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Personification
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
My Brilliant Career is set in rural Australia in the late 1900s. At this point, Australia was a colony of Britain, meaning its culture was dominated by British law and British values. This foreign rule and its effects on Australia's democracy was something many poorer Australians resented. Franklin describes its influence as bringing down the "iron, ungodly hand of class distinction" on the country. The novel vividly captures this unease with authority. It also focuses on uniquely Australian issues of the time: the hardships of rural life, droughts, and harsh working conditions in the vast rural expanses of the Australian outback. Like many important early Australian novels, My Brilliant Career also explores the enduring importance of community and of human resilience against seemingly insurmountable adversity. Small rural settlements in Australia were reliant on cooperation and persistence, which Franklin underscores in his descriptions of the unyielding and sometimes deadly environment of the bush.
My Brilliant Career focuses intently on depicting the social inequalities of Australia in the 19th century, a time when the disparity between rich and poor was enormous. Some of the action takes place in Possum Gully, the impoverished farming community where Sybylla Melvyn and her family move. To get there, they leave a comparatively more comfortable life as landowners on the conjoining stations (huge rural farms in the countryside) of Bruggabrong and Bin Bin. This is the first of many instances where Sybylla undergoes a decline in her circumstances. It happens again in the horrible setting of Barney’s Gap, a derelict place where Sybylla is sent to work as a governess for the M’Swat family to earn money for her family. Franklin contrasts the deprivation, lack of culture, and boredom of Possum Gully and Barney’s Gap with the exciting and affluent estates of Five-Bob Downs and Caddagat. Sybylla moves between these settings, highlighting their differences through her experiences. This contrast emphasizes the stark disparities between the privileged and the underprivileged. It also juxtaposes the lush beauty of these manicured estates with the sparse austerity of the outback.
The problems of the post Gold Rush economy in the author's home country are also prominent. The Gold Rush was a brief time of mass migration, economic growth, and societal transformation driven by the discovery of gold deposits in Australia. It attracted prospectors from around the world to the Australian colonies, leading to the development of booming mining towns and the establishment of Australia as a major gold producer. However, it didn't last long, and the period after its end was one of economic difficulty and instability for many Australians. This setting of financial precariousness is in the background of many of Franklin’s characters' motivations and choices. The threat of the loss of stability overshadows much of the book.
Related Themes:
