That Snow is an alienated man is suggested by the Australian setting which Tennant describes in paragraph 2. The "black-soil" of the plain sets a bleak tone which is continued in the "loneliness" that characterizes the plain where "mirages smoke," kangaroos "leap away," telephone poles "dwindle" and then "disappear" (l.9-10). These verbs add to the sense that this man is characterized by distance. The simile "baked like a tile" adds a hard quality to both setting and man. The negative diction of "black bog," the alliteration of "drovers dread," followed by "crawled slowly," the "lumbering van" and the "slow" progress are all images that accumulate to tinge the description with plosive burden. His aloneness is accentuated when he reaches the fork in the road and "there was no mate to influence his judgement." I feel that the implication here is that a woman would have helped him choose to his advantage. But even nature conspires against Snow. The images of a "vicious westerly," "winter a hell," "westerly biting," "malice," and "barbed wire" all in some sense hitting Snow "face-on" is too much for him, and he chooses the "more sheltered" route. Tennant's character seems to be up against formidable elements in his life, both natural and human.
Paragraph 4 provides a structural break in all this build-up of harshness. The tone changes to a more sympathetic one. The fatigue of the journey sets in with even Tom and Bluey "tired," "panting and dusty" (23). This paragraph serves as a break, but also provides insight into Snow's character as Tennant says he is one "who meditates an onslaught on someone else's sheep"(24). The physical description of Snow as "a big man, six foot one" (25) explains the ease with which Snow can operate as a sheep hustler. Rather than considering the ethics of a matter, Snow is characterized as one who considers ease as a reason for action. "To his mind, there had always been something contemptible about buying mutton when it was walking about in the paddocks all around him" (26-7). The paragraph ends with yet another statement confirming this as a turning point in Snow's life. "All his life, with that decision, veered into a different course" (29) echoes line 2. Here the verb "veered" highlights the suddenness and severity of this turn. I expect that the change will be positive, despite the danger inherent in the act of sheep stealing that Snow is contemplating, because his life has been depicted with such negative diction up to this point. Surely any change would have to contrast to the despair of the tone so far.
I find confirmation of this prediction in the setting descriptions Tennant uses in paragraphs 5-8, the remainder of this passage. Where the setting so far has seemed foreboding, Tennant now uses graphic imagery to paint the beauty and power of the setting of Snow's campsite. I think that Snow, too, has both beauty and danger inherent in him. Though seemingly lonely with the eerie simile "like a ghost rattling in chains" and the onomatopoetic "clanking" and "clatter" (32-3) at first, the scene is transformed, first by a burst of color imagery. Here with the clearing "green with tender grass;" a "red garden flower" and "coral trees," "clusters of flowers," "blades of scarlet," and "fiery-colored birds," the tone is cheered with the warmth of color. The tone is even light-hearted with the alliterating similes in lines 37-38, "as though a flock of fiery-colored birds were tilting their tail-feathers in council." The repetition of /f/s and /t/s creates a lilting, melodic line that shows Snow's comfort with his natural surroundings, cheering me into hope for Snow.
Lines 39-50 stand out in this passage for the abundance of imagery, which further draws me into the mood. Tennant introduces sea imagery to convey the power of life in nature in lines 39-44. She personifies the gum trees as "reared up, roaring," using consonance of /r/s to get an onomatopoetic effect. The metaphor "surf of wind" (40) evokes the waves of the ocean. "Thunderous" is also the sound of waves, but this time, connected through simile to "city traffic," which mixes the natural and manmade, just as Tennant is mixing nature and man in her characterization of Snow. Tennant then uses flashing mackerel as a simile for the leaves of the gum tree. The sibilance of "silver spray flashing" enhances the melopoeia of the entire section. The opening "At a decent distance from the civilised trees," implies that Snow, too, is far from civilization and far from being civilized himself. Perhaps he, like this bit of tempestuous nature, will "strain and lash"(44) against civilization when he re-enters it. Snow is not bothered by nature's fierceness. Tennant depicts his view of the wind as maternal. "[I]t hushed his fire...like a mother soothing a rowdy child in its cot" (45). This shows effectively how at home Snow is in the savage world of nature. He finds it beautiful. The beauty of:
breathless, tranquil silence as the world turned over on its side
for the night, with the sky a translucent bubble of pale green glass so fragile you would think that at the tap of a fingernail, it would ring, and shiver the first stars down in trails of fire like water-drops on a window pane" (47-50 )
is breathtaking. The sea imagery continues with the "pale green glass." Personifying the world at rest for the night brings close the vastness of the setting of the earlier part. The fragility of sky and the beauty of a rain of stars in this section of the passage creates an awe-filled mood. Snow seems at home here and at peace.
The passage concludes with this peace. Even though it is cold, the "frosting of stars" lends even the cold a majesty. Snow waits. The suspenseful tone returns only after Snow moves to return to civilization to steal his sheep. From the "barbed wire," the ominous atmosphere returns. The last scene is that of a "darkly blotted" paddock and I feel that Snow is in for trouble.
Tennant's characterization here skillfully blends disparate types of imagery to create the effect of complexity in a man. The diction is neither purely positive nor purely negative. Instead, the combination of savage, beautiful, lonely, bleak and colorful imagery serves to create both setting and character, and builds anticipation of what is to come.