Tim Winton Author Study

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For my author study task, I choose Tim Winton and his collection of short stories, The Turning. Out of the collection, I choose the stories 'The Turning', 'Sand', 'On Her Knees' and 'Immunity'. The Turning 'The Turning' begins with Raelene, a mother of four girls, the morning after being abused by her drunkard husband, Max. Determined to go about her normal activities, she sets out to do the laundry. There, she meets a woman named Sherry. Sherry, though she obviously sees the after-effects of Raelene's abuse, says nothing about it, but instead befriends the other girl and the two become very close. Throughout the story, Raelene gets better, but her injuries soon reappear and she spends more of her time away from Max and with Sherry, who's never judged her. Later, she finds out that this is because Sherry's husband used to be an alcoholic and hated it when others told her he was no good, but at first thinks it is because they are Christians. Originally, Raelene shuns Sherry and her husband, but eventually comes to feel a sense of freedom from learning about their religion. For a while, Raelene continues to see Sherry and learn about Christianity, but Max soon finds out and believes she's cheating on him. While trying to defend herself, he pushes her into a wall and knocks her unconscious. It is then that Sherry finally speaks up and tells Raelene she doesn't deserve a man like Max. But Raelene doesn't listen. To her, she loves Max and even though he's who he is, she still cares for him. To be honest, after this point in the story I am confused by the ending. This is the ending of the last paragraph: "He was gone and it didn't matter when. Everything was new. In her dome(reference to a Jesus-snow dome she purchased) it snowed birds as the van rocked, birds like stars. The moment Max speared into her and tore open her insides she was full of hot and certain

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