This is the 'Away' part of my first practice essay which I did in Year 12. The question was: "How are the nature and consequence of journeys conveyed in your prescribed text?"
"A journey is the fundamental act of travelling from a departure point to a destination in a physical, intellectual or emotional sense, during which the traveller may encounter and overcome obstacles and challenges which will ultimately transform themselves and lead to a greater understanding of themselves and the world in which they live. In the highly acclaimed Australian play
Away by Michael Gow, the poem
Journey to the Interior by Margaret Atwood,
Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine and
Paradise Road (1999) directed by Bruce Beresford, each composer has used a multitude of techniques such as symbolism, imagery, intertextuality in literary allusions and many other techniques unique to each medium to accurately and effectively convey the process and nature of the journey and the impact on their characters.
Set in the summer between 1967 and 1968,
Away is the journey of three ordinary Australian families on their summer holidays. Yet in amongst this deceivingly simple tale there is a rich fabric of techniques and themes which clearly demonstrate the journey undertaken by all the characters in this play. 1968 was a watershed year in Australian history when the nation realised that it could no longer exist on its own and it had to take the journey.
Away is a metaphor for the inevitable journey of life and for the development of people, families and a nation.
The title itself is incredibly symbolic. To go away is a great Australian tradition, to take a holiday each year, to relax, to take a break from everyday life and to spend time with the family. Yet the family of Vic, Harry and Tom cannot relax as they know that this Christmas could be the as Tom is dying from cancer. The family of Roy and Coral cannot escape the grief which permeates their everyday lives from the loss of their son in the Vietnam War and Gwen, Jim and Meg are continuously fighting and seem unable to enjoy the others company. It is by going away that the characters can be cleansed and healed and it is Tom who instigates this change by showing them
A WAY to survive. Coral and Roy’s dead son was sent away and in not coming home, his journey ended at death. While all the characters in the play survive their journey and come home, ultimately, Tom will not survive indicating that the journey only truly ends at death.
Gow’s use of Shakespearean allusions throughout Away depicts the journey of the plays protagonist, Tom, both metaphorically and literally. Act I, Scene I shows Tom on stage playing the role of the immortal Puck from William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights Dream. In this symbolic capacity, Tom is a fairy. Mythologically fairies are magic creatures and are used as healers. This is Tom’s function in the play. In Act V, Scene II, Tom reads the opening lines of Lear from King Lear. As Tom is dying, his final destination becomes clear in these lines. Unlike Puck, he is not immortal and in this final scene he is metaphorically an old man. He has restored and healed the other characters and can now “Unburden’d crawl toward death.” Tom’s journey is clearly illustrated within the use of this symbolic parallel allusion. Moreover, by beginning with the end of a comedy and finishing it with the beginning of a tragedy, it indicates that the worse of the journey is yet to come.
Symbolism permeates every level of Away. The storm conjured by the fairies in Act III, Scene IV is the main symbol of cleansing. Gwen, Jim and Meg are the only ones caught in the storm, paralleling the upheaval in their own lives. Vic, Harry and Tom escape the storm as their biggest challenge is yet to come and Coral only sees the storm in the distance as she has already been through it. The storm has stripped Gwen bare and she is reduced to her elemental state without the materialism and possessions which she formerly used to veil herself. Only once this occurred was she able to be healed.
The storm is also a metaphor for the healing power of nature, paralleled by Gow’s use of light and the outdoors. The opening scene in the school hall has the fairies scurrying about in the “garish light”. After the storm “there is darkness” then the “light becomes warm and intense.” This indicates that a superficial life can be led but to truly understand oneself obstacles and hardships must be overcome but ultimately they lead to a greater understanding of self. Once the storm occurs, the play never again goes back indoors. Upon coming home, Away has completed a full circle but there is an off turn in the circle, in that the class is now outdoors “under the trees” not in the “garish light” of the school hall. Away and the chapter of the characters journeys closes at the conclusion of the play, but the journey itself continues “toward death”.
The epigraph to the play indicates an unseen person who is lost or in pain and a healer who will mend them .The line from Twelfth Night “What country, friends, is this?” is asked by a person who is lost, seeking answer from a friend, just like the characters in the play who are lost, who will ultimately find the answer from a friend, Tom. It is a double metaphor for a person lost but also a nation questioning its identity, as Australia was in 1968. “I have done nothing but in care of thee, Of thee, my dear one.” is a direct metaphor for Tom, stating that the purpose of his journey is to care for those who are in pain and that throughout the play, he only cares for them. Again, the line is doubly symbolic as it is from The Tempest and it is the tempest in
Away which brings the characters to redemption and reconciliation."
Good Luck
