Distinctively Visual †Henry Lawson Essay

Henry Lawsons Short StoriesQ1 withdraw single significant de disceptationation from one of Henry Lawsons Short stories. One significant image from The slopped hang back is the creation of the unnerving bomb that Andy constructs to blow the fish up. Lawson gives us a detailed description of the making of the cartridge. He hires adjectives, adverbs and exaggeration, to emphasis the danger it represents three times the size of those they use in the rock and big enough to blow the bottom out of the river. His tenacious-winded description of the spin process also builds suspense- The inner skin was of stout calico. Andy stuck the end of a six foot undercoat bound the bag firmly dipped the cartridge in melted bees wax bound a strip of sheet canvas bound the thing with from end to end with stout fishing line. This builds up suspense and by the end we be certain of the danger that this bomb represents. The descriptive nature of this passage also builds on characterisation. Dave got an idea, Andy usu every(prenominal) in ally put Daves theories into practice and Jim sat on the sidelines critiquing both of the above. The idea of mate ship among the key characters is also developed a redoubted bomb but Andy and Dave wanted to be sure. The detailed description of the materials utilise and the process of making the bomb, adds credibility and gives the lector a sense of the skills of the miners and an insight into their craft. By the time Lawson is finished we can match this cartridge and understand its potential for harm. When Tommy allow ins the lit cartridge in his mouth we have a heightened discernment of the gravity of the situation and regulate ourselves on the edge of our seats.Q2 Examine how the relationship mingled with con school text and text shapes meaning in one of Henry Lawsons short stories. Text Summary The herders Wife is a short tosh by Henry Lawson about a woman who is left alone in the harsh Australian chaparral to look after th e house and children while her husband is out sheep droving. The important complication the snake in the huts floor slab which threatens her families safety. The Context* The Times in the late 1800s closely Australians lived in the cities but the harsh reality of the Australian scrub had captured their imaginationperhaps due to its melodic phrase with British landscapes and life. * Literary History Lawson was the first Australian born writers to document an unromantic view of the Australian bush and its uniquely Australian culture. As such, his writing represented a challenge to those like banjo Patterson who presented a romantic (unrealistic) view of the bush. * Audience The herdsmans wife was published in 1892 in The Bulletin which was known as the Bushmans Bible and Lawsons presentation of the harsh realities of life in the Australian bush appealed to the ovalbumin male dominated readership. * Lawsons Life Lawson was brought up on a poor selection himself and dumb the r ealities of his subjects lives. He lived with his generate after her separation with her father and this perhaps gives him special insight when writing the Dr everywheres Wife. * heathen Themes which dominate 19th century bush life and evident in Lawsons, The Drovers Wife include hard knocks/resilience, loneliness and isolation, loss and acceptance. How the Text interacts with Context to Add MeaningText Style The Drovers Wife is pen in the style of a sketch- story. The writer provides a picture in words by focusing on charecterisation and setting rather than plot. In Lawsons words, I thought the short story was a lazy mans game, second to free verse, compared with the sketch. The sketch, to be really well(p), must be good in every line. But the sketch-story is best of all. The sketch-story style is serious and uses powerful observations of the life of the drovers wife for its own sake. Both the original and current reader observe with sadness and respect as Lawsons painting of her tragic and courageous life develops.Q3 Critically analyse the relationship between language social classs and features, and meaning, in TWO of Henry Lawsons short Stories. The Drovers Wife- 1 Title Lawson leaves The Drovers Wife unnamed and in doing so helps her stand for all women in her position. 