Prose Analysis: The Turning by Tim Winton
By Nicki James
Introduction:
I chose to do one of Tim Winton’s short stories “The Turning” for my prose selection. It’s about a woman,
Raelene, who is constantly beaten and abused by her husband Max. She wants to leave him however she
feels too scared to do so. The story is about her continuous struggle with the unhappiness of her life. I
believe the theme of The Turning is that if you fight hard enough you can get through anything. Even in
Raelene’s lowest moments, she was able to find some form of hope that kept her going.
The scene I chose to perform is when Raelene is being physically abused by her husband Max. This scene is
very powerful and very graphic, which is why I believe it is a very important scene in the story.
Dramatistic Questions
1. Who is speaking?
What is the narrator’s point of view? Why do you think so?
If the narrator is 1st person major, describe them in detail. Describe how they feel about the other
character(s) mentioned in the story. How much time has passed between the virtual-present telling
and the virtual past? How, if at all, has time changed the narrator’s attitude?
If the narrator is 3rd person then describe their attitude and relationship with the other character(s).
How close are they to the story or character(s)Does the narrator’s attitude change or remain
consistent throughout? Why or why not?
 The narrator is speaking. The point of view of the narrator is 3rd person omniscient (limited,
because he/she only gets inside Raelene’s head) The narrator seems to have a close and
understanding relationship with Raelene, whereas he/she seems to describe Max quite
negatively. Max is made out to be the villain. This attitude stays fairly constant throughout “The
Turning”. However, it changes significantly in some of the other short stories. (for example in
“Sand” where Max is a boy growing up, the narrator sympathizes with him)
2. To whom is the narrator speaking?
Is the implied audience clear in the story? If so, who are they? If not, then who could they be
logically telling the story to? How will you make the class understand who they represent to you
during the epic moments?
 The implied audience is not clear in the story. The narrator is telling their side of the story but to
whom I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like they are talking to another character in the book,
however, they could be if they were remembering the events.
3. What is the narrator speaking about?
What is the “theme” of the selection? What are some of the general ideas being conveyed? How are
the events triggered in his mind? Is the plot causal or contingent? Where are the associative
moments?
 The narrator is speaking about Raelene’s life and how she struggles to deal with the severe
beatings from her husband. The narrator goes into detail about the pain that Raelene experiences,
and occasionally he comments on how she is feeling. This makes the whole experience more real
and frightening to the reader. There are defiantly notes of disgust in the narrators tone as he
describes what Max is doing to Rae.
The theme that I got out of this selection is that people are able to survive in spite of the constant
struggle of their life. Raelene kept fighting and she was able to overcome Max in the end.
4. Where is the narrator during the virtual present?
If not specified, where might they be when telling the story? Where does the actual story take place
during events that are virtual past?
 It is not specific where the narrator is during the present. In theory he could be anywhere when
telling his story, it is not even clear who they are telling their story to. The story takes place in a
rundown caravan park in Western Australia. Somewhere close to the beach, but not a tourist
destination. Raelene and Max don’t have much money, so I assume the area is isolated and
contains poorly constructed buildings.
5. When does the narrator tell the story?
How long after the virtual-past did the events occur? How does he manipulate time in the selection?
Cite examples of summary, scene, and description and moments of story time vs. discourse time.
 I think the narrator is telling the story not long after the events happened. He remembers a lot of
details about the events, which normally would have been lost over a long period of time. In
certain scenes, it seems as if the narrator is speaking in the present, almost as if he is standing in
the caravan park invisible to Max and Raelene. Other times the narrator seems distant, as if he
was reflecting on past memories.
6. How is the narrator telling the story?
What is the tone, style, or mood of the piece? Does he speak formally, consultatively, causally, or
intimately? How are tag lines used? Do they reveal the attitude of the narrator?
 The tone/mood that the narrator uses changes throughout the story. At the start he is casually
describing the story but as we get into the detailed scenes when Max is being violent, the narrator
becomes more emotional. He uses descriptions such as “stubby face” and “his eye balls were
mulled up red as blood” when depicting Max. The narrator even admits that “the bastard didn’t
deserve the truth”
The tag lines in this story are used mainly to describe how something is being said. An example
of this is: “who is it? Max growled, bug eyed with fury”. They reveal certain attitudes, and how
the narrators negative attitude towards max emphasize the disapproval he feels at this character.
7. Why is the narrator telling the story?
Go beyond the notion of wanting to share an experience to perhaps another motive. Is there a moral
lesson? If so, what is it? Is it to persuade us about something? Is it for pure entertainment? Again,
why do you think so?
