Summary of the story 'Neighbours' -
The story 'Neighbours' by Tim Winton is about a newly married couple living in a multicultural and multilingual suburb neighborhood. It shows that cultural and linguistic barriers cannot stop people from bestowing love and compassion.
A newlywed young couple moves to a new neighbourhood full of European migrants in Moreton Bay, Australia. They lived in the expansive outer suburbs before coming to this place. Next door on the left there lives a screaming, shouting Macedonian family. On the right, there lives a Polish widower, who spends most of his day hammering nails into wood only to pull them out again. The young man also feels uncomfortable with the behaviour of the little boy next door. Their noisy activities make the couple feel irritated and unwelcome. The young man is working on a thesis of the development of the twentieth century novel while his wife works in a hospital. He and his wife don't talk to anyone at first.
Their house is small and beautiful. It has high ceilings and paned windows giving it the feel of an elegant cottage. In autumn, the couple starts kitchen gardening. Their activities are the reason to draw attention of the neighbours. They offer advice about spacing, hilling and mulching. The young man doesn't like the interference, but he takes careful note of what is said. Not long after, the couple builds a hen house. When the hen house collapses, the Polish widower slides through the fence uninvited and rebuilds it for them. With each passing day the young couple's preference for their neighbours is growing. They become friendly and exchange gifts.
In spring the young woman becomes pregnant, though they haven't planned for it. The young woman arranges for maternity leave. The couple realizes that the whole reighbourhood knows of the pregnancy. People smile tirelessly at them in the neighbourhood, everybody offers their help and tips to the couple. They are very polite. After the birth of the child the people in the neighbourhood are excited and with their best. For the young man, the birth of the child is a wonder. In the end, be realizes that the twentieth century novel has not prepared him for this.
Short Summary:
Tim Winton's short story "Neighbours" is about a young couple who have moved into a new home. They were initially uneasy because their neighbourhood was densely populated with immigrants.
On the right, a Macedonian family was yelling and a Polish widower was pounding nails into the wood. It seemed weird to the young couple. The Macedonians, on the other hand, thought it odd that the young man stayed at home to write his thesis while his wife worked. It began to alter in the autumn when the young couple began planting vegetables and the neighbours offered their assistance. The young man constructed a henhouse, but it failed.
Uninvited, the widower from Poland rebuilt it. In the winter, the young couple returned the smiles of their neighbours. The Macedonian family taught them how to slaughter in the spring, and the pair discovered that the woman was pregnant.
The young couple didn't inform each other about it, but it was noticed by the neighbours. They delighted as they gave them gifts. When the baby was delivered, the entire neighbourhood came out to greet the young couple and wish them well.
At this point, the man recognized that he had been harbouring prejudices all along and began to cry. He believed that writing his thesis had not adequately prepared him for real life.
Understanding the text
Answer the following questions.
a. Describe how the young couple's house looked like.
Answer:
The young couples' house was small, but its ceilings were high. The paned windows gave it the feel of an elegant cottage. From his study window, the young man could see out over the rooftops and used car yards in the park where they walked their dog.
b. How did the young couple identify their neighbours in the beginning of their arrival?
Answer:
In the beginning of their arrival, the young couple identified their neighbors as uncultured and mannerless people. They were disturbed by the unfamiliar sounds in the neighborhood, including the sounds of spitting, washing, daybreak watering, shouting, and screaming.
c. How did the neighbours help the young couple in the kitchen garden?
Answer:
The neighbors helped the young couple in the kitchen garden by offering advice on planting and gardening techniques. They provided guidance on spacing hilling, mulching, and even gave the young man's wife a bagful of garlic cloves to plant.
d. Why were the people in the neighborhood surprised at the role of the young man and his wife in their family?
Answer:
The people in the neighborhood were surprised at the role of the young man and his wife in their family because they deviated from the traditional gender roles and expectations. The young man stayed home to write his thesis while his wife worked, which was unconventional compared to the traditional division of labor.
e. How did the neighbours respond to the woman's pregnancy?
Answer:
The neighbors responded to the woman's pregnancy with warmth and support. They smiled tirelessly at the young couple, offered gifts, and shared their own experiences and predictions about the baby's gender.
f. Why did the young man begin to weep at the end of the story?
Answer:
The young man began to weep at the end of the story because the birth of his child and the communal support and celebration from the neighbors overwhelmed him emotionally. The experience of witnessing his wife give birth and the realization that they had formed strong connections with their neighbors moved him to tears.
g. Why do you think the author did not characterize the persons in the story with proper names?
Answer:
In the story, the author didn't characterize the persons with proper names because he wanted to show that their ethnicity was more important than their individuality.
Reference to the context
a. The story shows that linguistic and cultural barriers do not create any obstacle in human relationship. Cite some examples from the story where the neighbours have transcended such barriers.
Answer:
The story shows that linguistic eric quitural barriers do not create any obstacle in human relationship. The neighbours sense of community helps the young couple acknowledge that prejudice and discrimination are based on their own gnorance. When the couple started the kitchen gardening, the neighbours appeared with their advice about spacing hilling and mulching. The Polish widower was ready to help the couple in rebuilding their hen house. They didnt understand his language at all. When the woman was pregnant the entire community smiled at her and offered their help and tips. When the baby was born, the young man found the Macedonian family cheering and celebrating the birth joyfully. All the neighbours celebrated the arrival of the new baby boy with delight.
b. The last sentence of the story reads "The twentieth-century novel had not prepared him for this," In your view, what differences did the young man find between twentieth-century novels and human relations?
Answer:
The young woman arranged for maternity leave. The young man continued his thesis on the twentieth century novel. The young couple found that the whole neighbourhood knew of the pregnancy. People smiled tirelessly at them. They also offered help, tips and presents to the couple. The young man stopped his work and started taking care of his pregnant woman. After the baby was born, he found that the Macedonian family was cheering at him. He cried as he was overwhelmed by the feelings. Then, he acknowledged that the imaginary world in the novel had nothing to do with the real life. For him, human relations are much more valuable than the twentieth century novels.
c. A Nepali proverb says "Neighbors are companions for wedding procession as well as for funeral procession." Does this proverb apply in the story? Justify.
Answer:
The proverb completely applies in the story. The good neighbours always come with a wide range of benefits, including safety and community events. Whenever one needs to borrow an egg or need a shoulder to cry, a good neighbor is always there in both challenging and joyous times, our relations with neighbours remind us that we are surrounded by their love and support. In the story, the young couple seems to share their joys and sorrows with their neighbours in the multicultural community. At the beginning, their life doesn't go well as they encounter the European migrants with their strange behaviors. After they are assimilated in the community with the people of different culture and language, they happen to realize that their neighbours are good and kindhearted people.
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