2 screen pratground the use of accumulation (continuous information) in portraying the shanty/lean-to house and describing the bush all around with the repeating of no e.g. no horizon, no ranges and no undergrowth in describing the landscape, establishes the harsh backdrop to the familys existence. The personification of the sighing she oaks tells us that even the bushstruggles to survive. The setting is painted in more detail in the context of the Sunday walk, you might walk for twenty miles. Without being able to fix a smudge in your mind, unless you are a bushman. This is because of the everlasting, maddening sameness of the stunted trees that monotony which makes a man long to break away. The landscape Lawson paints is far from attractive. In fact, if we find ourselves in it we will want to sail as far as ships can sail and further. This is in stark contrast to how stories by authors such as Bango Patterson using a romanticised style portrayed the bush. 3 Background Lawson matter-of-fact statement that the drover, an ex-squatter, is away with sheep. His wife and children are left hither alone. emphasises the unavoidable isolation of the wife and children. We are told later the drouth of 1818 ruined him, he had to sacrifice the remnant of his flock and go droving again. The drover is depicted as a good enough husband who treated her like a princess before he roughshod on hard times. This communicates to the reader the unavoidable loss that the bush has inflicted on the drover and his family. 4 The plot The limited plot of this sketch / story revolves around the snake which is introduced with the use of exclamation look mother, heres a snake Action verbs in short sentences of dialogue snatches her baby and yells at the male child all give us a sense of urgency.The snake disappears under the timber slab floor, near sundown and a thunderstorm is coming. The house is off limits as the snake .may at any arcminute come up with cracks in the rough slab floor. The children are to be protected and are introduced matter of factly, there are two boys and two girls are fed and put to be on the kitchen table which sits down beside to watch all night. The battle lines are drawn and her weapons are a green sapling cub and she has brought the mouse click into the room. The plot slows to a stop with only snippets of information between long sketches of background and characterisation (the main event). Near midnight whenever she hears a noise she reaches for the stick,. Near one or two oclock Alligator liesand watches the wall. It must be near daylight. Alligator as yet watches the wall nothing has happened plot wise between sunset and d aybreak but now he becomes greatly interested and urgency returns. Short sentences with repeated action verbs snaps, pulls and the repetition of thud help us to see and hear the battle. The resolution of the plot is portrayed as a win of good over evilby the use of the Biblical reference he shakes the snake as though he felt the original curse in common with mankind. The plot concludes as the Drovers Wife watches the snake skip. However the final few sentences are reserved to conclude the main game of this story, the characterisation of the drovers wife. 5 scene If the plot is the framework of the drovers wife, characterisation is the house that is built around it. (i) Omniscient Third political party Narrator We feel for the characters in their struggle with themselves when Lawson as the omniscient narrator shifts us back in time to key moments in there past, As a girl she built the usual castles in the air but all her girlish hopes an aspirations have long been dead. Yet she do esnt completely abjure her femininity as symbolised by the Young ladies Journal. Later Lawson emphasises her struggle to remain civilised with a powerful background image, of her Sunday walk where, She takes as much care to make herself and the children look pert as she would if she were going to do the block in the city, There is nothing to see however, not a soul to meet. Lawson ends this section with an authorial insight into the bushwomans contentedness despite this loss and struggle.She is used to the loneliness of it, would feel strange away from it, She is glad when her husband returns.but does not make a flap, she seems contented with her lot. (ii) Flashbacks Lawson builds our admiration for the drovers wife through the flashbacks bushfire, flood, pleuro-pneumonia and mad bullock. He uses them to show how the harshness of the Australian bush challenges gender roles. In the bushfire she is cast in a masculine role as she wears an old equalise of her husbands trousers, til l great drops of sweaty perspiration run down her blackened arms however in the reach of four excited bushmen we see the woman rescued by the men from the fire that would have master her. This idea is reinforced in the loss of the dam, when Lawson intrudes with an authorial statement, there are some things that a bushwoman cannot do emphasising her vulnerability in the absence of her husband. Lawson builds empathy when he permits us a glimpse of emotion in the center of loss and struggle, she cried then. Lawson uses these moments of tears to introduce the uniquely Australian habit of laughing at our possibility as a coping mechanism, she is hurt now, and tears spring to her eyes but The handkerchief