Call Me Maybe

"Neighbours" by Tim Winton is an intriguing insight into the lives of a young couple who had moved into a Melbournian suburb. The challenges and ordeals faced by them place the reader in a position to observe varying values and attitudes which are connected with many aspects of Australian multicultural life. The text deals with the different lifestyles of Australia's ethnic minorities to Australians and we can see from the text how an author creates a good reader response. Examples wich contribute to the vast reading experience can be the cultural backgrounds, our own lifestyles, morals and values and the significance of the characters of the text.

People who come from second world countries like Poland and Macedonia are renown for being hard workers and love cultural activities, and the characters in Neighbours proved to be no exception. The text indulges in the view of cultural hard working ethnic family's, who surround the two couples who had just moved into the new neighborhood. At first the couples were having a hard time fitting in as they saw their neighbors to be a bit odd. A quote wich demonstrates this can be "It took six months for the newcomers to comprehend the fact that their neighbors were not murdering each other, merely talking" (pg 83). This quote demonstrates that the couple who had just moved from a quite and peaceful suburb are tormented and agonized with the level of noise they make. The way the neighbors lived their lives were also a shock to the couple. A quote wich demonstrates this can be "The sounds of spitting and washing and daybreak watering came as a shock". Spitting and daybreak watering are not apart of Australian living. Australians try to be more "civilized" and through Tim Wintons Neighbours we learn how we can adapt to these new ways of living.

Today it is not unusual to see people of all different races, ethnic backgrounds or cultural groups living in one society. Our society is formed of a mix of different people and