Henry Lawson is a well-known Australian author, who has written a number of short stories. Most of his stories are about the harsh conditions, in the Australian bush.
‘The Drover’s Wife’, one of Lawson’s short stories, is about a woman who lives in the bush with her 4 children while her husband is away for varying, prolonged periods of time, droving.
During this story, she is portrayed as a tough, determined woman facing many difficult challenges by herself including floods, drought and disease. This gives the reader an impression of her courage and strength.
Lawson describes the Drover’s wife as a ‘gaunt, sun-browned bush woman.’ This makes us as responders, imagine a woman who has had a hard life and been struggling.
The Australian bush is effectively described throughout the story with the use of visual imagery. The harsh conditions of Australia are brought to our attention by ‘Bush with no horizon, for the country is flat.’ The author describes how there are no distinctive features.
The bush is portrayed as an unfriendly place ‘nothing to relieve the eyes’. The author also illustrates how hard it is to survive in the outback ‘the bush consists of stunted rotten apple trees’.
Lawson uses descriptive language and adjectives to illustrate the house the family lives in. ‘the two roomed house is built of round timber slabs and stringy bark’ it describes how the primitive house is small and home-made.
Throughout the ‘Drover’s wife’, Lawson uses a number of language techniques. The use of visual imagery, descriptive writing and adjectives, creates strong images of the Australian bush and highlights how tough life is, to live there.
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