The Drover's Wife Essay Questions

How does Lawson depict the bush?

The bush is a wild, isolated, forsaken place. It is monotonous and dreary, but also enticing and romantic in the challenge it presents to conquest, cultivation, or even survival. It is not overtly menacing or hostile, as if an implacable force brooded within it, but it is strikingly indifferent to the humans who call it home. It throws all manner of obstacles in the way of its denizens and does not take their wishes or efforts into account. It is truly a primitive, dangerous, and alluring landscape.

Is it likely that Tommy will keep his promise not to go droving?

It is of course impossible to know for sure whether or not Tommy will go droving when he grows up, but we can speculate based on what we know of Tommy's character. On the one hand, Tommy is fiercely independent and strong-willed; if he says something he is committed to it. He also loves his mother and sees what being alone in the bush can do to someone. On the other hand, he will probably be forced into it for lack of other opportunities. It is unlikely he will escape to the city. It is hard to know whether nature will cooperate and allow him to farm; his father tried this and failed. Life in the bush is difficult and requires a person to overcome immense odds just to survive. Tommy will probably have to be a drover as well, though we do not wish that fate for him.

What is the significance of Alligator?

Alligator is the drover's wife's ally; she cannot kill snakes or scare off swagmen without him. He is her own part of Nature, of the bush: a wild, angry, and strong creature that exists on the margins of civilization. He is Nature's minuscule but important concession to her; he is a talisman to ward off danger and death. Alligator's very name conjures up his ferociousness and savagery. Importantly, though, the drover's wife admits that he will probably die from a snakebite someday, for even Alligator is vulnerable to the many, unpredictable risks that the bush presents.

What is most important to the text: character, plot, or setting?

Certainly all three of these are essential to making Lawson's story the compelling work it is, but "The Drover's Wife" would not be as powerful as it is without the setting of the bush. Yes, there is a plot in that the reader wants to know what happens with the snake, and yes, there are characters, including a strong and courageous woman and her plucky son, but the setting of the bush is what drives the story. Without the bush, the plot characters would have little interest. The bush is nearly a character itself, testing and vexing its inhabitants, acting capriciously, sustaining and then destroying.

Is the drover's wife winning or losing her battle with the bush?

To some extent it looks like the drover's wife is losing. After all, the farm failed; droughts, floods, and cattle flu devastated the family's holdings. Snakes and bullocks menace them. Storms pummel them. Their abode is humble, their provisions limited. However, the drover's wife wins her battle with the snake just as she won her battle with the bullock and the grass fire. She is, despite everything the bush throws at her, still there. There is still a house, still a family, and still a woman prepared to battle with the bush until it kills her. Thus, there may not be a definitive winner or loser at this point, but rather a tie; it is up to the reader to speculate as to which party will ultimately triumph, or if there will be a truce.