POSSIBLE QUESTION 1:

Any text will explore ideas that are important to the composer; but for
some texts the distinctively visual elements are essential to the way
those ideas are explored. How do two Henry Lawson stories and the
short animated film “The Wall” use distinctively visual elements to
explore ideas?

Henry Lawson’s stories ‘The Drovers Wife’ and ‘The Bush Undertaker ’, as well as Nick
Bakers and Tristan Klein’s Tropfest film ‘The Wall’ elucidate the essentiality of distinctively visual
elements, during the exploration of the main ideas within their texts. Lawson focuses on the
challenging nature of bush life, while Bake explores the concept of the desperation and
determination of individuals who wish to overcome political challenges impeding them from
attaining their desired outcome. 75

Within ‘ The Drover’s Wife’, Lawson uses distinctively visual elements to explore the idea
that life for women in the bush is harsh. He invites us to imagine the bleak setting through visual
elements such as the personification of the trees: ‘A few she-oaks are sighing above the…
waterless creek.’ This highlights the misery in the surroundings, with the tree’s echoing the
despair of the bush woman. Another element, repetition describes the all encompassing nature of
the bush: ‘Bush all round-bush with no horizon…’ further engaging the reader to understand the
family’s isolation where they are ‘nineteen miles to…civilisation.’ Lawson creates a visual image
of nature as terrifying through the representation of a storm, utilising the distinctive element of it’s
personification: ‘the wind, rising through…the slab wall, threatens to blow out her candle’.
Here the distinct powerful elements of the verbs explore the idea of the harsh aspect of nature. 150

Lawson’s ‘The Bush Undertaker’ also explores the harsh aspects of nature. He uses the
distinctively visual image of “Bare Brown ridges” the colour imagery of brown emphasises the
barrenness of the Australian landscape, cumulatively telling us about the drought stricken
landscape. Connotations of the word ‘barren’ forces the reader to imagine the emptiness of the
drought stricken landscape. It also gives the reader a visual image of the dry/infertile land. The
concept of the harshness of nature is also emphasised in the adjective “Ragged gums on the
distant range” expressing universal images of the landscape by allowing the reader to visualise it
as ‘dying’. The inert bush setting is also represented when Lawson uses “Broiling” to create a
tactile image of the intense heat as the word “broiling” refers to “high heat” and reinforces the
harsh condition that the bush undertaker faces living in the Australian Bush. 150

The running theme of the harsh conditions of the bush within ‘The Bush undertaker’, is
continued within the Distinctively Visual Image of the finding and removal of Brumby’s body. The
metaphor “Dried to a mummy” shows the body's dehydrated state, due to the extreme heat
comparing it to a mummy. A repetition reinforces the burnt appearance of the body showing how
the condition of being left in the sun can affect the body; “blackened carcass... blackened
features... blackened wrists” The harshness of nature on an individual is also presented in a
simile ‘He picked up a stick and tapped the body on the shoulder; the flesh sounded like
leather’ giving an aural image of the remains, further highlighting the flesh being tapped and
sounding like leather indicating how the ‘, intense heat’ has impacted the appearance of the
remains and also consolidates the entire idea of the harsh environment. 149

‘The Wall’ Further integrates visual elements to explore the idea of a harsh environment,
where the protagonists are determined and desperate in fleeing from their deteriorating, present
environment. The present world’s corruption is epitomised through the distinctive visuals of the
dark colour palette which consists of deep reds and black to convey the negativity of the damage
to their current city. The long perspective within the same scene allows the audience to see the
Grandmother and her Grandson watching their home perish, forcing them to flee to a inviolable
environment. Whilst the protagonists are fleeing from the destruction, the spotlight on the
individuals faces presents their fear, which in turn becomes the drive to their determination in
getting over “The Wall”. Baker additionally explores the element of such determination within an
Extreme long perspective of the protagonists on a small boat in the vast, boisterous ocean
reinforcing the grandmothers perseverance to overcome challenges in her journey to safety. 158

