Through my study of micehal gows novel away, the documentary Cinderalla Children and the novel Fight Club, i now agree with Marcell Proust that “ We dont recieve wisdom we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one else can take for us”. The individuals in these texts gain wisdom from their journeys as a result of their experiences, perspective and personal growth, however some choose to use their wisdom more wisely than others. This proves that wisdom can not be received but rather we must discover it for ourselves.
The character that is seen to undergo the most profound change within the text ‘Away’ , by Michael Gow in my eyes, is Coral. We are introduced to Coral to be in an emotionally fragile condition, grieving the death of her son. She is seen to have alienated herself from society, and has a strained relationship with her husband Roy, unable to conform to his expectations. Coral’s psychological state is clearly depicted in the soliloquy Gow has utilised in Act One – Scene Three.
Through her speech we understand that she is in an unstable state, as suggested at the beginning of the soliloquy, where she states, “When that woman woke up and saw that donkey at her feet I thought my heart would break. ” This line generally depicts her detachment and alienation from society, through the inconceivable language used. Throughout irene gleesons life ( before the thought of the cinderella children project even started ) she had experienced pain and truma due to her past but she had a very strong faith in Christ which she believed helped her through her drakest days.
With her fatherless home and harsh childhood, he grew to become a motherfigure to her family, even though later down the track her marriage broke down which resulting in her leaving her faith in god for a spiritual search, but through trialing other religions she returned to her Christian faith even more determined to help. She grew to know jesus as the only husband she needed. So before she knew it she had sold her dream beach house and her possessions to afford the big move with her caravan over to kitgum, Uganda.
This is where the idea that gaining wisdom through out past experiences or journeys it may not seem relevant at the time but fundememntally help you when your struggling. The main character in Fight Club is the narrator and the main themes of the story are loneliness, materialism, and freedom from society. Tyler was created because of the lack of connection the narrator had with the people around him. The narrator was lonely and attended so many support groups because of it. He was not rejected at the support groups because the members thought he was sick just like they were.
Materialism is a reoccurring theme as the narrator mentions how he has worked his entire life for the Ikea items in his apartment. He tried to fill the void in his life by buying worthless, meaningless stuff. People spend too much time working for things they do not need. The narrator comes to the conclusion that, “You are not your job or your possessions. ” Only once a person realizes that can he or she finally let go and start living. “It’s only after you’ve lost everything,” Tyler says, “that you’re free to do anything. ” In order to be free, we must not care about the stuff we own.
When Tyler states “The things you own, end up owning you” it really opens the narrators eyes too see what he has based his life around... ”stuff”. Our whole lives are spent working to pay for stuff. If we did not have stuff to pay for, we would not have to work as hard and our time could be spent doing something more meaningful. This idea is also conveyed through the character Gwen from Michael Gow’s Away. A major conflict near the end of the story is between Tyler Durden and the narrator. The narrator discovered Tyler was a figment of his imagination and he wanted to stop him.
The narrator wanted to get rid of Tyler, end Project Mayhem, and all of the Fight Clubs. Tyler did not want to leave and this conflict was resolved with the narrator shooting himself and killing Tyler. Tyler was created as someone the narrator always wanted to be. Tyler was the narrator’s hero and the narrator envied everything Tyler stood for. The narrator started to lose his own conformist identity and become more and more like Tyler. As the novel progressed, the narrator grew more miserable while becoming Tyler. Becoming Tyler was emotionally and physically draining for the narrator.
Throughout the novel, the narrator is battling his former self and Tyler. He tried to find a happy medium between the two extremes. Towards the end, the narrator found this to be an impossible task as Tyler began to take over more and more. The narrator could not allow Tyler to continue controlling his life and destroying society so he had to shoot Tyler and himself in the process. “We need a break. We need a change” (Act Two – Scene Four). Gow has applied short and direct sentences to correspond Coral’s obstinacy and determination towards change.
The repetition of ‘we need a…’ reflects how Coral has prioritised change, and her views of change being a necessity. These techniques effectively suggest Coral’s acceptance towards change. Coral conjuncts the connotation of the holiday with positive implications, evident through her statement; ‘We’ll have a wonderful, wonderful time’ (Act Two – Scene Four). Repetition is prevalent once again in this excerpt, and has been used by Gow to portray her positive attitude in regards to the opportunity to change.
This is where the idea that transformation on a journey comes from acceptance and letting go of past hurts that control you. The explicit meaning of the story in Fight Club is that Tyler made Fight Club for a way for men to overcome the frustrations of their professional and personal lives. There are no rules or limits as to how far Tyler will go to fulfil his goal. The implicit meaning is that Fight Club was made as an answer to the rejection of a consumer society is with the use of violence. Fighting was a way to free a man from society.
