Essay-‘Lawson positions the reader to feel both admiration and sympathy for the drover’s wife.’
The story ‘The Drover’s Wife’ is an interesting short story about an Australian woman living with her children in the bush around the 1890’s, written by Henry Lawson. It shows the reader how life was like living in the bush, through the experiences the drover's wife lived and the surrounding nature that at times posed a threat to her, her household and her livestock. The story puts the reader in a position to feel both admiration and sympathy for the drover’s wife.
But why does the story make the reader feel admiration for the drover’s wife? In the story, the drover’s wife is very intelligent, as shown when she has to get rid of some thieving crows, …show more content…
In the very start of the book, the description of the setting seems harsh and habitable, but the drovers wife seemingly lives in the middle of it all. Her husband is a drover, which means he drives cattle from the fields to the market to be sold, so he is moreover occupied with droving than spending time at home. The drover's wife knows that he always comes back to her, but sometimes it worries her when he is gone for months without notice. This spread her relationship with her husband rather thin, as she only sees him a few times a year or less, 'She was used to being alone. She once lived like this for eighteen months.' Although she was now used to living 'alone' in the bush, it would have been hard when her husband first went droving. She would have felt lonely, even if she had children and cattle to look …show more content…
Different people will feel different emotions for this story, the people that may have experienced what the drovers wife did would understand what she had been through. They would feel more sympathy than admiration toward her, while others would feel the opposite. Many would not understand the heartache she had been through, but would understand the joy in a bit of harmless laughter. People would read the book because it had an interesting story to tell those who would listen. We admire the drover’s wife for trusting in herself and for her determination, we respect what she does and where she lives. Nobody is put in the position of feeling sympathy and admiration for the drover's wife, but it is the story itself that does all the
The story ‘The Drover’s Wife’ is an interesting short story about an Australian woman living with her children in the bush around the 1890’s, written by Henry Lawson. It shows the reader how life was like living in the bush, through the experiences the drover's wife lived and the surrounding nature that at times posed a threat to her, her household and her livestock. The story puts the reader in a position to feel both admiration and sympathy for the drover’s wife.
But why does the story make the reader feel admiration for the drover’s wife? In the story, the drover’s wife is very intelligent, as shown when she has to get rid of some thieving crows, …show more content…
In the very start of the book, the description of the setting seems harsh and habitable, but the drovers wife seemingly lives in the middle of it all. Her husband is a drover, which means he drives cattle from the fields to the market to be sold, so he is moreover occupied with droving than spending time at home. The drover's wife knows that he always comes back to her, but sometimes it worries her when he is gone for months without notice. This spread her relationship with her husband rather thin, as she only sees him a few times a year or less, 'She was used to being alone. She once lived like this for eighteen months.' Although she was now used to living 'alone' in the bush, it would have been hard when her husband first went droving. She would have felt lonely, even if she had children and cattle to look …show more content…
Different people will feel different emotions for this story, the people that may have experienced what the drovers wife did would understand what she had been through. They would feel more sympathy than admiration toward her, while others would feel the opposite. Many would not understand the heartache she had been through, but would understand the joy in a bit of harmless laughter. People would read the book because it had an interesting story to tell those who would listen. We admire the drover’s wife for trusting in herself and for her determination, we respect what she does and where she lives. Nobody is put in the position of feeling sympathy and admiration for the drover's wife, but it is the story itself that does all the