My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin - Essay Example

My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin, William Blackwood & Sons Publication, 1901 Miles Franklin, in her book, details the trials and tribulations of living as a woman in the local setting of an Australian community. Sybylla the protagonist of the story lives variously as both a wealthy and poor person. The author manages to capture these two diverse aspects through depicting the rift that exists in both class and money. This is important to the development of the story of the novel since the protagonist gets to inform of the place for women in the society. This paper seeks to explain the significance of the protagonist undergoing these conditions. It also discusses the significance of this argument. Through the whole story, Sybylla experiences a life characterized by class. She lives with her family in abject poverty. After her father loses the family farm, he resorts to alcohol as the remedy for his problems. As she describes the family’s financial status, it is clear that the parents cannot fend for the whole family. She says, “We were on our beam-ends financially” (28). In this same chapter, she mentions that her parents have come clean to tell her that they cannot afford keeping her in the house, and she should look for ways to fend for herself. In this class, it is clear that, in desperation, all the family members were on their own, and the family splits. In her situations, there was a reverse of roles. A man is supposed to fend for his family and for her case, the dad had derailed with alcohol. As a woman, she had no choice, but to develop ways of making money to support her family. Life at the low class society is highly involving, and Sybylla feels the pressure. She decides that looking for a job outside this society is the way out. She has no idea that even life on the other side has its own difficulties. In the lower class women, working was a common thing since each member of the family had to work to sustain the family budget. A worker was mostly common, in lower class families, because every family member had to contribute, in some way; in order to keep the family’s basic needs met. “Women and children from underprivileged families also had to pursue employment since a solo wage was regularly not sufficient to offer an account for needs of the entire family.” (44). In this low class family, the mothers wage was not enough and, therefore, the whole family had to toil. Even the young kids had to look for means to add on what the rest of the family brought in. The father was an alcoholic and his wage could not be depended on since he had his priorities. This act within the novel proves the lower class during the turn of the century. The author uses the life of Sybylla to illustrate how it was necessary for women to work so at to sustain themselves and their families. The middle and higher classes in the novel’s era lived a more comfortable life than the lower class earlier revealed. Fortunately, enough Sybylla moves out of the low class to a higher class in Caddagat. In this process, it is clear that there are many changes in terms of life in the two classes of life. She notices many changes in the type of life the people of Caddagat live. This proves that there is a difference in the class system. Sybylla first observes that there are house cleaners making the table for ceremonial dinner, “heavy silver serviette rings, and beautiful pictures on the walls” (51). In vivid description, the author describes the veranda and pouch that goes around the whole house. Inside the house, the stunning piano in the study-room gives a precise picture of just how dissimilar Sybylla is living in the upper class. In the upper class, the affluence means that there is money, and this creates a rift among the members of this society. For Sybylla, this was a different life from what she had witnessed since childhood. The experience in this affluent environment has a significance of depicting the rift in the classes of this 1900 society. The affluent women in this era only knew marriage was their profession. They were not involved in working and fending for the family. They believed their husbands’ careers and success above everything else. This is totally different from the women in the lower classes of this society. In the case for Sybylla, she was born into this class system, and it was not her choice to be born on a low class family. In the book, Sybylla had a chance to face aspects of both lives. It is clear that Sybylla learnt more work skills in the low class life that in the upper class life. She, however, was comfortable with the life in the upper class.in the low class, she understood herself personally that her life in the upper class. Her experience in both lives has provided characteristics in understanding women identity. These descriptions give understanding the range of choices in the sense of the class structure presented to women throughout the specific era of the 1890s-1910. When the Melvyn family transfers from a contented home where her father owned several properties to a farm, Sybylla is unhappy. This is because they end up in a life of poverty. The father develops into a drunkard who uses any little money for his misplaced priorities. Ultimately, Sybylla is referred to her grandmother's house to reduce her mother's load. This is another key change in Sybylla’s life. She enjoys life at her grandmother’s house and does her tasks in this new environment. The charisma of Sybylla Melvyn in My Brilliant Career not only gives but also exhibits an extensive range of choices open to women through the turn of the century. The generational distinctions and class differences separate the options available to women. Through the character, Sybylla, miles franklin manages to highlight both sides of this division in the society. Sybylla’s denial of her parents’ anticipations both facilitated her in numerous instances but also eventually steered her into loneliness in the end. The difference in the generational ideologies also presents the idea that the there is a rift between the generations. At the turn of the century, many issues about women were being developed and women, in the lower class, had a chance to labour and provide for their families. The protagonist Sybylla Melvyn is both futuristic and controversial in her decision-making, eventually steering readers to study all about the choices accessible to women through the era of the turn of the 19th century (Franklin 24). In the present world, more options are available to women, unlike the society depicted on miles franklin story on Sybylla. Final thesis: The society, in Sybylla’s life, has a disregard to the role of women. Their society is divided into classes, and Sybylla does not hesitate to move out of her lower class life. Her father cannot provide for the family, and it is up to the women in the family to look for ways of sustaining the family budget. Even the children are forced to look for ways to develop wages to help the family budget. In this 19th century society, there is apt division among the members. Sybylla cannot help but notice the difference in the kinds of life the individuals in the upper class live. The affluence in the upper class society marvels her, and she enjoys her stay at this side of society. She is, however, unable to find her piece of mind. In this upper class, society women know they have the role of taking care of the husbands and families and nothing more. This is the totally opposite in the low class society where women are forced to work to fend for their families. The author uses the experience of Sybylla on both sides of the class system to explain the role of women during the turn of the 19th century. She faces different lifestyles and roles in both sides of the divide. Works Cited Franklin, Miles. My Brilliant Career. Auckland: Floating Press, 2011. Print. Read More