Within the simile of her laugh being “a noise like a bark”, the reader encounters an epiphany of her character – somewhat awkward and socially unstable. However, we can see that she has a sense of humor, and is a positive person, but the humiliation she felt after laughing when she “glanced around, as if someone might have heard her” signifies her insecure nature, her self-consciousness of her awkward personality, and her yearning for “the idea of perfection”, what the title indicates.
In this boundless area, she had a choice, whether to go “uphill” or “downhill”. Throughout the beginning of the passage, the girl looked upwards at the sky and the use of diction seemed that she admire its perfection, but this time, she chooses to go downhill which doesn’t seem as perfect as what is on top. Nevertheless, the unique qualities of Cascade Rivulet seemed to have a magnetic attraction to her as it was “glinting metallically between the trees”. From the incident that had happened earlier with her bark-like laugh, we can see that she isn’t so perfect on the outside; however, she has an appeal to her, a good sense of humor, and her distinctive personality is what makes her who she is.
The whole of “downhill”, even the name Cascade Rivulet (meaning waterfall and small stream,) seems to mirror her image; she is shy and timid like a small brook when people are around, but her playful innocence that makes her youth exciting manifests itself with little outbursts of unexpected waterfalls. The unpredictable waterfalls showed when she “laughed aloud, suddenly” and her reflex to this humiliation when she ruefully thinks “it was not really all that funny” turning herself inwards is a defense mechanism.
She gave Cascade Rivulet, the “humble little thing”, an “apologetic look”, indirectly indicating that she self-pities herself. The town Cascade Rivulet which split from Hanging Rock is a pathetic fallacy as she too seems separated from the “perfect” society above her, and the mood of alienation and loneliness is brought out here. She finds it “hard to see why” this is the case, or that she is an outcast, cut out maybe rejected by the norm, showing that she has self confidence and has a good understanding that her foibles exist, but they have the potential to balance out with her unique charms. By moving on to Cascade Rivulet, she reaches out to herself, and takes a long look at the mirror. Hanging rock being on top of Cascade Rivulet provides an effective image of “perfection” looking down from a “steep slope” at this “coarse and clumsy” girl in a condescending manner.
She is determined to become a better person, because she “wanted to go down there under the bridge”, she wanted to unfold her secretive part, and understand herself. The repetition of the word “clumsy” emulates her personality, and she discovers a “quaint, clumsy thing” just like her – queer but charming. Her confused personality “wedged against each other” just like the bridge’s “crude simple joints”. Both sides of her seem to also be “holding hands”, because her contrasting personalities depend on the comfort of her environment, but they make her what she is. The bridge is parallel to her, physically and symbolically – she may have though she was mundane like the bridge, but once she realized that close up the bridge “had its own color and its own personality” she appreciates her inquisitive, determined character because the “shapes fitted together in a satisfying way”. Kate’s skillful use of visual sensory imagery describes the metaphorical contrasts from “grey” to “red like dried blood” to blooms of brown red lichen” to “bleached blue grey”. Almost like she was banal like grey, and blossomed into an alliteration of “b”s which brings out a blooming effect.
Every aspect of this town manifests an understanding of herself, like a perpetual, growing stream of consciousness. The “transparent amber water” which “lit up” the objects underneath portrays that when she is in a position to open up, her transparency could reveal her good qualities, and she would shine. However, when external factors block her image, making her invisible or shunned upon like the “slice of black shadow” on the water, she weakens and lets herself hide behind the idea of perfection. Her potentially bright personality symbolized by the sun juxtaposes her lack of strength to stand up for her quirky antics represented by the mysterious water. Her respect for the farmer’s privacy and her preempting of what they would think shows that she is aware of what other people think of her, and she lets that subjectivity affect and block her liberation. It is here when we identify the external factors that allow a slice of shadow to block her shine.
When she draws the bridge the colors she chooses juxtapose each other “light, dark” the light represents her luminous intensity and the dark represents her “dark and secretive” insecurities. She finds a pattern of black and white within the bridge’s concrete construction and in her personal abstract build, and indirectly forgives herself for her embarrassing tendencies. The fact that she took three trial and error attempts to draw this shows her determination to “reduce her essence”. Her “quaint” incongruity provide a “kink” of strangeness, and her inquisitive, artistically inclined knowledge, and analytical skills makes one have to “look back at it(her) again”, just like her drawing, and her contrasting sides “interplay” “interlinked and interlocked” forming a harmony similar to the perfection of the “two birds flying together” above.
