Unit 1  Short Stories

1. Neighbours
                                       Tim Winton


About the author

Tim Winton, full name Timothy John Winton, (b. 1960) is an Australian author of both adult and children’s novels that deal with both the experience of life in and the landscape of his native country. He competed with 35 other novelists for The Australian Literary Award presented for the best unpublished novel manuscript and won the prize in 1982 for his manuscript An Open Swimmer. His novels include That Eye, the Sky (1986), Dirt Music (2001), and Breath (2008). He also wrote several children’s books, including Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo (1990), The Bugalugs Bum Thief (1991), and The Deep (1998). This story ‘Neighbours’ has been taken from Migrants of Australia edited by Harwood Lawler.

It is a story about a newly married couple living in a multicultural and multilingual suburb neighborhood. It shows that cultural and linguistic barriers cannot stop people from bestowing love and compassion.



Summary:

Neighbours is a short story by Tim Winton about a newly young married couple. This story shows that cultural and linguistic barriers cannot stop people from bestowing love and compassion. The author has not named the characters he mentions in the story. Hence, the characters have not been defined, and as a result, they might have been viewed as role models for everyone.  

In the story, the couple shifted into a new home in a multicultural and multilingual suburb neighbourhood. They felt initially uneasy because their neighbourhood was densely populated with several European immigrants. Both the young couple and their neighbours had prejudices at first because they only saw the strange and sometimes disgusting customs of their new neighbourhood, but after a while, they quickly adapted to their new surroundings, and the young couple began to like their neighbours and noticed that they weren't all bad. They discovered that they could be friends and they could assist one another in their daily lives. 

On the left, there was a Macedonian family yelling whereas on the right, a Polish widower was pounding nails into the wood. It seemed weird to the young couple. First, they acted as though they were strangers and refused to speak to anyone. The so-called "young man" stayed at home and prepared his thesis on the development of the novels in the twentieth century and the "young woman" was employed by a hospital. The Macedonians thought something odd that the young man stayed at home to write his thesis while his wife went to work at the hospital. They also wondered about the young couple's late getting up. It began to alter in the autumn when the young couple began planting vegetables and the neighbours offered their assistance.

The young man failed to construct a henhouse. Then, the widower from Poland came there without being invited and rebuilt it. In the winter, the young couple returned the smiles of their neighbours. The Macedonian family taught them how to slaughter in the spring. 

After that, the entire neighbourhood began to engage with them and offered their assistance. As a result, the young couple was proud of their neighbours. Even though the couple had not planned for a pregnancy, the young woman became pregnant in the spring. The young couple didn't inform others about it, but their neighbours became aware of it after a short time. Everyone was willing to assist and was courteous. They started taking care of the young woman.

They were delighted as the neighbours gave them gifts. When the baby was delivered, the entire neighbourhood came out to greet the young couple and wish them well. For the young man, the birth was a marvel, and he learned at the end that the twentieth-century novels had not prepared him for real life. At this point, the man realized that he had been harbouring prejudices all along and started crying.

Thus, the story demonstrates how immigrants have contributed a lot in Australia's social fabric. This story shows intolerance, prejudice, and discrimination that come from a lack of knowledge as it is realized by the couple in the story after they are supported by the neighbours with strong sense of community.


Understanding the text 

Answer the following questions.

a. Describe how the young couple’s house looked like.

Ans:- The young couple's house was small, but its high ceilings and paned windows gave it the feel of an elegant cottage. From his study window the young man could see out over the rooftops and used car yards the Moreton Bay figs in the park where they walked their dog.

b. How did the young couple identify their neighbours at the beginning of their arrival?

Ans:-  The young couple had a negative impression of their neighbours when they first arrived. Many things like the cries and shouts of their neighbours, the toddler urinating in the street and peering at the fence irritated them. In addition, the young man despised the neighbours' involvement with their gardening efforts. Their neighbours were also concerned about their dog, raised eyebrows when they awoke late, and disapproved of the young man being at home while his wife worked outside.

c. How did the neighbours help the young couple in the kitchen garden?

Ans:- Under the watchful eye of their neighbours, the young couple removed trash from their backyard and ploughed and manured the soil in the autumn. They planted leeks, onions, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and broad beans, prompting neighbours to approach the fence and provide suggestions for spacing, hilling, and mulching. The young man was annoyed by the interruption, but he listened carefully to what was said. Also, the big woman with the butcher's arms handed her a bag of garlic cloves to plant. In this way, the neighbours helped the young couple in the kitchen garden.

d. Why were the people in the neighbourhood surprised at the role of the young man and his wife in their family?

Ans:- The people in the neighbourhood were surprised at the role of the young man and his wife in the family because of the late hour at which the newcomers got up in the morning. 

Their neighbours were also shocked by the young man's staying at home while his wife went to work at a hospital. He stayed at home to write his thesis on the Development of the Twentieth Century Novels. 

e. How did the neighbours respond to the woman’s pregnancy?

