Australian literature overview and key works

¶ … Australian Literature: An Anthology of Writing From the Land Down Under, by Phyllis Edelson. Specifically, it will contain an analysis of the section on relationships pages177-278. Australians have complex and demanding relationships, just like everyone else in the world. In these relationships, there seem to be less cultural aspects, and aspects that are more personal brought into play. Some Australian relationships share love, sex, and companionship, blended with the bush and brash Australian males, but most seem pretty awful.

AUSTRALIAN RELATIONSHIPS

Like everyone else, the Australians have their problems with relationships, and these stories illustrate the problems, and the best things, about relationships in Australia. From this selection, it seems many Australians suffer from bad marriages, where adultery is the key to survival and any form of happiness. The men seem to philander often, and think of it even more often. The women for the most part trust their men, and some have no idea their husbands are unfaithful. "She thought perhaps she had always felt alone, even with Arch, while grateful even for her loneliness" (Edelson 190). That is the theme of many of these stories. The women suffer, but continue to hang on with their men, buying them gifts, looking the other way, leaving them so they can go back to their wives.

Women of course play heavily in these tales, because they are central to the male/female relationships. They also seem to suffer more than the men in the stories do, but that is the same in every culture, it seems. In these stories, the women are all the victims, and the men are the winners. They have all they want, and do not regret their indiscretions at all. This could be related to culture, because Australian men are not known for their sensitivity, but more their brash recklessness, and it shows in these stories, where they get all the women they want, while the women have little choice in the matter.

One of the most interesting characteristics of all these short stories is the feeling of hopelessness that surrounds them. Not one of the characters is ultimately happy in these stories, and it is depressing to think this is the general outlook on relationships and love, no matter the gender. The stories seem to be saying that love is impossible to find, no matter who or how you love. This seems to be based on their outlook, which may have something to do with Australian culture, but the relationships themselves are not based on any form of culture or belief, they simply seem to be bad relationships.

Many of the women also make poor or bad decisions in their lovers and their husbands. It seems as if they did not really know them, or did not really know themselves when they chose, and so their choices were not often the best. They might not all admit it, even to themselves, but is seems these women needed to take more time in their choosing, or understand themselves better before they settled down with a man. For the most part, despite the fact the men get to play around, the women are the stronger in the relationships. They put up with transgressions, take care of the children, and still find time to bring home a Christmas gift for the man of the house. They women keep the house going, despite the difficulties of their relationships.

There is also a hint of despair in many of the stories, especially the one with the welfare mother who looks out the window. Her life is dismal, and all she has are her daydreams to keep her company. "There's a used teabag on the sink. Maybe she can squeeze another cup out of that" (Edelson 255). The women who are locked into marriages with husbands who treat them badly have that hint of despair, too. It is as if they cannot see, or do not want to see anyway out of their predicament, and so they continue on, even when they know they no longer love their husbands, and the husbands no longer love them.

Some of the stories also look at the dark side of relationships - the mother hoping her son will hop into the busy street - the rapist who stalks his victims so carefully. These stories are disturbing, because they illustrate the types of relationships the reader does not want to think about, relationships against our will. The mother with two young children she clearly does not want or love is not much different from the woman who is raped. They are both in relationships against their will. The mother shows it by treating her children poorly. The woman shows it because she is afraid to die. These relationships are the most difficult to read in the book, because they are so dark, depressing, and frightening.

The Australian view of relationships seems skewed toward the awful, it seems. The only relatively happy story in the entire bunch is the last one, with the pitifully small baby trying to survive, and even then, it is a dark sort of happiness, as the reader is left to figure out if the baby lives or dies. There is a sense of tragedy in some of the stories, as if Australians see matrimony and being tied down as tragic, rather than fulfilling and good.