Change and Its Consequences

Change, if not inevitable, is vital for an individual’s life. Without change, one would not have the capability to grow mentally, physically and emotionally. Change is the shift from one state to another. Les Murray suggests in ‘Driving through Sawmill Towns’, if change is not sought, one’s world would be left in a ‘dead-zone’; a place where nothing moves forward and further emphasises this idea in ‘The Widower in the Country’.   Therefore, learning to move forward, as seen in The Book of Lost Things written by John Connolly is both confronting and rewarding. As from the novel The Messenger by Markus Zusak, “If a guy like you can stand up and do what you did, then maybe everyone can. Maybe everyone can live beyond what they’re capable.”

In the physical world, change is a constant force. It is relentlessly shifting both the natural world and the world of man; the state of both worlds depending on the growth and change of its inhabitants – who in turn change and grow according to the change and growth of the world. Through use of personification in the line, ‘and a little sidelong creek alive with pebbles,’ – the creek being the last things ‘alive’ in ‘Driving through Sawmill Towns’- Les Murray implies that because the sawmill towns are lifeless and unchanged by the currents of time, its inhabitants are likewise lifeless and unchanged. Les Murray describes the people living in the sawmill towns as ‘tall youths’ and ‘a plain young wife’, clarifying there is little exciting about the people. The sawmill towns disrupt the forces of change and thus stunt physical growth; the towns are old-fashioned and the people are plain and unexciting.  

This lack of change is implied by Murray to be detrimental. Little to no change in the physical world will result in diminutive growth and will therefore stunt any further development in an individual’s mental or emotional abilities. Physical change aids mental and emotional growth; aspects that are imperative to human... [continues]

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