Similarly within ‘The Drover’s Wife’, Lawson identifies the determination of the bush woman
in overcoming the harsh conditions of the bush for the sake of her children, similarly to Baker’s
film, as grandmother’s determination is for her grandchild. The challenging nature of this world is
evident through the children metaphorically aligned with the drought stricken landscape in: ‘Four
ragged, dried up-looking children’ and the woman herself presented as ‘sun-browned .’ The
image extends on this challenge as the mother ’ hugs (Tommy) to her worn-out breast…’.The
compound word ’worn-out’, outlines the all encompassing nature of her exhaustion and presents
the idea of the harsh bush life being endured. The distinctively visual verbs in ‘The …
Bushwoman dashes from the kitchen, snatches her babe…holds it on her left hip and
reaches for a stick.’ allows the audience to experience the woman’s desperation to protect her
children, furthermore reinforcing the challenging bush environment and how it can emanate
determination. 160

“The Wall expresses the same extent of desperation from the Grandmother’s perspective
in hopes of protecting her grandson. The distinctive element of the white light juxtaposed
against the dark endless void when her “hope was traded in” transcends an emotional allowance
to the audience itself so that they can experience the extent of the desperation. The Close
perspective (fly) shows the expression of human emotion, where baker alludes the audience’s
attention to the pain in both characters facial expo essions while the narration ‘Fly’ is a goodbye
and also a metaphor to her grandson to attain new heights, opportunities and to move on to live a
better life over the wall. This Two shot perspective of the boy flying off into the distance while
the grandmother stays reflects on the Grandmother’s unselfishness where she had given up all
she had for her grandson to achieve the desires that she was so desperate and determined to give
him. 157

Henry Lawson’s stories ‘The Drovers Wife”, ’ In A Dry Season’, and Nick Bakers and tristan
Klein’a Tropfest film ‘The Wall’ clearly present the essentiality of distinctively visual elements, in
order to provoke emotion in the audience and paint a picture in their head, of the challenges in the
harsh settings whilst portraying the determination and desperation of individuals within these
circumstances. 61
POSSIBLE QUESTION 2:
Analyse how experiences and attitudes are conveyed by the use of
distinctive images in at least two of Henry Lawson’s short stories and
the animated film “The Wall”.

Henry Lawson’s stories ‘The Drovers Wife’ and ‘ In A Dry Season’, as well as Nick Bakers
and Tristan Klein Tropfest film ‘The Wall’ presents various distinctively visual images that highlight
the attitudes and experiences of each protagonists within the texts. Lawson focuses on the how the
challenging bush life influences an individuals attitudes while Baker draws upon protagonists
determined attitude which was influenced by the environment. 63

Lawson’s ‘The Bush Undertaker’ presents the challenging experiences of the bush life. He
uses the distinctively visual image of “Bare Brown ridges” the colour imagery of brown
emphasises the barrenness of the Australian landscape, cumulatively telling us about the drought
stricken landscape. Connotations of the word ‘barren’ makes the reader imagine the emptiness of
the drought stricken landscape. It also gives the reader a visual image of the dry/infertile land. The
idea of the harsh aspect of nature is also emphasised in the adjective “Ragged gums on the
distant range” expressing the universal image of the landscape by allowing the reader to visualise
it as ‘dying’. The inert bush setting is also represented when Lawson uses “Broiling” to create a
tactile image of the intense heat as the word “broiling” refers to “high heat” and reinforces the
harsh experience that manipulates the bush undertakers attitude towards death. 149

Lawson continues to create this image of dealing with death in the harsh bush, when the
old man begins to move the body for burial. The need to be practical rather than reverend, is
visually conveyed in the metaphor describing the moving of the body: ‘sandwiching the defunct
between the two pieces…’. This seeming disrespect is also revealed in the compound words in
‘He up-ended Brummy…’ and finally the simile: ‘He carried it to the grave and dropped it into
one corner like a post…’. Lawson wants us to see that life in the bush is so universally harsh,
that even the horror of death becomes another commonplace chore which must be dealt with.
Lawson’s final commentary on the Australian bush as the personified ‘nurse and tutor of
eccentric minds’ and metaphorical ‘home of the weird’, visually reinforces the unusual but
nevertheless endearing nature of bush life and how it can influences an individuals attitude. 156