 I think the narrator is telling us this story to remind us that some people live extremely imperfect
lives. It’s easy to forget that most of us are very lucky to not encounter these kinds of events on a
daily basis. However, some people, like Raelene, are not as fortunate. They feel powerless and
worthless and still they are able to survive. I believe the strongest people are the ones that have
had to fight the hardest, and its stories like this that reminds us to never give up.
Modal Analysis:
Most of the selection is Epic when the narrator is talking. There is a combination of both the
narrator’s voice and the characters voice. In the parts where the characters, Max and Raelene, are
addressing one another it changes to Dramatic.
Script Analysis:
FOCUS
Open
NOTES
Short pause
Open
Emphasize ALL
(annoyed)
Open
Remembering
CUTTING
By the end of that week there was no heat left in
the June sun. Raelene dug the clothes from the
bottom of the closet, all the sexless shrouding
gear she hated, the girls’ nylon dressing gowns,
their winceyette pyjamas, the whole lot stinking
of mothballs bad enough to make your eyes
water. The sea was up so often that Max hardly
went and when he did the catch was never
enough to cover fuel and bait; they were losing
money.
Max was around all of the time and with the rain
thrashing the roof and walls day after day, the
caravan felt like a forty four gallon drum they
were all crammed into.
MODAL
Epic
Epic
Rae was painting her toenails one afternoon, half Epic
watching the girls arrange their smelly cuttle
collection on the old car seat they used as a sofa,
when through the open flap of the annexe
Raelene saw Max striding purposefully across
the grass. Her skin tingled with alarm. She’d
thought he was at the pub.
She got up to meet him, went out into the dull,
but he seized her by her arm and bullocked her
back into the annexe. She felt the van slam
against her back and head and he pinned her
there.
Closed
Angry
Who is it?
Dramatic
Closed
Intimidated and scared
Who’s what?
Dramatic
Closed
Anger rises
Darts night. For fuckin weeks
Dramatic
Closed
Stuttering
It’s not what you think, Max, she says conscious
of the girls cowering nearby even if she couldn’t
see them with her head jammed back as it was.
Dramatic/
Epic
Closed
Open
Growling
Darts night. No, it’s not what we thought at all,
is it? Max’s breath was rank with beer and
smoke and his eye balls were mulled up red as
blood. So who is he then?
Dramatic/Epic
Closed
FOCUS
Closed
NOTES
Bitterly
Open
Closed
Yelling angrily
Semi –
closed
Thinking to herself –
looking up.
Closed
Open
Raising voice, starting
to get angry
Closed
Open
Screaming at her
Smiling at the idea
CUTTING
MODAL
Rae’s arms throbbed where he gripped her. She
Epic
thought of telling him the truth but it sounded so
weak, so bloody awkward, and the bastard didn’t
deserve the truth, wasn’t worth one honest piece
of her
Who the fuck is he? Said Max, slamming her
head against the metal so hard she saw sparks
rise between them, sparks and winged spots that
floated and fell. She smiled at that. Thank Christ
its aluminium, she thought; be grateful there’s a
bit of give in it
Dramatic
Epic
He roared then. He grabbed her hair and jabbed
her back harder, once, twice, and the pain
bought a sudden rage upon her.
Epic
He’s bigger than you, Max, so be careful. You
don’t even know him but he owns you. He’ll cut
you to pieces, you fuckin coward. He’ll come
looking, he’ll suck the life out of you, he’s every
fuckin thing you aren’t.
Dramatic
Max had both hands in her hair now. The girls
were howling. She looked around for something
to grab, to kill him with.
Epic
Tell me his name you fuckin slut!
Dramatic
Raelene hit the van so hard she felt as though her
eye balls would spurt from their sockets. Her
arms flailed above her as he slammed her again
and again. She felt the door edge, the hinge or
something gouge her, couldn’t get her hands to
his stubby face. She was powerless but for the
smile that stung her mouth, sharp as a split lip.
She had a name for him, her secret man. He was
just the shape of a man but he was all man to her
and at any moment, when she got her breath
back and her tongue steady, she’d spit that name
in his face to see him explode. He’d go ballistic,
do a complete Rumpelstiltskin into the slab floor
and she didn’t care
Lyric
FOCUS
NOTES
CUTTING
MODAL
Closed
Lowering voice,
Glum, shaking head
But the moment never came. Everything just
stopped, like the power going off.
Epic