Learning about the play, ‘Away’ by Michael Gow, for English and need to write up an analysis on it?
Michael Gow’s masterpiece is both wonderful and depressing, both a comedy and a tragedy. It represents life fully, and that is why this play is so important.
Here’s everything you need to know to analyse it! Let’s get started!
‘Away’ by Michael Gow Play Summary
Key Characters in Away
Context
Themes Explored in Away
Play Analysis of Away by Michael Gow
Play Summary of Away by Michael Gow
The action begins during a school rendition of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in the 1960s. The audience is introduced to Tom and Meg, two young actors that share a romance in real life.
Audiences are also introduced to their parents: Harry and Vic (Tom’s parents, immigrants from Britain) and Jim and Gwen (Meg’s parents, well-off Australians).
Although Tom and Meg are good friends, Gwen prohibits them seeing each other, as she thinks the British family is below her. Gwen is quick tempered, and her frequent snaps at her daughter and husband are revealed.
Roy and Coral, the headmaster and his wife, are also introduced, as well as their rocky marriage due to the loss of their son in the Vietnam war. The families get together to discuss their holiday plans, and then part ways, with a final comment from Coral about the sanctity of youth and its fragile nature.
Interesting family dynamics begin to unfold. Tom is told by each of his parents to act happy about the upcoming holiday for the sake of the other.
Jim and Meg endure further yelling from Gwen, who is revealed to have been previously poor in the past, as well as being reluctant to become poor again; hence her snobby behaviour. Roy has troubles with Coral’s depressed behaviour, and justifies the death of his son with the preservation of the Australian way of life.
Further unrest in the relationships unfold. Gwen and Jim have a huge fight at a campsite over Jim having forgotten gifts at home. Due to a huge storm, the family is forced to leave the campsite.
Luckily, Tom’s family avoid the storm and enjoy their holiday on a beach, while Coral begins a fling with Rick, a younger man, at the resort her and Roy have booked. Roy threatens her with institutionalisation and electroshock therapy.
By chance, Meg’s family ends up meeting Tom’s family as they flee from the storm. Tom’s parents tell Meg’s parents that Tom has terminal leukaemia, encouraging Meg’s parents to reconcile their differences.
Meanwhile, Tom and Meg are alone on the beach, and he pressures her into being intimate with him for the first time. Meg declines and grows distant, while Coral (who ran away from the resort) builds a friendship with Tom. They even end up writing and staging their own little play called ‘The Stranger on the Shore’.
The characters get to appreciate how short and precious life is, as the play ends with a performance of Shakespeare’s King Lear. In the final scene, depending on the version, either Tom or another actor (symbolising thus Tom’s death) recites lines from the play about youth eventually succeeding old age.
Key Characters in Away
Tom
In Tom resides the conflict between youth and death. Despite being aware of his impending death due to his illness, Tom is reluctant to conform to his parent’s request to show a happy face while on holiday.
This is great evidence showing Tom’s great appreciation of life and truth, and his ability to live life truthfully. He is unafraid to ask Meg to be intimate, despite them not even telling each other of their mutual romantic interest. Tom is overall accepting the situation he is being put in, and literally is his true self.
Meg
She opposes the classist way Gwen views people and accuses her of ruining other people’s lives. Despite learning of Tom’s illness, she doesn’t consent to being intimate with him, possibly due to the ‘pity’ aspect of it if it were to happen.
Meg is ultimately faced with the conflict between youth and death, as it is she who will have to suffer the consequences of losing her romantic interest.
Harry and Vicky
Although slightly minor in terms of their appearances at the end of the play, the couple is similar to Meg in the sense that they bear the brunt of the damage that Tom’s illness will cause.
However, despite knowing their son’s fate, they put on a happy facade and choose to symbolically lie (Tom knows already). This is their coping method to face the consequence of the conflict between youth and old age.
Jim and Gwen
Their relationship is largely affected by Gwen, that mostly isn’t able to get over her past as a poorer person. Most of the conflict in their relationship comes from Gwen’s personality, and her disdain for those that are ‘below her’.
