Lit notes - The Turning by Tim Winton

I have a Lit exam on Wednesday next week and I sure as hell don't feel prepared. I've done a couple of close readings (or rather, I've done a couple of half close readings- an intro and a body paragraph on poetry and an intro and a body paragraph and a bit of another body paragraph on prose) and I started trying to organise my notes on the texts that we've done this year. (Note- this was at the time that I started writing this post, which I think was on Thursday.) My organisation is pretty shoddy though, just like my room where everything kind of has its place but really doesn't.

Anyway. Here are my notes for The Turning (the only reason I'm typing them up here is because I'm procrastinating over writing practise essays...). Bear in mind that I'm not that great a Lit student, so don't take my word as gospel. Or actually, maybe you can, since half my notes are taken from handouts and class powerpoints and whatnot.

ANYWAY...

The Turning by Tim Winton

Context
The Turning is set in Australia.

• Long, wide spaces- Australia is supposed to be one of the most sparsely populated countries so we get lots of space which is nice. There's a lot of times during the novel (or during the 17 short stories, if you prefer) where characters have to cross these long, wide spaces, like when Vic goes to find his dad in "Commission," when Vic is coming home after his cadet camp in "Immunity," or when Gail and Vic are going to visit Daisy and Fenn in "Defender." And then there's a chapter titled "Long, Clear View" which kind of adds to this because you wouldn't really be having a long, clear view if it wasn't for the long, wide spaces available. And then I guess you could also kind of argue that there's a long, wide space between Vic and Gail in terms of their relationship. Especially since Gail's continually visiting Angelus and even going out with some other guy there to boot.
• The outback- Well, it's pretty wild and interesting and unique to Australia, which is why there's always been lots of poems and stories and whatnot dedicated to it (bush rangers, anyone?). Sure enough, there's a few stories in here in which the wildness of Australia's outback is important- stories like "Aquifer," for instance, where Alan Mannering drowns in a swamp, as well as "Fog" where Bob Lang and Marie are stuck in the bush overnight.
• Connection between people and place- particularly important to Aboriginal culture, but it can still be seen in this book even though there aren't that many Aboriginals. For example, the swamp is a big part of the children's life in "Aquifer" and then there's the whole idea of returning to one's hometown to search for answers just as Frank does in "Family" and Gail kind of does in "Damaged Goods" (but not really since Gail's trying to find answers about Vic's life).
• Mainly secular society, but there are still many people who practise a religion of some description. The Turning has several characters who are Christians, such as Sherry and Dan in "The Turning" and Agnes' family. Christianity certainly helps Raelene in her time of need.
• There are a lot of immigrants but sometimes there's still a sense of who's "Australian" and who's an immigrant. Agnes' family is British, and Agnes refers to herself as "fresh off the boat."
• Notion of the "underdog" eventually gaining superiority: Frank was the "underdog" in his younger years- bullied by Max and never quite able to walk among the men just as Max could. However, he eventually becomes a professional footballer (though not for long).
• Archetypal Australian men and women: apparently men are meant to be all tough and independent and  masculine and whatnot and women are meant to be "stoic," which (according to Google) means "a person who can endure pain and hardship without showing their feelings or complaining." Now, there are characters that naturalise these ideas, as well as other characters who challenge them. There are whole bunch of characters who are, well, not quite as tough and independent as the "ideal" male figure. Max, for instance, is a violent alcoholic and we're pretty much set up to hate him through the point of view (we mainly see him from the point of view of the characters who he victimises- more on this later), Frank walks off the football pitch after a rather short career, Vic is so absorbed in his past that nothing in the present holds his attention, and so on. On the other hand, though, there are other characters that might be considered as upholding the ideals of dependability and so on such as Dan who recovers from alcoholism and I think Dyson from "Small Mercies" as well for being able to be relied on by Fay and her parents (if I remember correctly- it's been a while since I read that story. In fact it's been a while since I read the book). There are then also characters that represent the "stoic woman," such as Carol Lang, who doesn't buckle under that other woman's accusation that Carol stole her earrings, and Raelene, who puts up with Max's abuse for a while without complaining. I'm not so sure about which characters challenge this ideal. Maybe Fay? I don't know. As I said, I haven't read this book for a while, and I've only read this particular chapter/story once.

