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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in My Brilliant Career, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Womanhood
Class and Poverty
Ambition, Respectability, and Pride
Love
Maturity and Suffering
Summary
Analysis
When Sybylla is nearly nine years old, Mr. Melvyn decides that his talents are wasted in the remote Bruggabrong, so he tells Mrs. Melvyn that raising livestock is no longer a financially stable option for the family. that raising livestock is no longer a financially stable option for the family. The truth, as Sybylla sees it, is that Mr. Melvyn has succumbed to discontent and dissatisfaction. He wants to make something of himself.
Mr. Melvyn establishes the story’s recurring theme of ambition, and its introduction is distinctly negative. His ambition is explicitly linked with selfishness and vanity––he wants to make something of himself because he feels he is too talented to spend his life at Bruggabrong. The selfishness of Mr. Melvyn’s ambition also reveals the patriarchal power he holds over his family. As the head of the household, he has the power to make his wife and children leave their home so he might pursue his goals.
Themes
Literary Devices
Mr. Melvyn moves the family to a small town near Goulburn called Possum Gully. They arrive in autumn with two servants and just enough furniture to get by until they settle in. The older, narrating Sybylla notes that the family still hadn’t bought more furniture 10 years later. The young Sybylla is bitterly disappointed by Possum Gully, which seems “common” and “monotonous” compared to the Timlinbilly Range, and her dislike of her new home never fades. A feature of Possum Gully is its easy access to water, but even that fails to impress Sybylla, since she is used to the many creeks around Bruggabrong.
The promise of new furniture parallels the promise of the new life Mr. Melvyn envisioned––and, like Mr. Melvyn’s ambitions, the new furniture never materializes. The move to Possum Gully also disrupts Sybylla’s understanding of “home,” and she will continue to search for a place that fills her with the sense of belonging she lost after leaving Bruggabrong.
Themes
Sybylla feels “cramped” at Possum Gully, and she cries herself to sleep on her first night there out of grief and homesickness for Bruggabrong. Mrs. Melvyn is not much happier, as she is unconvinced that Mr. Melvyn will be able to make a living at Possum Gully. But Mr. Melvyn is optimistic; he plans to make Possum Gully the center of a business in stocks, a business he can enter now that the family lives only 17 miles from the city Goulburn.
Mrs. Melvyn is more sensible than her husband, and she is aware of the many pitfalls in his plan. However, as a woman, she lacks the power to stop Mr. Melvyn from uprooting their family and betting the family fortune on a business he has no experience in. The relocation of the Melvyns to a more urban area also mirrors the shift in Australian culture at this time. Australia, like many other countries, underwent massive and rapid industrialization throughout the 1800s, which led to urbanization and a decrease in demand for rural farmers.
Themes
Literary Devices
Possum Gully’s proximity to others is unfamiliar to the family, who have to get used to living so close to people after spending years in the rural Bruggabrong. Sybylla reflects that having neighbors is convenient when the family needs to borrow something, but she finds it irritating when the neighbors ask to borrow something from the Melvyn family, especially because the loans are rarely returned.
The Melvyns are uncomfortable and out of their element at Possum Gully, which is seen in their discomfort at living so close to other people. Sybylla’s sense of humor comes through as she muses about the pros and cons of having neighbors. Her conclusion is that other people are good to have around because they can help her, but they can be a nuisance when they require her help. This comedic selfishness signifies her immaturity.
Themes
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