is unspoiled of holes and she..put her thumb through one , This makes her laugh. The remainingflashbacks see her conquering, a mad bullock, crows and eagles, and a gallowed faced swagger leaving us in awe of the basewomans resourcefulness and success. (iii) Dialogue The limited dial ogue between the bushwoman and her children builds characteristaion. The eldest son wants to be the man for his mother, Stop there, mother Ill have him. Stand back Ill have the beggar. The colloquial and course examples of Tommys dialogue like Id like to screw their blanky necks also adds to the authentic Australian bush feel of the story. (iv) The resolution of the story is, suspendly and powerfully, all about the characters. Arguably the most meaningful bit of dialogue in the story is Tommys contract bridge Mother, I wont never go drovin blast me if I do Tommy wants to be his mothers protector. They connect strongly as she hugs him to her worn-out breast and kisses him. The worn-out breast symbolises how the toll the bush has taken on her. The kiss is a rare act of affection showing that despite all the hardship, she still has a womanly side life in the bush has not hardened her completely.THE unfaltering DOGStyle and Purpose Is a short story, which follows the normal conventi on of orientation, structure and resolution. Lawsons blueprint is to entertain using a clever plot and humour. The quirky characters are sketched briefly but the reader finds themselves engaging more with, the plot development and the humour, than the details of the setting and characters. Meaning The meaning of The Loaded Dog is found more in the language, interaction and actions of the characters rather than in their characterisation itself. The setting may lead to a bygone era but the comedic larrikinism of this typically Australian yarn connects with the tell me a good story expectation of the 19th century audience. The sardonic humour still rings true with the twenty-first century Australian today. Analysis(i) Narrative The 3rd person narration makes us an observer of Dave, Jim, Andy and Tommy. (ii) Characterisation The opening sentence of the story lists the full names of the main characters hinting at their specific roles in the plot. Dave is the ideas man, Andy the hold on one who puts Daves theory into practice. And Jim Bently the sensible one who wasntinterested in their damned silliness. The fourth main character is Tommy the dog, a lovable overgrown pup that seemed to take life, the world, his two-legged mates, and his own instincts as a hug joke. Tommy is often humanised he watched Andy with great interest. In contrast, Lawson characterises the crocked Yellow Dog as the classic villain. Introduced late in the story, we form no attachment and when we find out he has hurt Tommy in the past, for no good reason, we can celebrate Tommys elude and laugh at the yellow dogs demise. (iii) Pace Lawson makes effective use pace variations to entertain.The laborious description of the formidable bomb leaves us certain of its capacity to harm when it was wedged into his (Tommys) broardest silliest grin. Lawson immediately quickens the pace of the text through exclaimed dialogue and short sentences, Run, Andy Run. He slows again to provide a humourous pict ure of the unhomogeneous running styles and speeds Dave and Jim were good runners-Jim the best for a short distance Andy was slow and heavy. Their panic is contrasted with Tommys joy, the dog capered around him.as though he thought, on a frolic. The live fuse is personified swishing.hissing and spluttering and stinking. The disport takes several more fast paced hilarious turns before Dave enters the bar and Tommy leaves the cartridge with the vicious yellow prick cattle-dog. He sniffed at the cartridge twice, and was just taking a third cautious sniff when-. This hiatus (unfinished) sentence marks the slowing of the pace of the text to suit the aftermath of the explosion. (iv) Humour Humour is aboriginal to the success of this short story and the understatement of fact following the explosion is a good example of Lawsons use of typically Australian dark humour. Rather than focus on the fate of the yellow dog he simply states It was very good blasting powderand the cartridge ha d been excellently well do (v) Hyperbole Lawson follows this understatement with hyperbole (exaggeration) Bushmen say that that kitchen jumped off its piles and on again. (vi) Australian Slang and Jargon The Loaded Dog is faithful to the Australian bush throughout. The characterization, setting, humour and language are thoroughly Australian. It is entirely appropriate that Lawson finish a mate ribbing a mate in true Australian form with an authentic Australian lazy drawl and with just a hint of the nasal twangEl-lo, Da-a-ve Hows the fishin getting on, Da-a-ve?