Across The Plains, Over The Mountains, and Down To The Sea

1. Across The Plains, Over The Mountains, and Down To The Sea Written by Frank Moorhouse (1969)

2. Across The Plains Summary A man tells his psychiatrist about a dream that he had about the road that he and his ex-mistress had driven along near the beach at the climax of their affair. He had his affair because he felt as though his marriage was suffocating him because he felt that he had to fulfil an ideal surrounding marriage. Together he and his lover Cindy holidayed romantically without commitment and making love regularly. He and Cindy separate and two years later he speaks to her at a party and she says that she doesn’t remember the trip, which affects him deeply.

3. Across The Plains Values and Views Values:Age and Perceptions of Relationships, Divorce Views:Moorhouseis critiquing affairs and divorce. He is suggesting that different perception can be held in relationships. The story presents the harsh reality that feelings are not always mutual and people are able to move on– while others can’t. This is shown through the male character and his ex-mistress; he remembered every detail and every second – whilst Cindy didn’t even remember the trip. We also believe karma was involved, due to him not being loyal to his wife.

4. Across The Plains Context Protagonist • Male • Middle aged • Newly divorced (explores the trend of mid-life crises in middle aged men) • Sees a psychiatrist suggests a possible mental illness (compared to seeing a psychologist) • Stays unnamed

5. Across The Plains Context Cindy • Female • Young (‘Her body was just out of adolescence.’ pg. 125) • Still changing, careless (‘She smoked in her new careless way…’ pg. 125) • Childish (‘she could be as bright-eyed as a child.’ Pg. 123)

6. Across The Plains Literary Techniques Across The Plains makes heavy use of adjectives, hereby emphasising the idea that the man really reveals in his memory/dream. It suggests that he can remember the event as if it happened yesterday - because he is so fond of it, and of Cindy.

7. Across The Plains Literary Techniques Across The Plains also uses several sensory imageries, which further emphasises the idea that the man treasure this memory/dream, because he can vividly describe the tastes ("I tasted the salty sea juices which came from her"), smells ("there was a smell of scorched foliage and drying mould"), sounds ("Cindy squealed"), sights ("it was a stony and unsealed road…"), and feelings ("The day was very hot and we sweated…").

8. Across The Plains Literary Techniques Across The Plains also uses symbolic imagery in order to add meaning to the text's happenings. The most prominent being the references to temperature, and the idea that as the two travelled the road and got closer to the sea, it became cooler. This raises the idea that as the temperature turns from being hot to cold, the strength of their relationship weakens. This idea is first bought up when the man states, "It symbolised the leaving of a hot, dusty and chocking marriage for the clean free sea…", and "… the sea [was] cold…".

9. Personally I think Moorhouse is opposing the clichéd idea of divorce; in particular the cliché of a middle-aged man leaving his wife for a much younger woman. This is evident through the way that the man is 'punished' in the story (i.e. when Cindy says she doesn't remember) - if the author agreed with his character's ways, he would praise him by having Cindy remember. The use of temperature in Across The Plains symbolises that as the two get closer to the sea, and to the end of the story, they also get closer to the end of their relationship. The story also explores the idea that younger people do not perceive relationships in the same way as someone older than them would. PERSONAL REFLECTIONS

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