•Short story – Neighbours
Tim Winton, full name Timothy John Winton, (b. 1960) is an Australian
author of both adult and children’s novels that deal with both the experience of
life in and the landscape of his native country. He competed with 35 other
novelists for The Australian Literary Award presented for the best unpublished
novel manuscript and won the prize in 1982 for his manuscript An Open Swimmer.
His novels include That Eye, the Sky (1986), Dirt Music (2001), and Breath
(2008). He also wrote several children’s books, including Lockie Leonard, Human
Torpedo (1990), The Bugalugs Bum Thief (1991), and The Deep (1998). This story
‘Neighbours’ has been taken from Migrants of Australia edited by Harwood
Lawler.
It is a story about a newly married couple living in a multicultural and
multilingual suburb neighborhood. It shows that cultural and linguistic
barriers cannot stop people from bestowing love and compassion.
Setting
►A
multicultural suburb, a place of European migrants.
Characters
1) A newly wed couple who has recently migrated
to new suburb.
2) A polish widower who keeps making unpleasant
noise coming from wood work.
3) Macedonian family who helps new couple
in planting new plants.
Why couple disliked
their neighbours?
1) They
could near the sound of spitting, washing and day-break water. They could not
get peaceful environment.
2)
Macedonian family shouted, ranted and screamed.
3) They
would stare them frequently. It took them months to realize that their
neighbours
were not
murdering each other.
4) They did
not like the man sitting at his house and writing thesis instead of working.
They did not like
his wife working
and earning money instead of him.
5) The Old
Polish widower kept hammering nails on in the wood just to pick them out.
6)
Macedonian raised their eyebrows as they used to wake up late.
7) The
little boy from Macedonian family urinated in the street.
8) The man
disliked everything about the new neighbourhood and thought he was not getting
privacy.
•Glossary
Macedonian
(adj.): from Macedonia, south-eastern Europe
Moreton Bay
(n.): a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia
Moulting
(adj.): molting, hair growing.
Grappa (n.):
a kind of alcoholic beverage, a fragrant grape-based Italian brandy
Eccentric
(adj.): unconventional and strange
Muscovy
(n.): a kind of large duck of South American origin
Claustrophobic
(adj.): afraid of living in confined places
Liverwurst
(n.): meat sausage also known as liver sausage
Croon (v.):
hum or sing in a low soft voice
Vernix (n.):
a greasy deposit covering the skin of a baby at birth
Understanding the text
Answer the following questions.
= The young couple's house looked like a castle
because of its high ceiling and panned window though the house was small.
b. How did the young
couple identify their neighbours in the beginning of their arrival?
= They were disappointed with their neighbours especially
with Macedonian family and a Polish widower. They could hear the sound of spitting,
washing and day-break water. Macedonian family shouted, ranted and screamed.
The Old Polish widower kept on hammering nails in the wood just to pick them
out. Overall, the couple did not have good impression of their neighbours and
thought their privacy was disturbed.
c. How did the
neighbours help the young couple in the kitchen garden?
= The neighbours helped the new couple by advising them
about spacing, hilling and mulching which the man does not like but listens
carefully. The neighbour gives them bagful of garlic to plant.
d. Why were the
people in the neighborhood surprised at the role of the young man and his wife
in their family?
= Yes, the people in the neighbourhood were surprised at the
role of the young man and his wife in their family. We can can say so because
they did not like the man sitting at his house and writing thesis instead of working.
They did not like his wife working and earning money instead of him.
e. How did the
neighbours respond to the woman’s pregnancy?
= The neighbours responded to the woman's pregnancy by
giving her chocolates and smiling them all the time. The Polish man made two
car garage to save wood remaining for the couple for firework. The neighbour
women took care of her, and the Greek
woman predicted the gender of the body.
f. Why did the young
man begin to weep at the end of the story?
= The young man began to weep at the last of the story by
realizing the warmness and help that his neighbours offered them from first to
the child birth. The man learnt the lesson of humanity from his neighbours
despite the language barrier that his education could not teach him.
g. Why do you think
the author did not characterize the persons in the story with proper names?
= Firstly, this
chapter teaches us lesson of humanity despite language and cultural barrier
which is more important than learning names of characters. The writer wanted to
make us realize that the young couple represents all of us. We all should
remain in harmony as the couple does at the end of the story.
Reference to the context
a. The story shows
that linguistic and cultural barriers do not create any obstacle in human
relationship. Cite some examples from the story where the neighbours have
transcended such barriers.
= The story shows that linguistic and cultural barriers do
not create any obstacle in human relationship which can be proved from the following
examples:
a) The neighbour took care of the new couple which they mistook
as keeping eye on them and disturbing their privacy.
b) The polish man made the hencoop for them though he Logs
uninvited.
c) The Macedonians taught them planting.
d) They gifted the couple chocolates and cigarette being thoughtful
after they knew about the wife's pregnancy.
e) The polish man built car only to make fire woods for the
couple though he did not have any car.
f) They waited lady to deliver her child and cheered for them.
b. The last sentence
of the story reads “The twentieth-century novel had not prepared him for this.”
In your view, what differences did the young man find between twentieth-century
novels and human relations?
= The 20th century novels are dominated by various dark
themes like war, fall of the social institutions, individualism, frustration
and so on, the novels showed how individuals were and surviving with absolute
freedom and privacy. The man was doing thesis on those novels and studied the
life from the perspective of the same.
The couple loved
privacy at first and disliked their neighbours but gradually they were affected
by their gratefulness and constant help they were offering. The man's wife was
moved with the thoughtfulness the neighbours were having towards her pregnancy.
All the time they cherished her. The man was also changing.
The pregnancy was
perfect. When the labor started, his neighbours offered him help and waited to
hear the cry of the baby. This out totally moved the man and he started to cry.
The man was learned
and had adopted individualistic principles, but he had to change because of
human acts that his neighbours were offering despite the barrier of the
language and culture. By saying his novels could not prepare him for this, he means
his novels could acquire him degree but the knowledge he got from his
neighbours' act of kindness was greater than any university certificates.
Reference beyond the text
Do the people in your community respond with similar
reactions upon the pregnancy and childbirth as depicted in the story? Give a
couple of examples.
= Yes, the people in my community also respond with similar reactions
upon the pregnancy and child birth as depicted in the story. After knowing
about the women's pregnancy in the community, community members (especially
women) will visit her at her home, and spend time discussing the mother's
condition. They also give the woman advice on how to look after her own health
as well as the health of her child during his time. People in my neighbourhood
also shower gifts, chocolates and clothing on the families of pregnant women.
They also come up with a lot of names (both move and female name) for unborn
child.
