Wintons Depiction of Masculinity in the Turning - Paper Example

Wintons depiction of masculinity in The Turning could be interpreted as a sharp commentary on the Australian male. Do you agree and, if so, how does Wintons representation shape meaning? Choose from either Vic Lang, Frank or Max as your focus.

THE AUSTRALIAN

Work breadwinner

Laid-back/larrikin

Rough and tumble

Sports

Handy

Heroism protects the little guy

Emotionally detached withdrawn unavailable

Stoicism strong willed and will not back down

Short fuse/bottled-up

Volatile

Bravado/expectations of masculinity invincibility/immunity

Macho Idealistic

Disillusionment discovery the reality of situation after you see an illusion????

Essay Planner

The Turning Wintons Depiction of Masculinity in Vic Lang

Abbreviation

But you know, all the big things hurt, the things you remember. If it doesnt hurt its not important.

p. 26

Foreshadowing the fact that Vics life would be defined by the painful moments.Technique Repetition: hurt, hurt

Effect It gives the reader a reflective effect of the things that are important and not important do they hurt or not

Point/Argument The value you attach to something determines how much the thing is worth to you and how much it can hurt you

In the shade of the tarp the women held him down while Ernie and his father pushed the big hook through his leg until the barb broke free of the skin and then they cut it off with pliers and dragged it back out. The whole time they worked, through every blast of pain, he thought of Melanie He was immune; nothing could touch him.

p. 35

Coming-of-age moment, defined by pain as well as longing. The beginning of Vics masculinity.Technique Tactile imagery

Effect allows the reader to empathise with Vics pain

Point/Argument this demonstrates the significance of painful events in Vics life. Vics feeling of immunity is linked to this coming of age experience.

He looked out across the sea for the first sign of cloud, for any kind of signal of a change in the weather, but the sea and the sky were as pale and blue and blank as sleep, as empty as he felt standing there on the lapping shore.

p. 36

Vic experiences loss for the first time.

Technique Imagery: He looked out across the sea for the first sign of cloud, for any kind of signal of a change in the weather, but the sea and the sky were as pale and blue and blank as sleep

Simile: blue and blank as sleep

Effect It gives the reader the effect of loneliness and emptiness

Point/Argument loneliness can be described as a wide vast open sky.

Damaged Goods

I always assumed Vics infatuation with Strawberry Alison was all in the past, just a mortifying memory, but only last week I found him in the workshop, weeping over an old photograph and a poem and it gave me a chill.

p. 57

An early indicator that Vic is trapped in his past.Technique 1st person

Effect A previous perception of Vics infatuation strawberry Alison which happens to be a thing of the past which he comes to find out its still a thing hence gives the reader a feeling that Vic can hardly change

Point/Argument Change is not a thing most people embrace

Vic has a compensatory element to his character. When he talks about his pro bono clients you can see the earnest teenager in him. You can picture him battling on with his mother, feeling responsible for her as the only man, the only child in her life.

p. 60

Vics personality The Defender. He chooses this masculine role instead of the alternative masculine role of anger and violence.

Technique Imagery: You can picture him battling on with his mother, feeling responsible for her as the only man, the only child in her life.

Connotation: When he talks about his pro bono clients you can see the earnest

Effect Musicality and manhood responsibilities come in the picture of the readers mind

Point/Argument Man hood comes with responsibility.

On Her Knees

She was proud of her good name and the way people bragged about her and passed her around like a hot tip, but I resented how quickly they took her for granted. Id seen their patronizing notes on floral paper, their attempts to chip her rate down.

p. 102

An early sign of Vics moral determination to defend the weak.Technique First person: I resented how quickly they took her for granted. Id seen their patronizing notes on floral paper, their attempts to chip her rate down.

Effect This gives the reader the notion that the lady had personal esteem issues one does not need other to help her feel good about themselves

Point/Argument It is arguable to say to feel good about yourself starts in within you other will end up disappointing you.

Its demeaning, Mum! I blurted despite myself. Going back like this. The whole performance. Its demeaning.

To who?Whom.Well excuse me, constable! She said with a tart laugh. To whom is it demeaning, then, Victor? You?I looked out of the window, flushing for shame.

You men, she said brightly.

p. 104

Vics need to defend the weak is condescending to his mother, who sees it as a frustrating but endearing masculine characteristic.

Technique Second person

Effect The reader gets the feeling of a conflict and dissatisfaction as she speaks to her mother

Point/Argument Tone of how people articulate different words can give different perception of things and situations choice of words can also lead to conclusion of different attitude in the situation

Long, Clear View

Theres no such thing as a clean shot or an easy death. Youve shot rabbits for the dog and killed foxes for farmers but youve got no more stomach for it than the old man.

p. 191

Vic, like Bob, has participated in masculine roles despite his distaste for killing. This suggests an expectation that is placed on men.

