The Great World Analysis
Take Home Examination
Question One Focus: David Malouf: The Great World
Evaluate Malouf’s representation of Australian prisoners of war in Singapore and Thailand during World War II.
Malouf’s The Great World is a novel of historical proportions, focusing on the impact of major events in the lives of ordinary Australians over decades. Malouf opens his readers to a mysterious and complex world where deep experiences of individuals are dissected in order to explore the impact of the inevitable suffering and struggles of its characters. The major concern of the novel is Malouf’s focus on World War II and the experiences of its characters, Vic and Digger, as Japanese Prisoner’s of War. This imperative section of The Great World represents the …show more content…
Malouf is also careful not to romanticise or rely on traditional ‘nationalistic’ clichés of heroism or mateship in his representation of this central event. One example of Malouf steering clear of these established traditions, is during Digger’s near-death experience in Thailand due to a tropical ulcer. A concerned Vic visits Digger in hospital where he is in a state of delusion: ‘he had begun a light-hearted descent towards a place of light, and had decided to go with it (Malouf, 1990, p. 158). Upon seeing Diggers condition, Vic bravely carries Digger to the edge of a river to allow the fish to digest his rotting flesh and decontaminate his putrid wound. Malouf realistically expresses Digger’s realisation of his condition and continuation of life: ‘it was the news of his own corruption, the smell, still as yet a little way off, of his own death. It has sickened him. Now, slowly he felt the smell recede’ (Malouf, 1990, p. 161). Malouf’s frank and grotesque imagery dehumanises his character and enables readers to understand that, by looking at the place of war in the human experience, we can go ‘beyond the concept of life’s continuity, after such catastrophes, to accept them as consistent with and part of the fabric of human life’ (Rhoden, 2014, p.
Question One Focus: David Malouf: The Great World
Evaluate Malouf’s representation of Australian prisoners of war in Singapore and Thailand during World War II.
Malouf’s The Great World is a novel of historical proportions, focusing on the impact of major events in the lives of ordinary Australians over decades. Malouf opens his readers to a mysterious and complex world where deep experiences of individuals are dissected in order to explore the impact of the inevitable suffering and struggles of its characters. The major concern of the novel is Malouf’s focus on World War II and the experiences of its characters, Vic and Digger, as Japanese Prisoner’s of War. This imperative section of The Great World represents the …show more content…
Malouf is also careful not to romanticise or rely on traditional ‘nationalistic’ clichés of heroism or mateship in his representation of this central event. One example of Malouf steering clear of these established traditions, is during Digger’s near-death experience in Thailand due to a tropical ulcer. A concerned Vic visits Digger in hospital where he is in a state of delusion: ‘he had begun a light-hearted descent towards a place of light, and had decided to go with it (Malouf, 1990, p. 158). Upon seeing Diggers condition, Vic bravely carries Digger to the edge of a river to allow the fish to digest his rotting flesh and decontaminate his putrid wound. Malouf realistically expresses Digger’s realisation of his condition and continuation of life: ‘it was the news of his own corruption, the smell, still as yet a little way off, of his own death. It has sickened him. Now, slowly he felt the smell recede’ (Malouf, 1990, p. 161). Malouf’s frank and grotesque imagery dehumanises his character and enables readers to understand that, by looking at the place of war in the human experience, we can go ‘beyond the concept of life’s continuity, after such catastrophes, to accept them as consistent with and part of the fabric of human life’ (Rhoden, 2014, p.