How the Characters in Tim Winton’s Minimum of Two Struggle to Cope with Change
How the Characters in Tim Winton’s Minimum of Two struggle to cope with change
Winton’s stories depict many kinds of change and the characters struggle to come to terms with their new circumstances. Coping with change is made more difficult by the fact that many of the characters are unable to express themselves and so resolution is often elusive. In other cases, nostalgia for the past also hinders the characters progress and development. Jerra struggles most of the time to cope with change, because he was always thinking about the past. He can never forget the past. His world is always stuck in the past. Whereas Madigan has the problem of communicating, he is simply unable to communicate which leads to a harsh consequence. These are just a few examples. However I believe that women cope with change a lot better then what men do, women can move on in life a lot easily compared to men in the minimum of two.
First of all, Winton shows us that the inability to communicate can have devastating consequences. For example Jerra – expects Rachel to comprehend his grief without really discussing this with her. Fat Maz in distant lands remains trapped, but only until the catalyst of the stranger. But there is one character where this aspect fits in perfectly. This aspect of the inability to communicate fits perfectly with the character Madigan in the story Minimum of Two. In Madigan’s case he is drawn into reacting like this due to his environment and the attitude of others. His wife (Greta) has been raped and is finding it difficult to confront basic ordeals in day to day life; she is also extremely conservative and constrictive now. Such as ‘I couldn’t get anything out of her, but I heard her crying in the bathroom and praying in bed’, ‘she writhed free and I let her lie nail straight under the quilt’, ‘I took her out for a game of tennis, she wore a tracksuit even though there was sun’. Because of Madigan’s wife reacting in this way, Madigan does not know how to cope.
Winton’s stories depict many kinds of change and the characters struggle to come to terms with their new circumstances. Coping with change is made more difficult by the fact that many of the characters are unable to express themselves and so resolution is often elusive. In other cases, nostalgia for the past also hinders the characters progress and development. Jerra struggles most of the time to cope with change, because he was always thinking about the past. He can never forget the past. His world is always stuck in the past. Whereas Madigan has the problem of communicating, he is simply unable to communicate which leads to a harsh consequence. These are just a few examples. However I believe that women cope with change a lot better then what men do, women can move on in life a lot easily compared to men in the minimum of two.
First of all, Winton shows us that the inability to communicate can have devastating consequences. For example Jerra – expects Rachel to comprehend his grief without really discussing this with her. Fat Maz in distant lands remains trapped, but only until the catalyst of the stranger. But there is one character where this aspect fits in perfectly. This aspect of the inability to communicate fits perfectly with the character Madigan in the story Minimum of Two. In Madigan’s case he is drawn into reacting like this due to his environment and the attitude of others. His wife (Greta) has been raped and is finding it difficult to confront basic ordeals in day to day life; she is also extremely conservative and constrictive now. Such as ‘I couldn’t get anything out of her, but I heard her crying in the bathroom and praying in bed’, ‘she writhed free and I let her lie nail straight under the quilt’, ‘I took her out for a game of tennis, she wore a tracksuit even though there was sun’. Because of Madigan’s wife reacting in this way, Madigan does not know how to cope.