FINAL ESSAY DRAFT

People and their experiences are brought to life through Henry Lawson’s ability to utilise many figurative techniques to convey a bleak perspective about rural Australia and the aspects of Outback. Lawson depicts the monotonous uniformity of the barren landscape in the short story ‘The Drover’s Wife’ and the travelogue ‘In a Dry Season’ which shapes the stoic characters through the vernacular and series of anecdotes using the figurative and symbolic. Lawson conveys the distinct view of the settlers and pioneers of the early 20th century and presents the experience of human resilience essential for survival in the struggles faced in the Outback. By contrast, Dorothy Mackellar a contemporary writer of Lawson presents a very romantic vision of the landscape and of the lived experience of settlers in Australia.
Lawson exemplifies his monotonous experience of the Outback through snapshots of the harsh landscape when describing the setting of ‘The drovers Wife’ using repetition and imagery. The anonymous “gaunt, sun-browned bush woman” is deliberately characterised as a stoic and courageous folk, representing the personalities of the bush dwellers. Their tenacity is shown through the harsh and rugged environment of which the women endures as well as mothering “four ragged, dried-up-looking children”. The mothers archetypical bush experiences are drawn through the use of anecdotes of which recounts her battles with the Outback including when “she fought a mad bullock” by shooting, killing and skinning it. The action scene allows the audience to experience her sacrifices of femininity in order to provide protection for her family.
The bleak repetition of ‘bush’ renders the theme of the rugged and wearisome environment, which Lawson uses in a negative connotation. Lawson perceives the bush as desolate and harsh with little prospect, representing the lack of opportunity for bush dwellers. Lawson extends this pitiful imagery which “consists of stunted, rotten native