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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Chapter 14: Principally Letters
Explanation and Analysis—Fickle Australia:
In Chapter 14, Australia itself becomes personified. The personification of the country works as a motif in the novel, and is often accompanied by metaphors of parenthood and the human body. In this chapter, Sybylla poses a rhetorical question to the reader, asking:
Australia can bring forth writers, orators, financiers, singers, musicians, actors, and athletes which are second to none of any nation under the sun. Why can she not bear sons, men of soul, mind, truth, godliness, and patriotism sufficient to rise and cast off the grim shackles which widen round us day by day?
The passage reflects Sybylla’s wish for Australia—then under British imperial rule—to achieve its “true” potential and shake off oppression. Her plea here uses a metaphor of birth and motherhood to personify Australia. She compares the country to a childbearing woman and its people to her children. She lists many distinguished occupations, asking why her country can’t also “birth” patriots. Sybylla wants to see “men of soul, mind, truth, godliness, and patriotism" instead of just artists and athletes. She wants people she feels could liberate the country from its metaphorical "shackles."
At the end of the novel, Chapter 38, the motif of Australia as having human qualities resurfaces. Sybylla expresses her pride in her Australian identity and her connection to the land as she bids farewell to her reader:
I am proud that I am an Australian, a daughter of the Southern Cross, a child of the mighty bush. I am thankful I am a peasant, a part of the bone and muscle of my nation, and earn my bread by the sweat of my brow, as man was meant to do. I rejoice I was not born a parasite, one of the bloodsuckers who loll on velvet and satin, crushed from the proceeds of human sweat and blood and souls. Ah, my sunburnt brothers!—sons of toil and of Australia! I love and respect you well, for you are brave and good and true. [...] My ineffective life will be trod out in the same round of toil—I am only one of yourselves, I am only an unnecessary, little, bush commoner, I am only a—woman!
The personification in this passage also includes a metaphor comparing Australia to a mother, as Sybylla describes herself as a “daughter” and a “child” of Australian things. The country is also compared to a physical human body here. Through the metaphor of being a part of the "bone and muscle of [her] nation," Sybylla emphasizes how deep she feels her link with Australia goes. Her fervent rejection of being a “parasite” who does not work aligns her with the “sons of toil” that she praises. In this passage, both Australians and Australia itself are depicted as people living an honest, laborious life, rather than a wealthy, lazy one. Sybylla is proud to be a peasant and embraces it as part of her Australian identity.
Related Themes:
Chapter 38: A Tale That Is Told And A Day That Is Done
Explanation and Analysis—Fickle Australia:
In Chapter 14, Australia itself becomes personified. The personification of the country works as a motif in the novel, and is often accompanied by metaphors of parenthood and the human body. In this chapter, Sybylla poses a rhetorical question to the reader, asking:
Australia can bring forth writers, orators, financiers, singers, musicians, actors, and athletes which are second to none of any nation under the sun. Why can she not bear sons, men of soul, mind, truth, godliness, and patriotism sufficient to rise and cast off the grim shackles which widen round us day by day?
The passage reflects Sybylla’s wish for Australia—then under British imperial rule—to achieve its “true” potential and shake off oppression. Her plea here uses a metaphor of birth and motherhood to personify Australia. She compares the country to a childbearing woman and its people to her children. She lists many distinguished occupations, asking why her country can’t also “birth” patriots. Sybylla wants to see “men of soul, mind, truth, godliness, and patriotism" instead of just artists and athletes. She wants people she feels could liberate the country from its metaphorical "shackles."
At the end of the novel, Chapter 38, the motif of Australia as having human qualities resurfaces. Sybylla expresses her pride in her Australian identity and her connection to the land as she bids farewell to her reader:
I am proud that I am an Australian, a daughter of the Southern Cross, a child of the mighty bush. I am thankful I am a peasant, a part of the bone and muscle of my nation, and earn my bread by the sweat of my brow, as man was meant to do. I rejoice I was not born a parasite, one of the bloodsuckers who loll on velvet and satin, crushed from the proceeds of human sweat and blood and souls. Ah, my sunburnt brothers!—sons of toil and of Australia! I love and respect you well, for you are brave and good and true. [...] My ineffective life will be trod out in the same round of toil—I am only one of yourselves, I am only an unnecessary, little, bush commoner, I am only a—woman!
The personification in this passage also includes a metaphor comparing Australia to a mother, as Sybylla describes herself as a “daughter” and a “child” of Australian things. The country is also compared to a physical human body here. Through the metaphor of being a part of the "bone and muscle of [her] nation," Sybylla emphasizes how deep she feels her link with Australia goes. Her fervent rejection of being a “parasite” who does not work aligns her with the “sons of toil” that she praises. In this passage, both Australians and Australia itself are depicted as people living an honest, laborious life, rather than a wealthy, lazy one. Sybylla is proud to be a peasant and embraces it as part of her Australian identity.
Related Themes:
