Pre-marital Sex in Making Laws for Clouds by Nick Earls :: essays research papers

‘Making laws for Clouds’ by author Nick Earls deals with the journey of an 18 year old boy who struggles to cope with the stresses of sexual desire, supporting his family and taking responsibility for his actions. The town in which he lives has strong religious ideals, so when he ‘weakens’ to the temptations of pre-marital sex he is socially outcast until the town either forgives of forgets his sin. Kane’s mother plays the antagonist when it comes to views on his relationship, she has a firm belief from her pervious experiences that the relationship cant work, she has been in the situation Kane is in and cant seem to believe that not all relationships will end the way that hers did, which was in divorce. Pre-marital sex is the main conflict in ‘Making laws for Clouds’, it involves the whole community as they deal with the crisis put upon them by two young members, Kane and Tanika, who gave in to ‘lust’ at the back of the local church bus. The community deals with it in a rather ‘sweep under the rug’ fashion with everybody knowing what happened but nobody talking about it. Father Steel is the one who comes across the pair and the one who mainly deals with it in the confines of the church. Father Steel doesn’t tell anyone about what happened but every one gathers for themselves what events took place. Harbros boat catching fire and the pre-marital sex aren’t related in the book but when the issues meet it leads to a friendly relationship between Kane and Tanika and Harbo. Harbo becomes a key character in the development in their relationship. Mr. Bell is an antagonist to Harbo, he works against the couple because he doesn’t li ke the idea of pre-marital sex because he has high religious beliefs. Yet another character is against the pair because Kane’s mother is against them. Each of the characters has a unique point of view on the situation that Kane and Tanika find them selves in. Kane and Tanika both know that this is a serious situation and they know that they could get into trouble but like all teenagers they think that they are different. They believe that because they love each other it will be alright, the church doesn’t agree with pre-marital sex which is why they find themselves in so much trouble. Harbo seems to be the only one the young couple’s side, he has a few discussions with Kane and Tanika during the novel, sharing his thoughts, ideas, life experiences and beliefs upon them.