Confronting The Past In Tim Winton's Minimum Of Two
Some of the most prominent themes in Tim Winton’s Minimum of Two is the weight of memories and experience of loss, as characters face the challenges of confronting their problems, both past and present. Through various short stories, Winton highlights that the majority of characters who confront their problems deal more successfully with them, and are able to move on with their lives. One story which embodies this message is ‘Laps’, where Queenie successfully confronts her past failures and losses and regains her confidence after returning to her hometown. Furthermore, throughout the Nilsam Suite, we witness Jerra’s growth as he struggles to deal with his past, only moving on after confronting and accepting his father’s death in ‘Gravity’.
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On the anniversary of his father’s death, Jerra is forced to confront his loss and father’s absence. From earlier stories in the Nilsam suite we learn that Jerra can be self-indulgent and immature, taking a long time to accept changed circumstances. This inability to confront the past reaches a climax in “Gravity”. Jerra is unable to move on – the loss of this father has bounded him to the past, giving him a sense of emptiness, “there was a hole in him…something was lost.” From the opening passage Jerra’s self-indulgence and bitterness is evident by his reluctance to return to the party he is supposed to be co-hosting. The use of flashbacks of Jerra’s father teaching him to ride a bike highlights the bond of the father-son relationship and the pain of Jerra’s loss – “And then the grip gone, no old man. Sudden grave feeling of independence. Turning, turning”. Jerra is hit with the realisation that his father is gone, that he is alone - “it was riding down that street, as though he had been balancing a cycle for the first time. There was no exhilaration in it, only a terrible sense of gravity”. The memory of learning to ride a bike is a metaphor of Jerra’s current struggle to deal with reality – he must stay on the bike in order to move forward or be dragged down by gravity; Jerra must move on or be held down by the
On the anniversary of his father’s death, Jerra is forced to confront his loss and father’s absence. From earlier stories in the Nilsam suite we learn that Jerra can be self-indulgent and immature, taking a long time to accept changed circumstances. This inability to confront the past reaches a climax in “Gravity”. Jerra is unable to move on – the loss of this father has bounded him to the past, giving him a sense of emptiness, “there was a hole in him…something was lost.” From the opening passage Jerra’s self-indulgence and bitterness is evident by his reluctance to return to the party he is supposed to be co-hosting. The use of flashbacks of Jerra’s father teaching him to ride a bike highlights the bond of the father-son relationship and the pain of Jerra’s loss – “And then the grip gone, no old man. Sudden grave feeling of independence. Turning, turning”. Jerra is hit with the realisation that his father is gone, that he is alone - “it was riding down that street, as though he had been balancing a cycle for the first time. There was no exhilaration in it, only a terrible sense of gravity”. The memory of learning to ride a bike is a metaphor of Jerra’s current struggle to deal with reality – he must stay on the bike in order to move forward or be dragged down by gravity; Jerra must move on or be held down by the