In ‘ The Drover’s Wife’, Lawson also uses distinctively visual elements to convey a woman’s
experience of the harsh bush life . He invites us to imagine the bleak setting through visual
elements such as the personification of trees: ‘A few she-oaks are sighing above the…
waterless creek.’ This highlights the misery if the surroundings, with the tree’s echoing the despair
of the bush women. Another element, repetition describes the all encompassing nature of the bush:
‘Bush all round-bush with no horizon…’ further engaging us in the idea of the family’s isolation
where they are ‘nineteen miles to…civilisation.’ Lawson crates a visual image of nature as
terrifying in the representation of a storm, through the distinctive element of it’s personification: ‘the
wind, rising through…the slab wall, threatens to blow out her candle’. Here the elements of
the verbs highlight the idea of the harsh aspect of nature and how they influence the attitude of the
women to be protective of her children. 151

‘The Wall’ also uses visual elements to elucidate the idea of a harsh world, where the main
protagonists attitudes convey determination and desperation in fleeing from the deteriorating,
present environment. The present world’s corruption is represented through the distinctively visual
elements of the dark colour palette which consists of deep reds and black to portray the
negativity of the damage to their current city. The long shot within the same scene allows the
audience to see the Grandmother and her Grandson watching their home perish before them,
forcing them to flee to a inviolable environment. Within this experience of destruction the spotlight
on the individuals faces present their fear, which in turn became the drive to their determination in
getting over “The Wall”. Baker emphasises the element of such determination within an Extreme
long perspective of the grandmother and grandson on a small boat in the vast, boisterous ocean
reinforcing the grandmothers attitude to overcoming challenges in her journey to safety. 164

Similarly within ‘The Drover’s Wife’, Lawson identifies the determination of the bush women
in overcoming the harsh conditions of the bush for the sake of her children, The challenging
experience of this environment is evident in the element of the children metaphorically aligned
with the drought stricken landscape in: ‘Four ragged, dried up-looking children are playing
about the house.’ and the woman herself presented as ‘sun-browned .’ The image extends on
this challenge as the mother ’ hugs (Tommy) to her wont-out breast…’. The compound word
“worn-out”, outlines the all encompassing nature of her exhaustion and presents the idea of the
harsh bush life being endured. The distinctively visual verbs in ‘The …Bushwoman dashes from
the kitchen, snatches her babe…holds it on her left hip and reaches for a stick.’ allows the
audience to experience the woman’s attitude of desperation to protect her children, furthermore
reinforcing the challenging bush environment and how it can manipulate and influence an
individuals attitude. 163

Baker’s “The Wall expresses the same behaviour of desperation from the Grandmother’s
perspective in hopes of protecting her grandson. The distinctive element of the white light
juxtaposed against the dark endless void when her “hope was traded in” transcends an
emotional allowance to the audience itself so that they can experience the extent of the
desperation. The Close perspective (fly) shows the expression of human emotion. The
audience’s attention is drawn to the pain in both characters facial expressions while Baker’s
dialogue ‘Fly’ is a goodbye and also a metaphor/message to her grandson to attain new heights,
new opportunities, to move on to live a better life over the wall. This Two shot perspective of the
boy flying off into the distance while the grandmother stays reflects on the Grandmothers
unselfish attitude where she had given up all she had for her grandson to achieve the desires that
she was so desperate and determined to give him. 157

Henry Lawson’s stories ‘The Drovers Wife’ and ‘ In A Dry Season’, as well as Nick Bakers
Tropfest film ‘The Wall’ clearly present distinctively visual elements, highlighting the how the harsh
experiences of the surrounding environment can formulate and manipulate an individuals attitude
in order to survive in the current circumstances.