Comparing Lawson's Wife 'And The Bush Undertaker'

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Lawson effectively uses first hand observation and masterful use of the distinctively visual language to provide the reader with a bleak and uninviting perspective of the Australian outback. Visual images are the key to understanding a world that the audience have not experienced and it provides an insight into the harsh environments of the Australian Outback and the sacrifices women have to make living in such harsh and terror filled environments. These points are converted through Henry Lawson's “The Drovers Wife” and “The Bush Undertaker”.

The confronting visual images provided throughout “The Drovers Wife” gives the audience a shocking insight into the danger of living in the Outback and the consequences of the harsh environment on her young family. The wife is described as a “gaunt sun-browned woman” reflecting the harsh environment in which she lives. The harsh …show more content…

The “b” sound of these words creates a harsh and confronting tone, already suggesting that living in this environment is a battle. This ongoing danger is reiterated when the Bush Undertaker discovers Brummy’s corpse. Lawson purposely creates a surreal image by describing its desperate and disturbing appearance in detail “shrivelled eyes seemed to peer up at him from under the blackened wrists.” He adds sound to the image in “the flesh sounded like leather.” This simile links the disturbing image to an everyday sound, which highlights the harsh reality of what, happens if you don’t learn to adapt to the Australian

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