WHAT

HOW

What is the perspective of the composer? Choose one of the stories.

Consider:

1. Is the setting interesting?
   
2. Does the setting help with the purpose of the story?
   
3. Does the setting arouse the interest of the reader?
   
4. Being mostly urban dwellers, are we still fascinated with “the Bush”?
   
5. What themes are explored?
   
6. Why were these stories first written?
   
7. Is the conflict well defined?
   
8. Is the suspense sustained through the story?
   
9. Is the ending satisfying?
   
10. Who is an Australian?
    
11. Bush life - how is it stereotyped?
    
12. Identity
    
13. Cultural influences
    
14. Role of women in the bush
    
15. Great sensitivity to women’s suffering in the isolated circumstances
    
16. No place in the woman’s world for self-pity
    
17. Love/hate relationship of the composer with the bush?
    
18. Mateship?
    
19. Tyranny of distance?
    
20. Polarisation of city/country.
    

Consider:

1. First or third person narration?
   
2.  Short sketch – travelogue?
   
3. Emotive adverbs and adjectives?
   
4. Compound words, “roughly-made”, “girl-wife”
   
5. Onomatopoeia – “thud, thud, thud”
   
6. Dry laconic sense of humour. Why is the particular setting chosen?
   
7. Why are different narrative styles chosen?
   
8. Omniscient observer
   
9. Short travelogue
   
10. Narrator speaks for himself
    
11. Flashbacks
    
12. Realistic description of wife
    
13. Humour plays an important role
    
14. Sustained suspense
    
15. Satisfying ending.

Concluding discussion questions

• Does the composer have an agenda for choosing these particular settings?
  
• What are Henry Lawson’s experiences of life in the bush?
  
• Is he writing from personal or second hand experience?
  
• Do the composer’s feelings about the subject matter come through clearly?

• Does the responder need prior knowledge of life in the bush to enjoy these stories?
  
• What factors in your own life influence your response?
  
• Does the year of publication affect the responder’s perspective?
  
• Are the themes of the stories still relevant today?

WHAT

HOW

1. What is the purpose of these stories? In your response consider the degree to which the series reflects the main purpose of The Bulletin.
   
2. Is the perspective of the composer
   
   1. interested?
   2. empathic?
   3. sympathetic?
      
3. Do the stories develop a broader or more realistic view of bush life?
   
4. Are values and relationships of those living and working in the bush explored?

1. What factors in your own life influence your response?
   
2. Does the year of publication affect the responder’s perspective? That is, do the stories still have relevance for you today?
   
3. How do you initially respond to the main character?
   
4. In what ways does your view change by the end of the story?
   
5. Same or different life experience or circumstances
   
6. Same age; same sex
   
7. New understandings
   
8. Focus on the personal or individual
   
9. Structure: setting, plot, suspense, particular scenes/images
   
10. Impact of the whole story.
    

• written in third person narrative
• omniscient observer
• flashbacks
• fluctuation between direct and authorial comment.

• written as short sketch
• travelogue
• subjective and honest appraisal of what Lawson feels
• narrator speaks for himself as well as his fellow travelers.

The loaded dog:

• third person
• graphic description
• humour
• manipulation of pace and mood.

Joe Wilson’s courtship:

• first person
• central character cast as narrator
• narrator as old and young man.

• How do you initially respond to the main characters?
• In what ways does your view change by the end of the story?
• Do you feel you know the characters reasonably well by the end of the story?
• Can you relate to some of the thoughts and feelings of the main characters?

For particular stories consider:

The drover’s wife:

• realistic description of the wife
• great sensitivity to her suffering, “cried” and “wept”
• no place in her world for self-pity
• colloquial dialogue
• anonymity, stereotypical
• can see “the funny side” of things
• alligator is given a character profile.

Joe Wilson’s courtship:

• his self-criticism and honesty make him an appealing character and narrator, “I was mostly cool in a crisis”
• reader’s empathy is engaged by the humorous recount, “the reddest shy lanky fool of a bushman.”

In a dry season:

• people are characterized by what they are wearing, not by their actions
• characters are not named but “type-classed”
• the reader feels by the end of the story they have been inducted into a special world by a person who knows it intimately
• the narrator aims to give a realistic picture of a train journey through the central west of New South Wales, strongly championing the unemployed.

The loaded dog:

• dry, laconic sense of humour
• various dogs characterised
• bushmen described as good hearted men who have a strong sense of mateship
• the reader is drawn into the humour of the story from the beginning
• the narrator focuses on the plot, does not moralise.

WHAT

HOW

What factors show the composer’s style?

Consider:

1. Who is the intended audience of the story?
2. Fluctuation between direct observation and authorial comment
3. Clothes come to represent the people
4. Strong feeling of anonymity about both the characters and the countryside
5. Self-criticism and honest appraisal
6. Dry, laconic sense of humour
7. Economy of words
8. Focus on individuals.

1. Bush setting
2. Realistic main characters, focus on character
3. Told in a non-dramatic fashion
4. Colloquial language used with very typical conversational exchanges
5. Whose ‘voices’ are being heard, and whose are not?
6. The role of humour
7. Pace and mood of the stories
8. Flashbacks
9. Travelogue
10. Dialogue: very simple language yet succinct
11. Emotive adverbs and adjectives heighten the visual imagery and bring both the scene and the characters to life
12. Sarcasm is used
13. Colloquial, conversational language.
    

For particular stories consider:

• economy of words
• focus on individuals
• strong feeling of anonymity about both the characters and the countryside
• self-criticism and honest appraisal
• dry, laconic sense of humour
• fluctuation between direct observation and authorial comment.

What factors regarding style might engage the reader?

For particular stories consider:The drover’s wife:

• simple language, mostly literal and informal
• use of dialogue, “Come here at once when I tell you, you little wretch!”
• compound words: “girl-wife”, “roughly-made”
• descriptive vocabulary, “drenching downpour”; clichés, “castles in the air”
• emotive adverbs and adjectives heighten the visual imagery and bring both  the scene and the characters to life, “villainous-looking sundowner”
• sarcasm, “whitest gin in all the land”
• figurative techniques are used sparingly; simile, “like polished silver”
• tense alternates between past and present reflecting the different time frames used.

Joe Wilson’s courtship:

• written in first person with the central character as narrator
• a reflective tone is used which adds realism to the attitudes presented
• language colloquial and informal, “made the plunge”
• dialogue gives realism and immediacy, “Make the best of them and you’ll never regret them.”

In a dry season:

• realistic language, colloquial and colourful, “he was a bit of a scrapper”
• the reader is directly addressed in conversational tone
• literal rather than figurative language to paint a composite of simplistic images
• use of authorial comment, “through to the bitter end”
• sarcasm, irony, paradox and juxtaposition are used to highlight the anomalies of the bush, “death is about the only cheerful thing in the bush”; “slop slac suit”

The loaded dog:

• language colloquial and idiomatic, “your dorg’s run orf inter the scrub”
• terminology simple, “burred edge”
• many similes, “like a flea in a fit”
• alliteration used to develop atmosphere, “Sniff suspiciously in the sickly smothering atmosphere of the summer sunrise”; “dog dodged”
• euphemisms are used, “colourful fool”; “blanky retriever”
• language is engaging and colourful and gives an appealing impression.