Question: What is your personal response to Gow’s

exploration of adversity in Away?

Through the play “Away”, Michael Gow profoundly explores the ideas of adversity of people's
lives in Mid-century Australia. Due to many challenges from the past such as the Great
Depression and World War II, the lives of Australian people and Australia's involvement in the
Vietnam War in 1962 had forced Australian people to change. This is widely depicted in Michael
Gow’s play set in the late 1960s, drawing the social conflict, such as racism, discrimination
toward migrants, death, transformation and breakdown and adversity within three families, each
representing different social Australian classes back in the 1960s. Out of the listed challenges,
transformation and the struggles with death can be considered as the main adversities
throughout the play via the characters of Gwen and Coral.

Throughout the play Away, the transformation of people has been deeply explored through
Gwen in changing her social attitude and behaviour toward everyone in the play. At the
beginning, Gow reveals Gwen as a stereotypical 1960’s housewife who is a very spiteful and
materialistic woman. In her conversation with Vic and Harry in Act 1, she brags, "We've got a
new caravan. Everything in it you could want." It strongly shows her obsession with materialism
caused by her distressed past which establishes her arrogance. In Act 2, Scene 2, her husband
Jim reveals that they used to ‘lived in rubbish tips' this metaphorically conveys their struggles in
the past from the impact of the Great Depression. Thus, Gwen’s past has obstructed her ability
to communicate and connect with other people, as for her, material wealth is one of the most
essential social conditions and values that are greater than mental health, such as happiness
and enjoyment. Her narrow spiritual preservation prevented her from widely opening her
worldview and changing her attitudes to live easily and relaxed without cynicism and
nervousness anymore. Michael Gow effectively draws the hidden adversity of Gwen which
allows for reconciliation to occur after the storm to further transform herself.

The transformation of individuals could be constructed by reflecting on the past to explore new
opportunities and perspectives to re-evaluate themselves and have a greater understanding of
others. In ‘Away’, Gwen's noticeable transformation in her personality is triggered by Tom’s
story when her family travels to the beach on their holiday. In Act 3, Scene 4, Gow has created
the storm scene which symbolises the cleansing and restoration to show the transformative
process for the characters, especially Gwen. As all her possessions are destroyed by the storm,
except Jim and Meg (her husband and daughter), it diminishes her sense of materialism and
helps her realise that family is more important than everything after the storm. Moreover, the
contribution of Tom's family story completely transformed Gwen and collapsed her difficult and
aggressive personality. She became aware of Tom's terminal illness in her encounter with Harry
and Vic on the beach, it emotionally touched her heart to understand the situation of other
people to reflect on herself. After walking with Vic, Gwen returns with embarrassment, but
sincerely apologises to Jim. This is revealed through her rhetorical question, "What am I trying
to say?" The experience of Tom's story truly impacted her to reflect on the past, which makes
her treasure her current life with her family. The way Vic and Harry value the time they have left
with Tom determines the transformation of Gwen through a greater understanding of others and
herself to appreciate the precious familial love she has. Her transformation allows her to view
the world differently and change her behaviour. Michael Gow has profoundly depicted the
process of transformation in the character of Gwen to highlight the theme of transformation
which results in reconciliation.

In Michael Gow’s drama “Away”, the theme of death is strongly demonstrated through the
trauma experienced by Coral, of losing her son in the Vietnam War. In act 1, Scene 3, her
heartbroken pain is revealed after she watched the school performance, she says, 'To wake up
and find something you want so badly... ', 'Is it better for them to die like that?'. Her soliloquy is
combined with a melancholy tone which shows that the death of her son is always on her mind.
She is depressed and has isolated herself from society and reality. Through the trauma
experienced by Coral, Gow conveys the pain of a parent losing a child. Coral attempts to
interact with people as well, because her husband, Roy, suggested she makes an effort on their
holiday. Here, it creates the conflict between two characters based on the different ways of
dealing with the sadness of losing their son. Although they have been travelling together, grief
for their son in different ways has damaged their relationship. In Act 3 Scene 4, Coral meets
Rick on the rooftop of the Gold Coast Hotel. She projects her son onto him as she expresses,
"You're still alive and talking and laughing". Through her dialogue, it depicts that Coral still has
not completely accepted her son's death and now has found another way to ignore the reality
and reject her promise to Roy to 'be good' and 'improve'. Furthermore, she blames Roy for
allowing their son to leave with the metaphor, "You sent him away!". This setting of the Gold
Coast Hotel shows that she has still not come to terms with the death of her son and Roy also
did not understand his wife. He also asks her, "...Do you want me to arrange shock treatment? I
can. I looked into it...". It shows his insensitivity towards Coral's grief period through threatening
Coral with the electrical therapy as a treatment of psychological issues for her which was
common in the 1960s. Lack of communication between the two, separates them and causes
problems in their marriage. Thus, Michael Gow successfully explores the theme of death and
also the different ways individuals deal with grief typically through Coral and her relationship
with Roy.

In addition, Michael Gow also explores how an individual, with support, is able to come to terms
with death. Coral transforms herself when she finds redemption in the shape of Tom. Her
torment of the death of her son was understood by Tom. He offers Coral words of advice and
she seems to have accepted them. In Act 4, Scene 3, Coral and Tom perform the play 'The
Stranger on the Shore'. Here, Gow creates beautiful imagery of Coral who is a mermaid, she
says, "Forever in the darkness of the sea I follow my beloved...". It indicates that she is afraid to
detach herself from her dead lover, as same as her actual existence of being unable to abandon
the memory of her dead son. Until she meets the tailor, Tom’s role in the play, he saves Coral
from being a mermaid and encourages her to use her legs and walk on land. He teaches her to
walk, she expresses, "I'm walking, I'm walking, I'm walking." This imagery shows that Coral is
returning from the void she had sentenced herself to after the death of her son, finally accepting
his death and bringing her back to reality. Michael Gow sophisticatedly draws how Tom helps
Coral to come to the deal with her grief with the support of a person that also has struggled and
accepted his fate and death already. She feels empathy for Tom's and gains the strength to
come to terms with the death of her son and integrate into society again. Coral also begins to
change her attitudes and behaviour in life to move on. In Act 1 Scene 5, she reconciles with Roy
through mime, "Roy leans towards them and buries his face in the shells in Coral's hands." and
" He kisses the shells and her hands." This action presents the forgiveness they give for each
other working towards reconciliation together. Evidently, Michael Gow successfully
demonstrates the transformation of Coral to come to terms with the death of her son and
reconcile with Roy thanks to the support of Tom.

In conclusion, Michael Gow has succeeded in exploring the adversity in his drama, ’Away’,
through characterisation, plot and setting. This play demonstrates how individuals are able to
overcome hardships, such as struggling with death to change and transform. By going away
physically, the characters can experience the others' adversities, such as the transformation of
Gwen and Coral. Through their interaction, the two characters are given the opportunities to
gain a better perspective on life and refreshed attitudes with others, which enables them to open
their worldview wider and experience reconciliation.