Tin Symbolism Unveiled: Exploring Attitudes of Early Australian Life and Individuality in ‘Thursday’s Child

The early Australian view that, due to countless hardships life becomes invaluable, the Australian belief that the land is against those who do not accept or appreciate and individuality is a common quality in frontier lifestyles, are three of the many attitudes that can be found in the text "Thursday's Child". The author Sonya Hartnett uses the characters, language and symbolism present to explore the above views.

With the aid of the characters in the text "Thursday's Child" the Early Australian view that, due to countless hardships life becomes invaluable, is portrayed. At the beginning of the text the issue of pregnancy and birth is raised as Caffy is being delivered. One of the main characters, Harper, is only seven, but doesn't see birth as a happy or exciting event.

She believes she has "experienced [her] fair share of newborns." Few newborns survived in the early 1900s, and Harper doesn't understand why her family is so upset when they die, "only a baby," is how she sees it. Her little brother, Tin, is enveloped by a wall of mud shortly after, and her father begs God to "take the new one instead" of Tin. Harper sees this as acceptable, and refers to Caffy as having "no meaning yet...because he had a good chance of dying shortly anyway," which is a very pessimistic and throwaway view on life for someone so young. The main reason Harper assumes these attitudes is through witnessing the deaths of her younger siblings.

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One day Caffy develops colic, and Harper finally shows some love for him and places slight value on his life, as she sees "his dying...[as] unfortunate, because [they]'d become fond of him." The readers may warm to her through this, but this is all in vain as she adds, "but at least Mrs Murphy would go home." Harper's older brother, Devon, accepts a job at Vandery Cable's, the family's rich neighbour. He completes it badly and in return is refused pay. Da visits Cable and encourages him to pay Devon, explaining that he has received no prior training. Cable still refuses, and in the next weeks to months Devon grows "morose and malcontent." Da objects to Devon's actions and mood, saying "you shouldn't expect life to be fair." Da's father "never kept a single promise in his life," showing that Da's past experiences have caused him to view life as invaluable. Therefore, through the characters in the text, the readers accept the Early Australian view that, due to countless hardships life becomes invaluable.

The language used in the text "Thursday's Child" helps portray the Australian belief that the land is against those who do not accept or appreciate it. Harper and Tin, two of the main characters in the text have an affinity with nature and the land they live on, accept nature and are therefore accepted by it. This is displayed various times throughout the text by similes, metaphors and personification. Such as when Tin "gazed...through eyes as blue as the sky," ". ""...his hand...was a clenched flowerbud," Harper "...ran like a bird flying" and Tin was "...snug and safe as a nesting bird." Harper and Tin are the only characters described possessing animal or nature qualities, due to their love for it. At the start of the story Tin is nearly killed by a thick coverage of mud.

During this time a nearby tree is "creaking pitifully, its leaves weaving a shuddering waltz." Personifying nature in this way makes it seem as if it respects Tin and feels sorry for him as he respects it. Their Da on the other hand would rather be as far from nature as he possibly can. "All my life it's been one thing after another. I have an education, I used to go to dances, all I want is to be left alone -" he complains.

Da lists the features of his past in order to explain that he's too good for the life he is living on the farm, and the dash at the end of the sentence is aimed to prolong the effect of the comment. Harper believes that "most of [their] neighbours weren't farmers and neither were... Mam and Da but the others were somehow more fortunate...and coaxed crops and vegetables to grow." Personification is used again where the crops are seemingly "coaxed" to grow.

Their neighbours view the vegetables as living things worthy of time and, through love, grow unlike Harper's family's. The farm the Flute's reside on was given to them by the "government boys" in thanks for Court's service during the war. Court thinks that if the land was any use or containing any value, then it wouldn't have been given to them. Therefore, how can he expect to get any goodness out of the land if he does not believe it possesses any worth. Therefore the readers understand the Australian belief that the land is against those who do not accept or appreciate it, through the text.

Individuality, a common quality in frontier lifestyles, evident in the text Thursday's Child is displayed throug h the symbolism of Tin's tunneling. Tin, one of the youngest Flute's, detaches himself from the family at a young age to begin a life tunneling underground. No-one seems to understand why he does this, but his Da and sister Harper have a slight appreciation for it. Da was a volunteer in the War and battled the horror of the trenches. Therefore, his view of mud, dirt and the like is negative as it reminds him of death and the losses that occurred. Even though Da's memories cause him pain, he still allows Tin to continue tunneling because he "could never dig until [he] was safe." Also, Da has not been blessed with large amounts of success or happiness in his life and he seems like he wants to
get away from everything.

Da sees Tin's digging as an attempt for security and safety from life and supports him, and he tells Harper "maybe you don't have to be safe from something...maybe you can just be safe." Harper, Tin's older sister, is only seven but despite this she isn't as ignorant as she seems. When Tin is entombed by mud at the start of the text Harper can see that Tin contributed to the digging for his survival more than she, Da and her brother, Devon, did. "You liked it, didn't you...that dark...and you liked the digging...even better than you liked the dark" she asks him. While Tin is tunneling he watches and listens to others, as if he'd rather protect and watch over them than participate in their lives. Hehas a desire for freedom and to show his individuality to the world, and Harper believes that "keeping Caffy safe and close meant setting Tin free to do as he pleased."

Tin seems to fulfill the craving that many people own and many think they've achieved: independence. He manages to stay close to his family, but still be totally his own person and achieve personal security. He doesn't worry about what other people say because he knows that they will never have what he has and never be able to do what he's done. Tin has listened to his heart, become an individual and achieved true freedom. Therefore, the readers accept that individuality, a common quality in frontier lifestyles, is displayed through the symbolism of Tin's tunneling.

The text Thursday's Child, positions the readers to accept the Early Australian view that, due to countless hardships life becomes invaluable, the Australian belief that the land is against those who do not accept or appreciate it and that individuality, is a common quality in the frontier lifestyles. Sonya Hartnett uses the characters, language and symbolism in the text to explore these attitudes.

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