"Neighbours" by Tim Winton is an intriguing insight into the lives of a young couple who had moved into a Melbournian suburb. The challenges and ordeals faced by them place the reader in a position to observe varying values and attitudes which are connected with many aspects of Australian multicultural life. The text deals with the different lifestyles of Australia's ethnic minorities to Australians and we can see from the text how an author creates a good reader response. Examples wich contribute to the vast reading experience can be the cultural backgrounds, our own lifestyles, morals and values and the significance of the characters of the text.
People who come from second world countries like Poland and Macedonia are renown for being hard workers and love cultural activities, and the characters in Neighbours proved to be no exception. The text indulges in the view of cultural hard working ethnic family's, who surround the two couples who had just moved into the new neighborhood.
At first the couples were having a hard time fitting in as they saw their neighbors to be a bit odd. A quote wich demonstrates this can be "It took six months for the newcomers to comprehend the fact that their neighbors were not murdering each other, merely talking" (pg 83). This quote demonstrates that the couple who had just moved from a quite and peaceful suburb are tormented and agonized with the level of noise they make. The way the neighbors lived their lives were also a shock to the couple. A quote wich demonstrates this can be "The sounds of spitting and washing and daybreak watering came as a shock". Spitting and daybreak watering are not apart of Australian living. Australians try to be more "civilized" and through Tim Wintons Neighbours we learn how we can adapt to these new ways of living.
Today it is not unusual to see people of all different races, ethnic backgrounds or cultural groups living in one society. Our society is formed of a mix of different people and sometimes it is not easy to define ones self. Since we live in a society that is influenced by many social aspects expressing ones personal identity may be a hard task. This can refer to me and many other Australian citizens who are from other countries around the world. Many people like me have a hard task expressing ourselves around Australians just like the couple in the book who have difficulty expressing themselves in their new neighborhood. It is obvious to say that the author had created this unwelcomed feeling in the text so it can relate to Australian from ethnic minorities to create a better reader response. Another way an author creates a better reader response is by adding morals and values to the text.
After a certain amount of time, the couple finally realized how to fit in. They started to grow a garden and "this caused the Neighbours to come to the fence and offer advice about spacing, hilling and mulching" (pg83). They decided to build a hen house and they did with one of their Neighbours help and the finally become equal to everybody else. "They felt superior and proud" (pg84). They even started to invite each other to dinner. Like most stories there is a moral value behind the text for the author to understand for themselves to yet again create a better reader response. Therefore the moral behind Neighbours can be to never give up trying to be welcomed and fight and struggle for equality just as the couple did and won their neighbours acceptance. The significance of the characters of text also creates a better reader response.
It can be said that a short story just like Neighbours tend to be more concise and to the point than longer works of fiction like a novel. Usually, a short story will focus on only one incident, has a single plot, a single setting, a limited number of characters, and covers a short period of time. Therefore for an author to create a good reader response for a story wich does not reveal enough information, can make the characters significant to us, its readers wich would obviously interest more readers. The values and attitudes surrounding the novel can often be called common to the Australian race of people like me and all Turkish people living in Australia and this gives all readers the opportunity to better understand Australian culture and the evolutions which have been made during the last 50 years. The couple in the story can be significant to your average Turkish Couple who had moved to Australia in the last ten years. Without proper English, different face colour and a different way of living you could had suffered the same way the couple in the story did. You could have been forced to adapt to this new way of living just to be welcomed and accepted into your new neighborhood. Tim Winton has done an excellent job in creating significance to the characters of the story to those of the vast growing ethnic minorities of Australia.
To conclude, in Tim Winton's "Neighbours" we readers experience the short story in many ways depending on how we interpret and relate to the text. There are a variety of ways wich contribute to the vast reading experience read. Example of this can be cultural backgrounds, our own lifestyles, morals and values and the significance of the characters of the text.