Away

The core text Away, by Michael Gow, Currency Press, 2007, through three different families physical holidays highlights the percussions various people are exposed to as a result of adventure and acknowledges that journeys have the capacity to alter peoples attitudes and perceptions of themselves, others and the world.   Through Away, the movement to new places and obstacles which arise throughout journeys, creating challenges for people to respond to in order to learn more about themselves and the world around them, provide travellers with prospects to develop themselves physically, psychologically and emotionally. These same concepts are also reinforced in the supplementary materials of the song “Nobody’s home” and the text Perfect.  

One of the Key characters in the play demonstrates a withdrawn attitude, emotionally distancing her self as to ensure that people are unable to get too close to her and experience her suffering. This is evident when Roy, her husband, expresses in Act Two Scene Three, “Will you allow me that? Could you let me in on the sadness just a little?” .Through the use of rhetorical question the desperation Roy feels to help Coral becomes apparent and the suffering he experiences as a result of Corals agony is exemplified. Coral, it appears, continues to mourn the death of her son, struggling to relieve herself of her pain, enduring the everyday battle she experiences with her emotions. During the play, Coral and Roy embark on a holiday in which they both hope will bring them some happiness and relaxation from the heavy burden they both carry of their son’s death. When Coral goes away, she finds that she is lost within herself, unable to break through the surface of her overbearing sadness which envelopes her, and leaves her trapped and broken inside. Through this physical journey Coral gradually undergoes profound change, which in the end appears to have advantageous effects on her when she allows herself the opportunity to break free of the...