Garry's House example essay topic

Australian Drama and Theatre The Seven Stages of Grieving, collaborated by Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman, and Garry's House, written by Debra Oswald are both Australian dramas that examine the relationships between Australian characters and the environments that they inhabit. This is achieved through the use of dramatic forms, styles, and conventions. The comparison on the two plays shows a dramatic contrast between the traditional Aboriginal culture and the rough city / country contrast of the white Australian culture. These two theatre pieces also have thematic parallels which include life, death, grief, guilt, isolation, regret and anger. These themes are expressed through the way in which the characters relate to one another and their emotions are reflected through these relationships which are influenced and shaped by the freedom and constraints that their environments hold.

The world is made up of life and life is the central thing that people, animals and nature all have in common. It is what makes the world united without having to take into account religion, skin colour, language or gender. The purpose for living beings is to live and this is what is at the centre of the two plays, Garry's house and the seven stages of grieving. In Garry's house, it is life that is the reason for the five characters to hold relationships together and it is life that helps all, bar Garry, to push through past their own selfish desires and attitudes to see the needs of the baby and in that frame of mind, the characters change accordingly to meet the needs that have been neglected or not completed. For Christine, the life of her nephew brought out the maternal emotions that she had ignored in pursuit of her career. She re-adjusted her actions and attitudes to best suite those needs of the baby.

On the other end of the scale, Garry succumbed to the stresses and pressures that pregnancy and the construction of a house bring and chose to leave the situation all together. It appears that Garry felt that life was not worth persevering through the pain and torment to move past the state the he found himself in the night he committed suicide. QUOTE... (HEARTBREAK.) The life Sue-Anne lives is an emotional roller coaster. She could commonly be described as narcissistic as her actions and conversations lend the impression that the world revolves around her and she holds little consideration for the emotions that others may feel after encountering her. She has not lived a long life as she is only seventeen.

With this still in mind, she is very immature considering she is pregnant and it is evident that she has not taken her share of the responsibility for the life she helped create.