strangers who presume. But this afternoon had felt like a genuine betrayal" (30); his negative feelings toward parents, teachers, and peers render Cleethorpes 'not home.' Something must occur to shift their attitudes in order to make Cleethorpes 2 RoundTable · Vol. I, Issue 1 · Spring 2017 'home.' Blake suggests taking "Ross to Ross, just like he always wanted. There'll be no vicars, no teachers, no parents -just us, his best friends. Doing something for him he always wanted to do. A proper memorial" (31). The boys agree on this and devise a plan to steal Ross's ashes, take the train to Ross, and return the next day (31-79). As they wait for the train to arrive, Blake states "Cleethorpes is also a dead-end: the trains only come this far" (57). This description of their physical location as a dead end suggests that there is no room for growth and development. A journey is necessary to make 'not home' a 'home.' The protagonists' ability to embark upon their journey is threatened by the presence of mobile phones. At the outset of the journey the boys' phones begin to ring. Blake's phone rings first and he says, "I didn't want to even touch it at first -guessing who was on the other end" and "reluctantly, oh so reluctantly, I took it out to read the caller display" (58)  In order to begin their journey the protagonists must remove the metaphorical presence of their parents. After silencing multiple calls Blake explains that, "[t]here was no way I was going to answer, but I didn't quite dare switch the phone off either. Ignoring my mum's call was dangerous enough; switching it off altogether was close to mutiny" (60). Turning off the mobile phone is identified as an act of rebellion against adult authority. Turkle states: "When parents give children cellphones -most of the teenagers I spoke with were given a phone between the ages of nine and thirteen -the gift typically comes with a contract: children are expected to answer their parents' calls" (173). The protagonists must break the contract implicit in the presence of their mobile phones in order to begin their journey. Kenny exhibits the greatest amount of discomfort in breaking the contract, worrying that his mom will kill him (60). However, Sim explains that Kenny's mother is "'just going to tell you to come home, right?'" (60). Ironically, a device often defined by its portability and connection with movement (mobile phone) threatens the protagonists' freedom of movement. The boys agree to turn off their mobile phones until they have completed their quest and returned home (61). Blake "forced the image of my mum's angry face out of my mind and pressed down hard on the power button. I felt a little shaky with my defiance but didn't let it show" (60-61). The mobile phone as a metaphor for parental presence and authority is asserted here as Blake envisions his mother's face while shutting off his mobile phone, severing the metaphoric tether to his family.
Turning off their mobile phones challenges the established power structure "where adults have unlimited power […] and [children] are subjected to a large number of laws and rules which the adults expect them to obey without interrogation" (Nikolajeva,Power 9) and avows the independence of the protagonists.

MOBILE PHONES AS SYMBOLS OF INDEPENDENCE
In father, John, receives welfare cheques from the government, which he gives to Bob and Marie Claire because he earns enough money to provide for himself and the children with the vegetables he sells from his garden (17). Access to financial resources are mediated through an adult, but this arrangement between the children and their father challenges the established power structure where children "lack economic resources of their own" (Nikolajeva, Power 9) as the children are provided access to money with minimal parental input into how it should be used. Their father recommends "buying some clothes this time" (18), but Marie Claire "mouthed the word cellphone; she'd been after one for some time" (18).

Discussing the intersection of magic and technology in the Harry Potter series, Peter
Applebaum wonders if "children are passive, naive recipients of greedy corporate cultural products?" (26). In contrast to this perception of the child consumer as "passive", Marie Claire, when purchasing the mobile phones, negotiates with the sales clerk and leverages her status as a child to obtain free text messaging (29). The intentional acquisition and negotiation that occurs in the process of obtaining the mobile phones suggests that Marie Claire is not a passive recipient of these cultural products, but rather an empowered agent.

The death of Bob and Marie Claire's father creates a context in which
Turkle's notion that parents are brought along on the journey by the mobile phone is no longer applicable, as Bob and Marie Claire are, tragically, no longer tethered to a parent. Upon finding their father dead at home, Marie Claire assures her father that "[e]verything's going to be OK, Dad. We're going to take good care of you" (58). This reveals a reversal of authority. Marie Claire "took her cellphone from her pocket and walked up the stairs, typing a text as she went" (58). Bob learns that Marie Claire is using her mobile phone to "take care of the funeral arrangements" (58). The acquisition of the mobile phone enables Marie Claire to care for her father as she uses it to arrange his funeral revealing her movement from child to adult. Claire's ultimate disconnection from reality.

MOBILE PHONES AS MAGICAL OBJECTS
In her discussion of Harry Potter in relation to heroic narratives, Nikolajeva explains that the romantic hero on a quest "is empowered by being able to travel through space and time, by possessing magical objects" ("Harry Potter" 127). In  (194). Sim and Kenny distance themselves from knowing and understanding while Blake seeks and receives knowledge via his mobile phone. Just as Harry Potter "gets into possession of a large variety of magical agents", which "make him better equipped than his classmates and most of his teachers" (Nikolajeva, Power 17), Blake's mobile phone provides him with knowledge that makes him better equipped to consider the consequences of his actions. This moves Blake toward a position of power as Applebaum explains that "[p]ower can emerge out of a persistence in seeking knowledge" (28).

MOBILE PHONES AS CARRIERS OF KNOWLEDGE
As the boys continue their journey, Blake obtains new information via his mobile phone. Over the phone Blake learns from his girlfriend, Nina, that Ross "posted a suicide note on the same morning he died" (333). For the entirety of their journey the boys have, like ostriches, kept their heads in the sand denying any possibility that Ross might have committed suicide and their potential role in his decision. Now, Blake receives the truth via his mobile phone and, unlike before, has the capacity to face this undeniably uncomfortable fact suggesting his developing maturity. However, Sim is unable to accept the truth, unable to move beyond his anger and so "smacked the phone right out of my hand and stamped it to pieces" (335). The mobile phone is used to deliver the uncomfortable truth that Ross's death was a suicide and serves as a symbol for Blake and Sim's ability to maturely grapple with this uncomfortable fact. Rather than facilitating a straightforward Home-Away-Home journey arc, in these contemporary journey narratives, mobile phones complicate the journey.
As a metaphor for development, the journey becomes more nuanced as the separation from home, family, and peers is disrupted by the presence of the mobile phone.