The famous novella "Fly Away Peter", written by David Malouf describes the two peculiar themes, connected with the literature and philosophy: the cruelty of war and the constancy of life. The author expresses the two different topics to the readers very thrilling and effectively with the help of literature stylistic techniques such as vivid poetic description, symbolism, method of reiteration and structural method such as description of the personages' experience.

The usage of the symbolic method throughout this literature work gives the possibility to the author to describe the themes of the cruelty of war and the constancy of life in more comprehensible manner. One of the most interesting symbols, which Malouf uses in the novella, is the migration of the birds. This symbol expresses the constancy of the life; because the birds go on to migrate in different circumstances - during the war and peace, during the kindness and the cruelty.

The symbol of migration also shows that even if there are evil and cruel events around, the course of life continues. There are a lot of examples in the novella, where the birds during the migration cope with the obstructions and still stay alive. In the same way, these creatures symbolize the continuity of life.

Other symbols, used in the novella are grey rats. They symbolize the cruelty of the war. The description of the rats is full of symbolism: they are gray, like invisible enemy; they are huge like the fear during the war. They also express the death of the enemies, with which the characters (especially the main personage Jim) fight and resist.

So, the symbolism is the main literary method, which helps the author to express all the ideas of the "Fly away Peter" and to make them more expressive, brighter and clearly to the readers.