“Down at the Dump”

Chose any one of the Patrick White texts mentioned above and say how you think it illustrates what White was saying in his essay “The Prodigal Son”.

In Patrick White’s essay ‘the Prodigal Son’, White subtly critiques the cyclical and ‘ordinary’ nature of Australian suburbia. However, although acknowledging this sense of ‘ordinary’ that prevailed the streets of Australia, it is also exactly what inspired White to remain here. White took this opportunity of staying in Australia to explore this Australian mundanity and in turn, demonstrate through his writing how ‘poetry’ and  ‘mystery’ can be found beneath the seemingly simple lives of Australians and overrule shallow, materialistic desires. I believe this ideology can be noticed in White’s short story ‘Down at the Dump’ through the juxtaposing characters Myrtle and Meg. In the short story, White expresses Megs deep sadness due to the loss of her Aunt Daise, however on the contrary Myrtle (Megs Mother), does not appear sadden by her sister’s death as she is more so concerned with the way people portray her and her family. This is evident as she states: “Meg?…Did you polish your shoes?”, highlighting Myrtles lack of empathy in the situation as she cares more so of the family’s aesthetic appearance at the funeral than her sisters death. Moreover, this materialistic trait contrasts the ‘poetry’ and ‘mystery’ found within the relationship between Meg and her Aunt, allowing readers to embrace the poetic normality of the relationship and question the materialism of Myrtle. This is evident whilst Meg and Daise are picking flowers as White states: “Meg loved the idea of it, she loved Daise”. Hence, through creating these contrasted characters White allows one to consider the extraordinary emotions that can derive from ordinary relationships and the impact that this can have on one (such as meg). By doing so, he further allows one to question the notion of materialism and think about how materialistic desires can blur one’s sight of the things happening in the world around them.

Feature image: Patrick White taken from google images https://www.google.com/search?biw=1050&bih=585&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ACYBGNQ45Z5vLwsx4J9Fglve55HQ6Bzqdg%3A1571201819864&sa=1&ei=G6OmXYClNIWv9QOxioWgCg&q=patrick+white+&oq=patrick+white+&gs_l=img.3..0l10.2102868.2106316..2106638…1.0..0.699.5305.0j3j0j7j1j3……0….1..gws-wiz-img…..9..35i362i39j0i131j0i67.mW-yXfPhRLs&ved=0ahUKEwjAnt_y_p_lAhWFV30KHTFFAaQQ4dUDCAc&uact=5#imgrc=zT0F9bR7YUkc-M: