The Role of Vehicles in Tim Winton's The Turning - Book Report/Review Example

The Role of Vehicles in “The Turning” In “The Turning”, Tim Winton creates a world where ordinary people are faced with difficult decisions at a cross-road in their lives. He explores the inner demons of these people while forcing them to come to terms with their reality (Gallagher). Various vehicles play an important role throughout the work as the characters embark on their journey to self discovery. In all of the ways that vehicles are used as metaphors and symbols in these pages, the most fascinating instances are the vehicles’ use as an indicator of socioeconomic status, as a reflection of the inner workings of the character, and as a means of capture or escape. The best illustration of all of these occurs with the characters Max, Raelene, and Sherry. The caravan park from “The Turning” is an example of how various vehicles are used to assume socioeconomic status. Different vehicles are assigned as residences to different groups of people. The surfers are relegated to the tents. They don’t even rate high enough on the social food chain to have any type of caravan due to their transient existence. The pop-up campers and Winnebagos, both easily removed, are reserved for the “old farts” (Winton) as well as the vacationers or travelers through the park. The permanent residents, fishermen from the nearby marina, generally reside in the aluminum caravans, mostly outdated and rundown. The gathering place for these residents, a circled group of old caravans where the single men as well as the disgruntled older fishermen go to drink and get high together, is referred to as the Cesspit, implying with its name the degradation of the acts performed there. All of the characters involved illustrate both their place in this world and in their own minds by the vehicles in which they reside. For instance, Sherry, the beautiful woman who befriends the downtrodden Raelene, and her husband live in their rented caravan for a month, only long enough for the two women to forge a bond before moving on to their brick home with nice furniture and indoor lavatories. Both the rented caravan as well as the house which she quickly moves to are immaculate, placing her and her husband in a social status well above the other residents of the park. The majority of the aluminum caravans are described as dirty, with cheap furniture, including car seats used as couches, the worst of these being the ones included in the Cesspit where the young and single fishermen live. The caravans in the Cesspit reek of the lower station of the residents as well as their south bound moral compasses. The caravans are broken down, some without proper doors, none of which have indoor facilities for bathing or using the restroom, both normal human functions. In this regard, some of the residents can be viewed in a less than human state as the inhabitants of the Cesspit and those that frequent it are all visibly poor but living beyond their means in terms of alcohol abuse and drug use. These men are described only as abusers in one form or another who constantly seek an escape from their days laboring on the fishing boats for little or no money. The use of vehicles as a reflection of their owners is not only related to socioeconomic status. In many ways, the vehicles and the state thereof directly reflect the inner demons at work in the owners. For instance, Sherry’s rented van is hardly mentioned, however it is repeated that she and her husband are simply temporary residents, as if the current state of their residence has nothing to do with them. The description of their residence in the caravan park is greatly limited, moving the focus instead to Raelene’s observations of how Sherry is too nice, too beautiful, etc. to belong in the society of the caravan park (Winton). Once they move to their house, greater attention is placed on their surroundings with special emphasis on the niceness of the interior of the home. In stark contrast is Raelene’s caravan, which has no indoor facilities save a sink in the kitchen and where the use of an old car seat is employed as a proxy for a couch. The caravan is in a constant state of disorder, much like Raelene’s life as she struggles between her own feelings of inadequacy as a mother and her constant beatings from her husband. The closer she comes to her turning point, to finding a part of her true self, the more she returns the caravan to some semblance of order. It is only when she reaches a sense of inner peace in her quest for peace that the caravan becomes more of a home to her and she begins to take care of it as such. As her mental state changes, so does the interior of the vehicle in which she lives. Another example of how the vehicle serves as a mirror image of the inner demons of the inhabitants is the caravan circle that makes up the Cesspit. These caravans are inhabited by the single, young men of the park. They have no firm ties to the park other than the social group that they have made for themselves. They do little other than work and smoke marijuana while they wait for their luck to change. This fatalistic attitude is shown through Raelene’s descriptions of this group of caravans. The vehicles themselves are broken down, unable to be removed from their present circumstance. They are littered, have little substance, with one substituting cloth coverings for doors. They are filled with smoke and the dazed, drunken forms of their owners who show no initiative to remove themselves from their current situation. The abuse that the men inflict upon themselves through their drugs and alcohol is demonstrated outwardly in the appearance of the vehicles that they consider as their haven. The Cesspit’s caravans are also arranged in such a way as to form a tight circle, much akin to the relationship of the men themselves. The arrangement of vehicles or buildings in such a way demonstrates a classic defense position for the inhabitants. With the vehicles positioned in a close, circular formation, the people inside the circle are protected by the walls of the vehicles much like a miniature fortress of sorts. It is designed to keep the people inside safe from intrusion as well as to discourage any outsiders from breaching the perimeter. It also gives them a position to defend in the event an intrusion does occur. When Raelene gets up the courage to venture into this male fortress after Max beats her while accusing her of having an affair, she is largely ignored, greeted only by inhospitable glares. Her own husband is so far gone due to his alcohol and drug use that he does not even notice her presence. The drug addict and alcoholic men of the larger society of the caravan park have built this place as their fortress in which they freely indulge in their vices without the interference of anyone who would criticize their behavior. The only outsider or person who is not a resident of the Cesspit who is present is Max, who condones their behavior as a frequent participant. The defecation of the vehicles compromising the Cesspit, the largely vacant interiors, home only to his enabling cohorts and his vices, reflect the emptiness of the man himself. Max is a man who has given up on his life, biding his time in a drug-induced oblivion as he waits for his luck to change and his life to turn out the way that he expects. In his profession as a fisherman, he spends his days in another’s man’s universe on a different kind of vehicle, the fishing boat. The fishing boat is truly another man’s world. In it, Max is reduced to a laborer who can barely make ends meet, his worth as an employee measured by how many fish he catches in a day. On the days that the boat is taken out and few fish are caught, Max makes little or no money for his family, where he is the sole provider. Where a boat could be seen as an escape from his life, this is where Max spends the majority of his working days. And his boss’s reign does not end when his men reach the dock every evening. Even on the days that the boat is not taken out for fishing, Max is sometimes summoned to the docks where he does his boss’s bidding. In that vehicle, in that part of his life, Max is only seen as a worker, on the low end of the social totem pole. Once he arrives in the Cesspit, he is viewed as an equal. In this vehicle, he can let the restraints that have held him in check during his working hours go and give in to his desires. The place where he is truly in control is in his own caravan that he shares with Raelene. It is here that his demons truly take over as he fights to maintain that area of control in his life. Here he beats his wife viciously in front of their children, demands that she comply with his every request, and destroys the interior of the caravan at every available opportunity, much as he is attempting to destroy his wife’s spirit. Despite his best attempts at maintaining control, Raelene takes the control away from him as she grows more confident in herself and her faith. As Max destroys, she fixes, and cleans up both herself and the caravan. Max loses all control of the caravan when he loses his control over Raelene, as the vehicle is a reflection of her instead of him. The vehicles here are also used to symbolize both capture of a character as well as a place for emotional release of a character with different vehicles representing the contrary ideas. For instance, Max is trapped on the boat. It gives him a sense of confinement in that his boss makes the decisions for him. He is a lower class citizen of the society present on the fishing boat. His emptiness and frustration with his current circumstances can be felt through the mental images of the fishing boat adrift in a sea that is at times even devoid of fish. Raelene, meanwhile is a permanent resident of the aluminum caravan which she comes to view as her prison, comparing her captivity to that of a figurine of Jesus Christ walking on water, trapped forever inside a snow globe that she keeps at her bedside (Winton). At the beginning of her tale, she is every bit the prisoner in the caravan, compliant on the outside while defiant on the inside. Mentally she is rebelling against her prison and the things that keep her captive there, this being shown in her initial treatment of the vehicle and how she looks down on her life with disgust. Outwardly, while she is ashamed of the beatings she receives and insecure regarding her role as a mother, she denies her interior problems, disregarding the attempts at assistance from others. It is only when she feels solidified in her faith that she willingly enters her captivity, knowing the possibilities that lie ahead and choosing to remain in her present circumstance. While she continues to view the vehicle as her prison, she continues there secure in her own self-awareness that while she may be imprisoned, her captor cannot gain the destruction of her sense of self in order to maintain his own control over the caravan segment of his life. Other vehicles in this tale also represent a place of escape for the characters. As previously mentioned, Max frequents the caravan vehicles of the Cesspit where he is on an equal playing field with the rest of the inhabitants. This place is his escape because it is where he can give in to his less private vices without fear of reprimand. He spends hours on end getting high, drinking alcohol, and indulging in pornography with his cohorts. The tight circle of vehicles gives him a place to indulge to the point where he is no longer in control, but he maintains a façade of control to other people in the caravan park. Sherry’s car provides Raelene with a sanctuary of sorts where she can freely question her circumstances as well as her lack of faith. She can also participate in discussion with Sherry without the fear of her husband overhearing or word getting back to him with regard to the topic of conversation. It is here, in this enclosed space, where she can feel safe enough to ask questions that will lead her closer to the path of self discovery that she travels down over the course of this tale. This vehicle also provides a safe space for Sherry to broach the topic of Raelene leaving Max to protect her from any more harm at his hands. In this way, these two vehicles provide an escape for the inhabitants from the fear and pressures of their everyday lives. A place where they can release some of what they carry inside of them. As you can see, the vehicles serve many important purposes in the overall tale of “The Turning”. They allow us as readers a closer glimpse into the inner workings of the complex characters whose lives create the stories. Through the extra physiological levels provided, we are able to better understand and relate to the lives involved, making the story more captivating, the outcomes more intensely felt by the reader. By linking the vehicles to the socioeconomic status of the characters, Tim Winton has granted us a deeper understanding of the social structure of the inhabitants of this small community. He has also provided us with a better knowledge of the inner motivations of the characters by allowing the vehicles that they come in contact with, very often their vehicular homes, to reflect the personalities and the struggles of the characters. In tying the vehicles in to the characters’ circumstances, Winton has also made available personality traits and issues that the characters face that would not have otherwise been readily supplied. The roles of the vehicles unites the various sectors of the characters’ personalities, providing a well-rounded vision of who these people are and how they cope with the challenges they face in their day to day lives. Works Cited Gallagher, Sean. "Tim Winton: The Turning (A Book Review)." 1 December 2005. Antipodes. 14 November 2008 . Winton, Tim. Enough Rope with Andrew Denton Andrew Denton. 25 October 2004. Winton, Tim. "The Turning." Winton, Tim. The Turning: New Stories. New York: Scribner, 2005. 133-161. Read More