Away Michael Gow Analysis

The nature of discovery is highly impactful when one is confronted with multiple worlds; enabling a physical and spiritual connection to places, ideals and society, transforming one’s perception over-time. Australian poet Robert Gray‘s ‘The Meatworks’, confronts an individual’s beliefs to influence their standpoint on a desensitized society. ‘Journey, North Coast’ introduces the idea that re-awakened realities emancipate one’s connection of the natural world. and Director Daniel Sousa’s ‘Feral’ explores into how being taken into an unfamiliar reality leads to discovering one’s natural world. It is within these poems that uncover the highly impactful nature of discovery.

Set in the Australian summer of 1967, Michael Gow’s Away is an elaborate play which explores the ideas of self- discovery and change. Through the war affected nation, three families, each from different social classes, depart on an iconic Australian holiday to the beach. In the play, Gow utilises the characters to demonstrate that going away physically is intrinsically linked to their mental developments. With the help of references to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer night’s Dream, Away uses Gwen and Coral to show the significant psychological changes made by the characters during holidays to the coast. Tom throughout the play acts as a catalyst for the change in other characters and is associated with Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Michael Gow’s “Away” is an Australian play, set in the summer of 1967-68, in a time of great social and political change. “Away” tells the story of three families, each from different social classes, living in suburban Australia, as they each embark on their own holiday, attempting to escape their underlying personal issues. Immigrants Harry and Vic love their adopted country but are constantly faced with their son, Tom’s, terminal illness, while Jim and Gwen fret over their daughter Meg’s blossoming independence and her friendship with the socially unsuitable Tom, and Roy is unable to console a grief–stricken Coral over the death of their only son during the Vietnam war. Although each family is completely dissimilar, the theme of love remains

In conclusion, Michael Gow has used outsiders, family conflicts, and grief and loss to refer to the central ideas of the play, “Away”. Gow has used many literary devices such as allusion, juxtaposition, simile, flashbacks and tragedy to convey the message that he is

Michael Gow’s play “Away” presents Coral as a character that is in urgent need to undergo profound change. At the introduction of the play, Coral is introduced to the audience as an emotionally unstable and isolated character. Through the use of stage directions, “Coral doesn’t respond”, it is clear that Coral is in her own distinctive world and alienated from society unable to deal with the real world. However, at the conclusion of the play, Coral is presented to be no longer absorbed in her own grief by being able to finally accept her son’s death and express her emotions with her husband,

As a result of discovery, individuals are opened to the opportunity to transform and in doing so, renew perceptions of themselves and those around them. In having renewed perceptions, individuals are automatically exposed to new experiences and perspectives, and as a result undergo personal growth. Change is an aspect of discovery that is enabled by past experiences and in this, transformation is achieved. Through Jane Harrison’s Rainbow’s End, a 1950’s play about three generations of an Aboriginal family, and Gwen Harwood’s Father and Child, a poem exploring the transformation of a child we are able to explore the way change is inflicted through experiences of discovery and the responses we find as a result of this. Maturation and

“Away” is a historical play written in 1988 by Michael Gow. Away reflects to the central ideas, values and conflicts of Australia in 1967-68. The central ideas embrace outsiders, family conflicts and grief and loss which affected families in the play and in the time. Gow uses three main families to convey the message of the play. The use of language and stylistic devices influence the way Gow has been able to speak to the modern Australian audience. In the play, Gow is able to speak to the modern Australian audience with the clever, complex use of allusion. The modern audience would have to do research to understand the allusions in the play however on a superficial level the audience is still able to enjoy the central themes and ideas of the play.

The process of discovery refers to the perception created upon experiencing the unfamiliar and redefining what is familiar. Discovery can be achieved through unexpected means or deliberate expeditionary, whether it be tangible or a fragment of our thoughts/imagination/emotions. Poems ‘The Tiger’ and ‘Young Girl At A Window’ by Rosemary Dobson and poem ‘Invictus’ by William Ernest Henley thoroughly explore this concept via their ideology of human nature and its effect on discovery.

5) The dinner with the Lav family was important to the Chan family because they are the only other family in their town that are their religion.

Michael Gow's play, "Away" expresses the idea of going through changes and receiving help from people around you. The key characters of the play experiences change and renewal as a result of their relationships with others ad the summer vacation. Coral and Gwen is two characters that undergo the most changes throughout the trip. Coral manage to moved on from her's son death while Gwen changed from a snobby person to a person who is more understandable. Tom is one of the critical character that help Coral and Gwen realised their issues and surpasses it. The play showed lives of people and their own struggle during the 60s and how they overcome it.

The use of symbolism and imagery is beautifully orchestrated in a magnificent dance of emotion that is resonated throughout the poem. The two main ideas that are keen to resurface are that of personal growth and freedom. Furthermore, at first glimpse this can be seen as a simple poem about a women’s struggle with her counterpart. However, this meaning can be interpreted more profoundly than just the causality of a bad relationship.

Two other important symbols are the moments of silence throughout the story, and the reoccurring usage of water. Each occurrence of silence in James Baldwin’s story is of great importance. In a tale centered around music, silence stands out more than noise. Once Sonny was confronted by Isabel and her family about his constant piano playing and stopped, “The silence of the next few days must have been louder than the sound of all the music ever played since time began” (Baldwin 351). To Sonny, this silence is deadly. He lives his life for music. The stillness marks the beginning of his downfall. During the narrator’s first flashback to childhood, he recalls a sense of dismal seriousness, “For a moment nobody’s talking, but every face looks darkening, like the sky outside” (Baldwin 344). Even a child can feel that there is some sort of inescapable impending pain that everyone knows about, yet no one wants to discuss. However, that is the exact subject that Sonny addresses in his music. Water

Notwithstanding their partner’s contempt of reading and writing, both the father in “The Boat,” and the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” continue to search for reprieve through their respective books and diary.

Discovery inhibits the ability to embrace new beginnings and accept a sense of change whether it is found or forced upon an individual. The places you travel and the people you meet can emotionally revolutionize a self-discovery through unexpected but anticipated terms evoked from curiosity. ‘Swallow The Air’ written by Tara June Winch and ‘The Thing Around Your Neck’ written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie break the inhibitions of vulnerability, as their ideas represented through cultural contexts and values, lead to an overall self-discovery.

The focus of this essay will be to analyze Nick's transition as he moves from mental isolation, to physical isolation, to maturation and self-discovery.