Technique Allegory: Theres no such thing as a clean shot or an easy death. Youve shot rabbits for the dog and killed foxes for farmers but youve got no more stomach for it than the old man

A story seemingly holding an entirely different meaning.Effect This gets the reader thinking the deeper meaning of the story.

Point/Argument This implies luck of enough guts to do the necessary thing.

Youre a good boy, she says.

And you are a good boy. You keep an eye out. You do your homework. You break two tons of mallee roots and your hands are leathery as a mans.

p. 201

This reveals young Vics idea of what it is to be an ideal boy or man. Defending the home; working diligently and becoming strong and tough.

Technique 2nd person narration

Effect Vics inner monologue becomes the readers. (direct experience)

Point/Argument Vics psychological concept of a good boy.

From your parents window you look out on the strange town. Down there people are quietly stealing, cheating, lying. Theyre starving their pets and flogging their kids and letting the hang in wardrobes and burn in cars and choke to death in beachside toilets. And when legs are broken nothing happens, no charges are laid. Its as if things like this are suddenly ordinary. You cant believe how close you came to fitting in here.

p. 201

Vic, like Bob, is exposed to the seedy underbelly of Angelus, and he feels a sense of disillusionment.

Technique Imagery, Hyperbole

Effect This give the reader the entire image the writer draws with their words of the surrounding environment

Point/Argument Surrounding description can communicate a lot about a place.

Reunion

Dont mind him, she murmured. He gets upset on my behalf, too.

I know.

Has to defend everybody.Thats him.

pp. 213-214

Gail and Carol express some frustration at Vics need to protect them.

Technique 2nd person

Effect The reader gets the feeling that the person is protective

Point/Argument A caring character involves being defensive so as to protect someone. This is realizable from the choice of words used.

Commission

Hes a good bloke is Bob.

I nodded at this to humour the old bugger and because I knew it to be true, but acknowledging it was painful.

p. 220

Vics honesty forces him to acknowledge that his father is a good man despite the anger he has. Vic chooses virtue over anger and bitterness, and this causes him pain.

Technique 1st person

Effect The reader gets the feeling of having to admit to something that happens to be true but hurt full at the same time.

Point/Argument Acceptance of some facts may proof painful but happen to be the actual situation

He was taller than I remembered and I was startled by the way he carried himself, the unexpected dignity of him. All my manly determination deserted me.

p. 222

Carol used Vics manly determination to make him do something for her sake. However, this was a rouse to force him to face up to his past by meeting his father. Vics masculine defender role typically gets in the way of him looking after himself.

Technique 1st person

Effect The unexpected happens to the narrator nothing of what the narrator had expected happens

Point/Argument Changes not only comes physically but both mentally and emotionally

Honest Bob, I murmured, ashamed at the bitterness in my voice. But it was so hard to sit there and see him after so long, in the wake of such disappointment and creeping shame. Id had years of boyhood bewilderment and then, once I was old enough to see it, a decade of fury at how my mother suffered. In the end there was only a closed-down resignation, the adult making-do that Id grown into. And now I had to sit with him and hear him declare himself trustworthy.

p. 225

Adult making-do arose out of necessity. Vic felt he had no choice but to help his mother.

Technique 1st person

Effect Gestures use helps the reader understand the different communications

Point/Argument se of body gesture to communicate is quiet effective when its combined with verbal communication

Immunity

Did you keep it? Have you got it?

No, I didnt wanna touch it. But it was kind of like a sign. It made me feel weird. Kind of immune. Death right there beside me and Im immune.

p. 297

Vic is being initiated into a masculine world of violence and the false sense of invincibility. Winton is demonstrating the way young men are useful in the eyes of society because they have an irrational bravado about them.

Technique Alliteration, Repetition

Effect This gives the reader a numb effect a feeling the writer creates from all the alliteration and repetition

Point/Argument Too much alliteration and repetition leads to emphases

Defender

She told them first. It made him more of an invalid than he could bear.

p. 308

The fact that Gail told Fenn and Daisy about the affair threatened Vics manhood, because its as though they needed to know about it so that they could be sensitive to his feelings. The fact that they knew about it before him also undermined his masculine desire to be in control.

Technique Hyperbole: It made him more of an invalid than he could bear.

Effect The reader can have a clear picture of Vics life as a boy as a boy

Point/Argument Exposure to different things at a tender age sharpens the mind while its still young

Gail was right to be afraid. It frightened him too, this total collapse, because he felt his mind teetering at its limit. Hed been this close before but hed never told her. At this great distance he could still see himself, the boy behind the curtain, cradling death in his arms. He was forty-four years old but he felt just as helpless. He knew what the boy didnt, that you couldnt keep soldiering on indefinitely. But beyond that, even at this age, he still didnt know the first thing about saving himself.

pp. 308-309

Masculine ineptitude at dealing with feelings is accountable for mental illness, suicide and violence in males.

Technique 2nd person narrator

Effect This gives the reader an exposure to personal trait of the character

Point/Arg...