Gow’s context when composing Away is critical and has affected what and how he writes, in particular reference to the character Coral. Gow set Away in Australia in the late 60’s. At this time the Vietnam War was ending, and many families back home were aware that their loved ones were not returning. This is the challenge that Coral faces. She, and her husband Roy, find out that their son has died in the war. Coral in particular cannot accept this. She becomes detached from society and from Roy. From meeting and talking with new people on her holiday such as Leonie and Rick, and then later by the storm catalyst, Coral learns to symbolically walk again. She accepts that there is life in death and recovers. This is shown to the other characters through the play-within-a-play technique used by Gow of “Stranger on the Shore.” So the challenges that Coral faces such as her son’s death and the process of the journey of healing has allowed her to learn much more about herself and the world around her.
Furthermore, Gow uses Shakespearian allusions to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Tom is compared with the Shakespearean character of Puck. One particular quote from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is “I’ll be an auditor, an actor too perhaps if I see chance”. This is exactly what Tom does, he is the audience, he stands back and watches the people around him and how they are dealing with his death, but also when he gets the chance he will act to help the peole around him. This is a great example of how this concept of a journey is represented in Away. Tom faces the challenge of his imminent death and how he should deal with it. He also faces the challenge of dealing with others around him before he dies.
Two further points of how Gow represents the concept of a journey and how he shapes meaning is the register used and the form chosen. The language is quite simplistic which suites the average audience and colloquial language is used to mimic the nature of the characters. This coincides with the form of drama. Drama has several elements, all of which
are needed to effectively communicate meaning to the responder. You need a composer, a script, actors, a theatre and an audience. If you change any of these elements, the meaning conveyed changes.
Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” also explores the concept that the challenges faced on journeys cause travellers to learn more about themselves and the world around them. Naturally you would assume this as Frost is a philosopher poet. As such he presents a simple but highly philosophical idea about journeys, an idea that has many links to the concept that is being explored in this essay. This simple, yet adaptable idea leads to the responder thinking very much about it. The form of poetry assists this as due to the short nature of poetry, every word is critical and as such it conveys a large amount of meaning in such a short piece of work. Because the responder has thought about this idea that Frost presents, they learn more about themselves and the world around them.
The two main techniques that Frost uses to convey this meaning are sound and imagery. The sound techniques of rhyme and rhythm are used extensively which help the poem to flow and make it sound much better. As such, responders are able to interpret the meaning in the poem easier and clearer. The rhyme and rhythm express the meaning in a highly effective way. Examples of rhyme include, “wood/stood” and “both/growth”. Also the consistent beat of the rhythm allows the poem to be read much easier. In addition onomatopoeia is used, for example “sigh”. Imagery is also used to stimulate images in the responders mind. Such words as “yellow wood”, “grassy” and “undergrowth” are all associated with outdoors and forests. Their use helps to create images of the “two diverging roads”, even though these two roads are an extended metaphor.
The challenge of the “two diverging roads” and not knowing which path to take, and facing this challenge and acting on it, and seeing the result (“and that has made all the difference”) has allowed the traveller, that is, the persona to learn more about themself and the world around them.
Furthermore, Robert’s film Shackleton explores this concept of a journey particularly well. In Shackleton a crew of men face a physical journey of determination and survival as they face harsh weather and no ship on their journey to the South Pole. They face many challenges, such as the physical challenges of no food, hash weather and freezing cold conditions. They also face emotional challenges of being away from their families for so long, not knowing if they will return to see them ever again. This concept has been represented in the text through narrative techniques and cinematography. Though their determination, they make it back to safety. Having faced these challenges and having to make the life changing decisions along the way, they have learnt more about themselves, their lives and have learnt to value it much more. They have also learnt more about the world and people around them.
Winter’s feature article “Survival of the Fittest” from Time Magazine again explores this concept of a journey, which has been represented in the text by recounting the events of a real situation. The feature article detail of how the challenge of a huge rock falling on the arm of a mountaineer prevented him from continuing, trapping him in that location. He had to amputate his own arm to survive. This challenge has, as detailed in the feature article, though the use of questioning the mountaineer about the ordeal, resulted in him valuing life much more and appreciating the natural environment. The challenge of the amputation has led him to learning more about himself and the world around him.
From the detailed analysis of these texts I have shown, thought the texts the truth of the concept of a journey that the challenges faced on journeys cause travellers to learn more about themselves and the world around them.