Genre

• The Turning can be considered to be Realist fiction, which is a less ornate style which uses verisimilitude (a very cool term which I think means that the story is made to be as realistic as possible) to illuminate truths about political and social elements of society, such as class differences. Realist fiction also often has individuals raging against the world rather than any massed effort to change the system. You can see a lot of individuals raging against society across the stories- Bob Lang leaves Angelus because there is something about the police force that makes him feel uncomfortable (potential corruption?), Rae is locked in an abusive relationship but undergoes spiritual growth to become internally stronger than Max, Frank is still struggling with being victimised by Max which results in him walking off the football pitch, and so on. You can also kind of see class differences being illuminated, such as in "On Her Knees" in the contrast between the unnamed home owner and Carol and Vic Lang who are left to clean it (after receiving empty accusations about stealing the home owner's earrings), though I don't recall seeing any huge differences.
• The Turning can also be considered to be Romantic fiction, using Romantic themes such as the power of nature as restorative, a lone man against society and freedom of the individual. (I wrote a little bit about the Romantic period on my post about music and society during the Romantic period.) As I said above, there are quite a few times where there are lone people against society. There are also quite a few instances throughout the novel where there are people alone in nature, using nature's restorative power to heal themselves. Raelene in "The Turning" often uses her walks along the beach to think, which leads her to come to revelations which eventually lead to her finding her own internal freedom from Max. Complementing this is language that revels in the beauty of nature through various kinds of imagery, such as in "Fresh-mown grass felt good beneath her feet and over the green smell of it you could almost taste the sea." Nature is green and fresh and feels good, contrasting with the horrors of the abusive relationship that Raelene is locked into. Another character who can be said to heal in nature is Bob Lang, because in his new home tucked away in the bush, he becomes the trustworthy, honest character known as "Honest Bob"- a character who he wasn't quite able to be when in society. As well as nature having the power to heal, nature is also powerful and dangerous as can be seen through Alan Mannering drowning in the swamp and Vic becoming injured on a hook when their fishing boat is overtaken by a wave.
• Finally, The Turning can be considered to be a series of parables- stories that are meant to teach us moral and/or spiritual lessons. For example, Max is a pretty mean character who eventually gets eaten by a shark. Also, before his death, Raelene became stronger than him through finding God. And then of course there's Carol Lang upholding the virtue of dignity by her actions in "On Her Knees." (I don't really have many more notes on how this book is a series of parables though.)

Language and Generic Conventions

I'm just going to put a few points down here because, well, a novel has lots of words and thus lots of conventions and stuff to write about. It really depends on how close you want to look. (For me- not very.)

• Possibly the one generic convention that will hit you the hardest in this book is the constantly changing point of view. The point of view moves between 1st person, 2nd person and 3rd person, the character in focus changing between stories. "Big World" is told through the 1st person perspective of an unnamed narrator who's just graduated from high school, "Abbreviation" is told through 3rd person limited focusing on Vic Lang, and so on. So what's so important about these points of view? Well, point of view in a novel really affects the way that we see characters and events in the story. It's just like how in class someone else might get a mark that doesn't seem so bad to you but it might seem devastating to the person in question. Now, let's look at Max's character. We're pretty much set up to hate Max through the point of view. The three stories in which Max is involved- "The Turning," "Sand" and "Family"- are through 3rd person limited perspective focusing on Raelene and Frank, two characters who are badly treated by Max, so we sympathise more with Raelene and Frank and the struggles that they have to endure against a seemingly tyrannical character. If one of the stories was told with a greater focus on Max, though, perhaps a slightly different story might be told. I'm not sure that a focus on Max would make us like him given all the other stuff that he's done, but if, say, Max actually felt remorseful for what he does, and the story was told from his point of view so that we could see his remorse, we might hate him less. Vic Lang is another character who is described from multiple points of view, but unlike Max, we can see both sides of the story. "Long, Clear View" allows us to see Vic's side of the story, but in 2nd person, which perhaps makes us closer to the raw emotion within the story. On the other hand, you have Gail talking about Vic's obsession with the past in "Damaged Goods," as well as 3rd person limited focusing on Gail in "Defender" in which Gail outright tells Vic about her frustration.
• Just like pretty much every other book, there are objects that can be read as symbols. Unfortunately I don't have many notes on the symbols in this book and I'm pretty bad at telling what can be considered as a symbol and what's best just left alone. Anyway, fire, water and sharks are all (possibly) symbols that recur throughout the novel. Fire is seen as damaging but cleansing, like the destruction of an old life and the start of a new one... oh wait! The novel title is, after all, "The Turning," "turning" also suggesting such radical changes! And I don't know about the cover of your copy, but the cover on mine has a burning car... okay, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, because Lit doesn't really have visual analysis in it. But still. Now, where do we see fire in The Turning? Well, there's Agnes, who may or may not have burnt her "dead inside" house down at the end, causing the family to have to start anew. Then, at the end of "Big World," the narrator tells about all the changes and stuff that happens in the future after he talks about how the car "[smouldered] and [hissed]." As for water, well, pretty much all the people live near beaches, like a lot of people in Australia. Quite a few significant events happen in the water too, like Vic's injury in "Abbreviation," Alan Mannering's death in "Aquifer," Boner McPharlin is found with broken legs at Thunder Beach, and so on. And, where there are beaches, there are sharks. Boner McPharlin must have a thing about them because he catches and kills a shark at the bonfire party at Massacre Point and he gives a shark sticker to Jackie (well, according to my notes he does anyway). Then there are symbols only relevant to one story, like Raelene's snow globe in "The Turning" which reminds her of Jesus and gives her the strength to keep fighting Max.
• And, of course, like pretty much every other book under the sun (except for maybe some crazy postmodern book out there) has characters in it. These characters can then be read as representations of class, cultures, gender and so on. Like I guess you could say that Max is a representation of a violent drunk and that Carol Lang is a representation of an archetypal Australian stoic woman. Vic Lang's characterisation can be read as examining the effects of the past on the present. Etcetera. Oh, and don't pay too much attention to what I just said because I have no idea what the hell I'm doing.

