Literature Entry Week 4
The tutorial exercise of providing an argument to extend our understanding of Annabelle’s quote ‘In this place I am becoming myself again’ (page 208) provided me with insights into the text which would have remained subconscious without the deeper inspection of the novel as provided for in the tute.
At this point of J2SC, Annabelle is penning an imaginary letter in her mind to Steven, a daydream which unpacks the hint of a subconscious decision to leave Steven. Miller has allowed Annabelle to indulge her fantasy of remaining on the land with Bo. I claim this to be a ‘
’ because at this point in the novel, Annabelle is discovering herself again through a rediscovery of her past and is almost romantically imagining that life at Ranna Station could be sustained.
This quote alerted me to a fatalistic side to Annabelle’s life as painted by Miller. The recurring suggestion of Bo’s ‘I knew you was gonna come back one day’ (Page 24) suggests that Annabelle too has a undeniable and inescapable connection with the land.
The fatalism of this was highlighted by a memory I had of reading a book called Tess of the D’Urbervilles. It was many years ago, but I remember a core theme of the novel being that you begin your life at one point, and you die at another; all that occurs within those two points will not alter the point where you end your life, but there are connections which draw you to certain decisions. Here, Annabelle was born amongst the landscape, and Bo suggests he ‘knew’ she would end up back amongst the landscape. In this case, her time away in Melbourne and amongst academia has altered her connection to, and perception of the land. But, like a snake shedding skin, the longer she is within the environment and around Bo, the closer she becomes to connecting to her destiny of being amongst the landscape. Here, she is ‘becoming herself again’, a ‘self’ pre-determined in her destiny, or a ‘self’ which is dictated to her birth amongst the land.
'But, like a snake shedding skin, the longer she is within the environment and around Bo, the closer she becomes to connecting to her destiny of being amongst the landscape. '
The quote ‘In this place I am becoming myself again’ (page 208) took me back also to a central scene on page 194 when Annabelle takes a solitude, ponderous walk on the riverflat amongst the ‘soft drooping branches of the casurinas, glistening like hoarfrost on the sweet couch grass’ (Page 93) and dived into the water. In an act which symbolized a Christening, Annabelle questions ‘How she had neglected all this!’ (Page 194). It is here, in the prelude to her thought of ‘In this place I am becoming myself again’ (Page 208) that we see Annabelle’s physical exaltation of being herself again, and we get a feeling of her reconnecting with herself.
So I suppose to say that my visit to the Art Gallery was on a minimal, if even barely evident par with Annabelle’s rediscovery would be slightly true. I am definitely not an artist but I remember visits to the Art Gallery with my family when I was growing up. I simply did not ‘get’ art and so I hated any trips to the gallery. Prior to Wednesday’s visit, I still believed most art looked like splotches of paint that a child could have painted.
I have had little ability to recognise introcacies in art which could symbolise a greater meaning. Dots and splashes of colour is all I have seen up to this point
Now however, I am recognizing the intertextuality of these paintings and I have discovered a purpose in the strokes of these artists. The historical significance in the stories they tell, and their connection to literature astounded me.
Of particular interest was the 1891 Streeton painting of ‘Fire’s On’. The layers of insight paintings like this offer of the mindset and interpretation of colonialistic connections and usage of the land was an eye opener for me. To finally see a connection between art and literature, and to witness how some of these paintings have deepened my understanding of the issues raised in Journey to the Stone Country, by showing the difference between what colonists thought and did with the land, as opposed to Indigenous use and symbolism in the land, was particularly revealing and enjoyable.