Ans:- The neighbours smiled at them nonstop after learning of the pregnancy. The man in the deli gave her small chocolate gifts and he handed the packages of cigarettes that he kept at home because he was not a smoker.

Italian ladies began to offer names in the summer. The young woman was stopped on the street by a Greek woman who pulled her skirt up and felt her belly, assuring her it was destined to be a boy. The woman next door had knitted the baby a suit, complete with booties and a beanie, by late summer. The young woman was flattered, claustrophobic, grateful, and irritated all at the same time.

f. Why did the young man begin to weep at the end of the story?

Ans:- The young man began to weep at the end of the story because he realized that he was wrong about the neighbours and he thought that the twentieth century novels had not prepared him for the real life. It became clear after the child was born. 

It enables the couple to emotionally find their neighbours' support. Also, significant occurrences like the birth of a child offer the ability to realize shared humanity. The baby had renewed new perceptions regarding the neighbours, just as described in the prescribed text.

g. Why do you think the author did not characterize the persons in the story with proper names?

Ans:- I think the author didn’t characterize the persons in the story with proper names because in a multi-cultural community, a personal name can be unimportant. A person’s name is usually significant and distinctive in the community. But the ethnic identity appears to be more important than one's name in the multicultural and multiracial community.

The author might want to put the narrative in a general category that refers to similar events. Furthermore, the author may wish to show that their ethnic affiliations are more essential than their individuality. Finally, because the story is short, Tim may not want his readers to get too invested in the characters, preferring instead to show a live panorama of a mixed neighbourhood. All the characters in the story are playing the roles of different people living in the multi-cultural community.


Reference to the context

a. The story shows that linguistic and cultural barriers do not create any obstacle in human relationship. Cite some examples from the story where the neighbours have transcended such barriers.

Ans: The story shows that linguistic and cultural barriers do not create any obstacle in human relationship. In the story, the neighbours didn't speak and understand one other's languages and share a similar culture. But there is no hindrance of language and culture in their communication. The young couple was helped in their kitchen garden by their neighbours. After a period of adjustment, the couple figured out how to blend in. Indeed, the text proves that the linguistic and cultural barriers do not create any obstacle in human relationships. 

The story explains that when the young couple began to grow a garden, it prompted their neighbours to approach the fence and provide tips on spacing, hilling, and mulching. The couple decided to build a hen house, which they completed with the assistance of one of their neighbours, and they were finally equal to everyone else. They even began to invite one other to dinner parties. These are some of the best examples from the story where the neighbours have transcended such barriers.


b. The last sentence of the story reads “The twentieth-century novel had not prepared him for this.” In your view, what differences did the young man find between twentieth-century novels and human relations?

Ans:- The Although the couple had not planned for a pregnancy, the young woman becomes pregnant in the spring, and their neighbours become aware of it after a short time. Everyone is willing to assist and is courteous. All of their neighbours are delighted and wish them well after the birth of their child. For the young man, the birth is a marvel, and he learns in the end that the twentieth-century novel had not prepared him for it.

In my view, the major differences the young man found between the twentieth-century novels and human relations are that, unlike characters in novels, humans have to deal with and overcome a variety of unpredictable and startling situations throughout their lives. Everything does not go as well in real life as it does in the novel. To overcome these situations, one must prepare himself in ways that novels cannot teach.


c. A Nepali proverb says “Neighbors are companions for wedding procession as well as for funeral procession.” Does this proverb apply in the story? Justify.

Ans: The Nepali proverb “Neighbors are companions for wedding procession as well as for funeral procession” also applies in the story “Neighbours”. This proverb means the neighbours are the people who are important in both the situations either in happiness or in sadness.

When the young couple began to work in the kitchen garden, the neighbours came over to the fence and gave them advice about spacing, hilling, and mulching. 

In addition, when the young couple wanted to build a hen house, one of their neighbours called a Polish widower came uninvitedly to help them.

Similarly, the news of the young woman's pregnancy was shared by everyone in the neighbourhood very happily. They played a  better role in the neighbourhood. They shared happiness and sadness together. 


d. The author has dealt with an issue of multiculturalism in the story. Why do you think multiculturalism has become a major issue in the present world?

Ans: In the story, the author has dealt with an issue of multiculturalism that refers to the presence of diverse cultures in a community. (it is mainly applied to the demographic make-up of a certain place, sometimes at the organizational level, such as schools, businesses, neighbourhoods, cities, or nations, as a descriptive phrase.)

I think multiculturalism has become a major issue in the present world because it is found in most of the part of the world due to the people’s migration for getting facilities of health, education, jobs, etc. along with making people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds together, it invites various social problems such as failure to assimilate, ethnic segregation, and adaptation issues such as school dropout, unemployment, and high crime rates, violence, etc. Because of multiculturalism people may face different problems as there may be some misunderstanding.