Language as a Way to Contrast Life in Cities and the Bush Anonymous 12th Grade

Through the manipulation of textual forms and conventions, composers portray unique cultural experiences in their texts. In the short story ‘The Drover’s Wife’ by Henry Lawson, composed in 1892, the writer illustrates the unique, harsh environment of Australian bush culture and its downgrading physical and mental effects on the inhabitants living there. The text explores how a desolate, arid, and severe bush environment is disparate to urban culture, and how the bush environment can weaken a community to the point that their individuality is subverted to the opposite gender. Ultimately, through the effective manipulation and utilization of language forms and features, composers are able to capture unique experiences in different and contrasting cultures.

The text explores how the harsh environment of the Australian bush forces the subversion of cultural identity. The mother in the text has her role and identity subverted into that of a male’s, as a result of the father’s absence from the family. This is represented through the juxtaposition in, ‘the gaunt, sun-browned bush woman dashes from the kitchen,’ the writer compares the kitchen to a woman who is surprisingly different in appearance to that of a female living in a normal...