Intertextuality

• The epigraph is part of a verse from T.S. Eliot's poem "Ash Wednesday." According to my notes, Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the Lent season, so it symbolises repentance, loss and waiting for salvation. And, sure enough, you see a hell of a lot of characters repenting stuff they've done before (like Bob Lang), going through some kind of loss (like Dyson in "Small Mercies) or waiting for salvation (like Raelene in "The Turning). In the epigraph, however, Winton removed the first and last line of the verse- the first line being "And pray to God to have mercy upon us" and the last line being "May the judgement not be too heavy upon us." Removing these lines means that Winton has, in essence, secularised the poem a bit, possibly to reflect that Australian society is considered to be a relatively secular society. He has also secularised concepts such as redemption and forgiveness suggesting that these concepts are universal to all, not just those who practise a religion. Another point of interest is the word "hope" in the line "Because I do not hope to turn again." "Hope" suggests a lack of control, because if you had control over doing something, then you would make it happen, rather than crossing your fingers and hoping that it might happen.
• Although not really intertextuality per se, the short stories that The Turning is comprised of are all interconnected. Obviously, there are characters that appear in multiple stories: Vic Lang, for instance, appears in "Abbreviation," "Damaged Goods," "On Her Knees," "Long, Clear View," "Reunion," "Commission," "Immunity" and "Defender." Max appears in the middle three stories: "The Turning," "Family" and "Sand." Apart from just characters, though, there are other themes that crop up constantly. Symbols such as fire, water and sharks are mentioned in multiple stories. Although the society is mainly secular, there are religious messages in some stories, like "Cockleshell" and "The Turning." The power of nature is also alluded to in many stories throughout the novel. There are also similarities between different characters in different stories, just like how Vic's infatuation with Strawberry Alison in "Damaged Goods" is somewhat mirrored by an unnamed girl's infatuation with Vic. Finally, there are the ideas of being stuck in the past- like Vic Lang, or like the unnamed narrator of "Aquifer"- and of needing to escape, like the many characters who seek to get out of Angelus and the several others who seek escape through alcohol like Max does.
• There are several other allusions to other texts. Biblical stories get mentioned a couple of times, as do some other books, such as Catcher in the Rye (Jackie briefly mentions it in "Boner McPharlin's Moll"). Unfortunately, even though I've actually read Catcher in the Rye, that was a while ago and to be honest I had a hard time getting my head around what was going on. (I'm a pretty poor reader. Get over it. Or maybe I'm not that bad a reader but I have to read something a few times for the words to sink in? I dunno.)
• Finally, the chapter "Family" starts with a poem by Chuang Tzu. I guess the main idea in this poem- that the need to win a prize drains an archer of his ability to shoot- is reflected in the story by how Frank's desire to prove people wrong eventually leads to him walking off the football pitch, which really doesn't help matters much.

Ideologies and Discourses

This is probably my shakiest point. Never mind the fact that Lit is already a shaky subject for me. Recipe for disaster much?

• Romantic ideas about escape via nature and the confinement of society are all throughout the novel. Although I've mentioned quite a few Romantic ideas back in the section about genre, I've got a few more to add on here. First of all, being in nature means that you don't have to worry about all the complex and cultural values that you have to encounter in society so you can act a bit more freely, like Max and Frank do in "Sand." Also, although this isn't really glorifying nature per se, small towns (which are a bit closer to nature due to their smaller size) are favoured over big cities, as can be seen through the way that the small towns like Angelus and White Point are named but the city is not. Society is also seen as confining through setting such as Raelene and Max's claustrophobic caravan home. Vic's dad also breaks down as a result of stuff happening in the police force, and his breakdown causes his relationship with his other family members to become more strained until at last he can't handle it any longer and he leaves.
• There are some ideas about masculinity and patriarchy. In "Sand," Max and Frank are becoming men, or rather, Max walks among the men while Frank hasn't quite become a man yet. In "Cockleshell," Brakey gets stung by a catfish but he refuses to tell his mother, believing that he is man enough to take it on by himself. Also, male figures are important to Raelene, so much so that in order to reject one man (Max), she has to accept another in his place (Jesus). Of course, some ideas about masculinity are challenged by some of the other characters, like Bob Lang who resorts to drinking for a while.
• Finally there are lots of ideas about family. Although there are lots of dysfunctional families in this story, like the Langs after Bob left, Raelene's family, and Frank and Max, there is still some sort of importance attached to family. For example, Frank and Max depend on each other.

I might expand this bit later. But I'm tired and I should probably get around to practising clarinet before my sister comes home (she's not a huge fan of Poulenc). TTFN.