1. Choose a character from one of Winton's novels or stories and discuss the way in which he or she is presented as displaced or marginalised. To what extent is the character's status presented as a difficulty and to what extent is it an advantage?
In Gravity Jerra Nilsam is displaced because he is grieving his fathers death while everyone else is celebrating. it makes him feel angry that no one else remembers or understands why he is unable to celebrate. His displacement due to his grieving means he sees every part of the party in a pessimistic fashion but it also allows him to reflect on how his friends and his life have changed.
2. Discuss the spiritual elements in one of Winton's texts. How do you interpret the nature of the spiritual universe presented or hinted at?
In Bay of angels a man is waiting for his friend to tell him what is troubling him, as he waits he notices a lot about the area they are sitting in. he comments that 'We always come back to the water. When things happen' hinting that the place, or just the water itself holds a spiritual connection to the two friends.
3. Discuss the role of environment and landscape in one of Winton's texts. What is the nature of the relationship between characters and their environment?
In The water was dark and it went forever down The girl is using the landscape to escape her mother's drinking. Her mother says 'All a person needs is a bit of land' but the girl realises all she needs is a bit of water and she can swim away from the hopelessness that her mothers alcoholism instills in her.
4. Discuss the male characters in one of Winton's novels or stories. To what extent do they conform to traditional stereotypes of masculine behaviour and to what extent do they depart from these?
In Nilsam's Friend the two characters show different masculine behaviors. Jerra Nilsam is married with children while his friend is soul searching, still looking for his family. Jerra shows a protectiveness over his family, especially his young son. but he also shows a sort of restlessness in the way he hangs onto every word of his friends tale. Nilsam's friend is roaming far and wide looking for something he can't name but always coming back to the same spot
5. Examine the representation of children in one of Winton's texts. Discuss the extent to which they are shown as understanding less than adults or the way in which they are presented as possessing different, even superior, insights into experience from those of adults.
In the Water was Dark and it Went Down Forever The girl doesn't understand why her mother is an alcoholic or why she says that "all a person needs is a bit of land" but while exploring a island home to many birds she discovers a personification of the food chain she has learnt about in school which leads her to believe that she, as the next generation, can't let her mother, as the previous generation, drag her down.
6. In The Edge of the World Winton makes an interesting remark about what he perceives as Australians' changing attitudes to the working classes and the way this change is reflected in language. A person, he says, who would have once been described as a "battler" is now labelled a "loser". Winton's characters are frequently of the working class. From your knowledge of his work describe and comment upon his interpretation of working class Australian values.
Winton, who's father was a cop got two perspectives of working class Australians Firstly his own family and secondly the families his dad had to deal with every day. From this he has obtained a unique viewpoint of the working class, both the good and the bad. One value that always comes out in his Stories of the working class is the need to protect ones family. another is the need to become better as shown by Rachel when she applies for university in The Strong One.
7. A critic in The National Times described Tim Winton's work as follows: "his fiction is full of care, in all three senses - of craftsmanship, of moral concern, and of a sobriety before the facts of life." Discuss this view of Winton's work with reference to two or more of his novels or stories.
Winton's work comes across as care of craftsmanship in the way his stories are represented, in the words he chooses. he often describes his characters as the boy or the woman giving his stories the sense that they could happen to anyone. As for care for moral concern this is definitely shown in The Water Was Deep and it Went Down Forever. The girls choice to abandon her mother would definitely be considered immoral by many but Winton has the girl justify her decision in that her mother is an alcoholic wreck and according to nature the weak ones are killed first and she doesn't want to get dragged down with her mother. Although the readers probably still think her decision immoral it gives an insight into the girls choices and influences and causes the reader to wonder if there is any situations where that would be morally acceptable. Care for sobriety before the facts of life are clearly shown in all his stories in the way he calmly, almost monotonically described pain, grief, injuries or illnesses. This is shown in the story Blood and Water where Rachel experiences a difficult birth and Jerra is on the verge of panic.
No comments:
Post a Comment