Comparing Mortality In John Keats Away And Michael Gow's O

Literature can reflect the human condition by presenting aspects of our existence, including the wide range of emotions, our mortality and the transformations which differentiate us as a species. Examples of texts which do so include the play Away by Michael Gow, the photo "Woman on Bondi" by Marco Bok and the poem "Ode To A Nightingale" by John Keats, which provide similar and contrasting views on these aspects of humanity.

Away by Michael Gow, first published in 1986, is an Australian play set in the 1960s, following the Vietnam War, which explores the mortality, loss, restoration and transformation experienced in our existence.

Gow suggests that Tom is the catalyst through his characterisation of Puck in "A Midsummer Night 's Dream" in the opening scene. He alludes to Tom 's role as a healer, as it is through his death that others are able to begin the process of restoration -
The "flowery bed" can also be interpreted as Tom 's deathbed and thus, she unknowingly foreshadows his fate.

Gow uses the play-within-a-play, "The Stranger On The Shore", to express Coral 's final acceptance and restoration. This play demonstrates love, sacrifice and death, with Coral 's role allowing her to experience the greatest change. The repetition of the line "I 'm walking" emphasises this change and portrays her healing. Gow also uses the lighting of the bonfire as a symbol for the death of old beliefs and a signal for new life, "They 've lit a bonfire on the beach.