Journeys: The Turning

1. Journeys: The Turning “Big World” It is on journeys that we discover who we really are…

2. Background/Key Info • Author: Tim Winton • Published first book and won first literary award at 19 • Has since won three other major literary awards • Born in Perth, 1960 • Date: 2004 • Setting: Angelus, WA • Characters: Biggie & “I-narrator” • Plot: two adolescent boys “escape” their town on a road trip to the North.

3. Grammar/Short Stories • Whole works (novel) = underlined. • Text that is part of a larger unit (story) = quotation marks • Short stories • Hard to define, but they contain all of the elements of a narrative: orientation (description of setting and characters), conflict and resolution. • Importantly, to have a complete story a character generally has an epiphany (an aha moment). This is that “so what” we have discussed—what makes a journey memorable.

4. “Big World”: Setting Pg. 2: “Some days I can see me and Biggie out there as old codgers, anchored to the firggin place, stuck forever” • Connotation: “anchored” “friggin” “stuck” all imply negative feelings (connotations) • Emotive language (words or phrases that purposely arouse a particular emotion in the reader): the negatively connoted words suggest that the narrator perceives Angelus as a town that can offer him nothing.

5. A word on “Place” Tim Winton once said, “[t]he place comes first. If the place isn’t interesting to me then I can’t feel it. I can’t feel what the people are on about or likely to get up to.” • This resonates with the cultural importance that Australians place on land. • It also reiterates the importance of setting (orientation) in order to develop a moving story. • Also, when studying journeys (a movement from one place to another) it is important to have an understanding of the beginning and ending place’s significance.

6. More Place… “The southern sky presses down and the beaches and bays turn the colour of dirty tin…And suddenly there we are, Biggie and me…with beanies on our heads and the horizon around our ears” (1-2). Ellipses(…): communicate that there are sections of text omitted in the quote. Tone: the feeling that the author demonstrates toward his/her subject matter. Mood: the feeling that is aroused in the responder by the description of a particular thing, place, person or event. So, what is the tone and mood communicated? What are some key words that communicate it?

7. More Place… “The southern sky presses down and the beaches and bays turn the colour of dirty tin…And suddenly there we are, Biggie and me…with beanies on our heads and the horizon around our ears” (1-2). • Metaphor: A comparison between two things when one thing is described as another thing. The narrator is talking about their loss of opportunities, what is the metaphor that the author is painting?

8. Even more place… “The longer we drive the more the sky and the bush open up” (4) This sentence has two purposes • It most likely describes the open plains… • It is a metaphor that contrasts (juxtaposes) the sky from pages 1 & 2. How so?

9. Yet even more place… “When Perth comes into view, its dun plain shimmering with heat and distance towers ablaze with midday sun, we get all nervous and giggly, like a pair of tipsy netballers” (4). Simile: comparing two things using ‘like’ or ‘as’ What is the purpose of this simile? Tone/mood: What is the tone and mood of this sentence? What are the key words that suggest this? What is this juxtaposed against?

10. “Big World”: Characters-Biggie Look at page 4, paragraph 3. What does Biggie look like? Instead of just saying ‘Biggie looks like….”what does Winton do? What other characterisations of Biggie can you find?

11. “Big World”: Characters-Narrator Find 3 quotes that illustrate the narrator’s character?

12. Character Comparison-Homework… Find three different instances in which the narrator compares himself with his friend, Biggie. Outline the differences, and how they’re communicated.