Tom’s fate helps both Jim and Gwen put things into perspective, hence their final reconciliation.
Coral
She is another example of the conflict between youth and death. Having lost her son in Vietnam, she is completely displaced from herself.
She finds her balance when she meets Tom, which is a way for her to rekindle her relationship with her dead son.
Context
Michael Gow’s ‘Away’ draws heavily from the trauma of the Vietnam War. We can see parallels as audiences in two immediate characteristics of the play.
One is the more direct connection between Coral and her lost son. Seen as this trauma is a root of dramatic tension in the play, it is something that all characters come to contend with during the course of the play.
Another notable reference to the Vietnam war in ‘Away’ is the constant reference to Tom’s ‘immigrant’ status. This term is thrown around in a derogatory way due to the high immigration rate in the 60s, caused by the war in Vietnam. Consider this historical event as the context of ‘Away’.
Themes Explored in Away by Michael Gow
There are three main themes in ‘Away’:
- Youth vs Death
- Authenticity
- Class
Youth VS Death
This theme represents the central conflict of the play. Death plays a major role in shaping the actions of all characters, as most are connected to someone that has experienced or will soon experience death. Tom, the protagonist, is one such example.
As the most important theme of the play, it puts everything into perspective, giving priority to time and authenticity, and discarding class and materialism, as well as ‘superfluous’ arguments.
Authenticity
This mainly concerns Tom’s family, but can apply to most characters. Due to the conflict between youth and premature death, Tom’s parents ‘pretend’ not to fear their son’s death instead of being authentic.
Tom is the total opposite, embracing his fate and not shying away from being truthful about his actions and what he wants.
Class
This mainly applies to Gwen as a character, yet class tensions can be evident throughout the play. Gwen is adamant about remaining in her own socio-economic bracket due to previous trauma, yet stigmatises others below her.
She prohibits Meg and Tom from seeing each other, as well as giving Jim a hard time. Social class divisions are useful in portraying wealthy people as insecure, and making Gwen a more sympathetic character due to her previous trauma.
How to Analyse Away in 3 Steps
Step 1: Choose your example
The best way to choose an example is to choose a technique. Remember you must include stylistic devices (how images and words are arranged in a text in order to produce meaning), and aesthetic features (elements that prompt a critical response from the reader) in your essays to gain the most marks.
In this case we will use the quote:
“Look! It’s like when the Armada was coming…” (Act IV) – Coral
Step 2: Identify your technique(s)
The writer here is making use of a powerful simile. Comparing the lighting of the bonfire in Tom’s and Coral’s play to the arrival of the Spanish Armada to British shores in 1588 equates rebirth (that’s what the bonfire is a symbol of) with something exceptionally violent, but ‘alive’ at the same time, as well as grandiose.
Step 3: Write the analysis
Always be ready to ask yourself what the author intended you to feel/respond emotionally by reading the example quote. This will make sure that you tackle an important part of the analysis, which is the effect on the reader:
Michael Gow utilises an astute combination of symbolism and simile to illustrate the theme of Authenticity in his great play ‘Away’. Audiences are reminded thus that both Tom and Coral seek authenticity while accepting their fate, and consider this ultimately important to their happiness. Hence Michael Gow’s combined use of simile and symbolism.
Need some help with your analysis of other texts aside from Away by Michael Gow?
Check out other texts we’ve created guides for below:
- Frank Hurley
- 1984
- Jane Eyre
- In Cold Blood
- The 7 Stages of Grieving
- Hag-Seed
- The Meursault Investigation
- Never Let Me Go
- The Tempest
- Blade Runner
- Mabo
- Fever 103
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Vittorio Manessi is an Art of Smart tutor based in Queensland studying environmental science. He was one of the first Year 12 students to study under the new ATAR system in Queensland. He enjoys Maths, Science, English and Ancient History and is keen to share his knowledge of the QCE by making awesome resources.
