Away By Michael Gow Analysis

Discoveries can be confronting when individuals leave their familiar worlds. However, venturing into the unknown can result in growth and transformation. The consequences of a discovery can lead an individual into discovering themselves and have a change of perspective of the world and society. Through Michael Gow’s play, Away, and Shaun Tan’s picture book, The Red Tree, both composers shape the meaning of discovery through characters’ isolation, as the manifestation of self-discovery is powerfully communicated through the utilisation of dramatic and visual techniques.

An individual’s discovery inevitably involves their attitudes and beliefs being challenged and transformed. Michael Gow represents the ramifications of a discovery through

the character, Gwen. He explores the insights of Gwen’s emotional discovery through the recurring motif of “bex”. At times of pressure of Gwen “needs a bex” as it symbolises her desire to prevent feeling vulnerable and to avoid feeling out of control.

The bex is Gwen’s way of manipulating her family into doing what she wants, as it shows the audience Gwen’s controlling nature and her ability to avoid the consequences of her impact on others. Gow illustrates to the audience Gwen’s emotional disconnection from her family through her harsh tone, “There! Are they there… I can’t. Can anyone see a set of keys?” The use of hyperbole elevates the tense and anxious tone and her need to find the keys, which is symbolic of control. Gwen’s initial world view is based on a strict social hierarchy, where one’s worth is determined by material things. The intertextuality of “Gone with the Wind”, through Scarlett O’Hara’s speech, “I’ll never be hungry again!” as this shows the audience the contextual background of Gwen’s life and it gives a reason as to why Gwen has a controlling nature. Gow utilises the symbolism/pathetic fallacy and intertextual reference to a Shakespearean storm demonstrates Gwen is out of control. Nature is used to represent Gwen’s anagnorisis when the calm beach setting becomes the scene for her cathartic healing, by the stage direction of “[the women come back. They have been crying and are

supporting each other.”] Gow demonstrates Gwen’s revelation about relinquishing control, as it illustrates to the audience that family is more important than superficial things. Gwen’s metamorphosis is shown by “[the applause is led thunderously by Gwen”] juxtaposes her earlier reluctance towards watching the school play at the beginning. Gow has sufficiently shaped the characteristics of Gwen through her emotional discovery, by indicating to the audience that the outcomes of a discovery can lead an individual to a meaningful shift in perceptions of self and the world around them.

In a similar way to Gwen’s emotional discovery, Gow’s character Coral also has an emotional self-discovery about her grief for her son and her marriage.

As Coral is struggling with her grief over her deceased son from the Vietnam war, Gow represents Coral’s longing for her son through the foreshadowing of, “That boy! In that blue light the shadows on his face and neck were like bruises. He looked so sick yet so wonderful.” This demonstrates her vision of Tom substituting her son through her soliloquy. Coral’s relationship between her husband, Roy, is very strained. Gow employs this through the patronising tone of Roy towards Coral, as he “thought he [I] told you to wait in the car” as it shows the responder’s that Roy is in control of their relationship. Coral’s strained relationship is further connoted throughout the play, Gow uses a simile to what Roy thinks of Coral, that she is “going to behave like a ghost” further enhances the disconnection of Coral with Roy and the world. Through the allegorical mise en abyme, “The Stranger on the Shore”, Tom has shown Coral the realisation of her faked American accent, “I’m walking, I’m walking” to her normal self, as she is finally “walking” away from her son’s death, which brings Gow’s character Coral to her transformation of a new self and more profound knowledge. In the scene where Coral is holding the shells, it symbolises the vulnerability of Roy. Gow has illustrated this when he “leans towards them and buries his face in the

shells in Coral’s hands.” The proxemics Gow utilised of this demonstrates the reversal roles between Coral and Roy, with Coral coming to terms with her grief, she finally allows Roy to grieve with her and himself. As Gow challenges the reader’s understanding of grief and loss, the societal assumptions about the grief experienced by those involved in war and loss are also challenged by the play, through Coral’s emotional self-discovery.

Just as Michael Gow encourages his audience to make a meaningful emotional discovery so too the picture book, The Red Tree. The author and illustrator Shaun Tan, shows the reader’s the emotional discovery the protagonist experiences. Tan represents the discovery through a confronting and provocative image, ‘The Stage’, he illustrates this through the use of visual techniques as he challenges the responder’s by positioning them to perceive what the protagonist identifies throughout her process of discovery. Tan illustrates to the readers through the salient image of the stage by representing the juxtaposition of the bright stage lights with the dull monotony of the faceless audience. As this demonstrates to the reader’s that challenging process of a discovery. Tan symbolises the replica puppet of the protagonist, as it can demonstrate the idea of her being controlled by the society. Her body language illustrates that “sometimes you just don’t know what you are supposed to do”, with the use of second person register “you”, Tan invites us as the responder to consider our perspective on the challenging lecture of discovery, particularly self-discovery. The recurring motif of the ‘red leaf’ slowly unravels to represent a sign of hope. Although, the protagonist does not see hope until the very end, Tan shows the audience that hope is always there, but it indicates the purpose of you needing to discover yourself before you can find hope itself. The protagonist makes an intensely meaningful discovery about the nature of hope in the midst of despair, which connects to Michael Gow’s character Coral, as the discovery is concealed during her process of finding hope. Tan illustrates the juxtaposition of the penultimate page with the text, by utilising light and dark colours to convey the change the protagonist starts to experience. The vector lines lead the reader’s to the salient image of the red sapling, as the protagonist’s is seen looking at it whilst a sudden transformation occurs. The final page demonstrates how the protagonist’s perspective has been transformed as a result of her discovery. Tan creates a vector line of the lights, which captures the reader’s to the salient image of the page, the Red Tree, as it represents the realisation of the protagonist’s hope and metamorphosis of her view of the world. Which results in the change of her body language and finally with a smile on her face. Tan has sufficiently captured the emotion that can accompany self-discovery, as he invites the responder’s to consider our own perspective on the human experience of finding hope in the darkest moments of our lives.

Through close examination of the play Away and the picture book The Red Tree, we learn that through a discovery there is hope in a midst of despair. As Gow and Tan had demonstrated this through various dramatic and visual techniques, they have shown that discovery does not just happen naturally, it is a process that occurs when your beliefs and attitudes are challenged. Consequently, from studying Michael Gow’s play and Shaun Tan’s picture book we are able to gain insight of what discovery truly means and how it transforms individual’s to view the world and themselves differently.