Neighbours by Tim Winton: Summary | Questions & Answers | Class 12 English


Neighbours by Tim Winton: Summary | Questions & Answers | Class 12 English
Neb English Support Class 12

Neighbours by Tim Winton: Summary | Questions & Answers | Class 12 English


Neighbours by Tim Winton



MAIN INTRO FOR ANSWERS

Note: Add this introduction to your answers to the exam.

This short story 'Neighbours' has been written by Tim Winton, a writer from Australia. This story is about a false judgement. This story was first published in the year 1985. The main theme of this story is the concept of humanity. Human relationships are far beyond cultural and linguistic barriers. 



Table of Contents

GLOSSARY OF THE TEXT

Neighbours by Tim Winton

Moreton Bay (n.): a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia

moulting (adj.): molting, hair growing. 

grappa (n.): a kind of alcoholic beverage, a fragrant grape-based Italian brandy 

eccentric (adj.): unconventional and strange 

muscovy (n.): a kind of large duck of South American origin 

claustrophobic (adj.): afraid of living in confined places 

liverwurst (n.): meat sausage also known as liver sausage

croon (v.): hum or sing in a low soft voice

vernix (n.): a greasy deposit covering the skin of a baby at birth


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Neighbours by Tim Winton

Name: Tim Winton

Full Name: Timothy John Winton

Date of Birth: 4 August 1960

Nationality: Australian

Birth Place: Subiaco, Western Australia 

Occupation: Novelist

Notable Works: Cloudstreet, Dirt Music, Breath, Shallows, Blueback

Notable Award: Miles Franklin Award


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ABOUT STORY

Neighbours by Tim Winton

"Neighbours" is a short story about a false judgement that has been written by Australian author and novelist Tim Winton. This story was written in the year 1985.

This story "Neighbours" has been taken from a book called "Migrants of Australia" and edited by Harwood Lawler.

This story is about a newly married couple who lives in a multicultural and multilingual suburban neighbourhood.

This story has presented different seasons with different changes in thoughts and behaviours. The newly married couple is unnamed here in this story. The young man and woman are the major characters in the story. They have recently migrated from the expansive outer suburbs to this new place.


MAIN THEME

Neighbours by Tim Winton

The main theme of this story is the concept of humanity. This story has presented the fine concept that cultural and linguistic barriers cannot stop people from bestowing love and compassion. The story has shown that people from different cultures and traditions can live together in society peacefully. It tries to prove that humanity, as well as love and compassion, are major components of a society to bind multicultural and multilingual people together. The human relationship goes beyond linguistic and cultural barriers.

The next theme in the story is a false judgement of the people.


MORAL LESSONS

Neighbours by Tim Winton

▪︎  We should not be judgmental without knowing others.
 
▪︎  Humanity as well as human relationships are beyond any linguistic and cultural barriers.
 
▪︎  Humans need humans for every essential need.


CHARACTERS IN THE STORY

Neighbours by Tim Winton


The Young Man:
 
The young man is one of the main characters in this story. He is recently married to a young woman. He is a novelist who writes his thesis while staying at home. He has recently migrated his family to a new place that is filled with European migrants.
 
 
The Young Woman:
 
The young woman is also one of the main characters in this story. She lives with her husband and even works at a hospital. The woman has recently migrated to a new place with her husband. She mostly shares her experiences at her hospital with her husband.
 
 
The Polish Widower:
 
The Polish widower is one of the neighbours of the couple. He lives on the right side of the couple's house. He creates disturbance most of the time through his act of hammering nails into logs of wood for no reason. He is less talkative and mostly concerned with his task.
 
 
The Macedonian family:
 
The Macedonian family members are neighbours of the couple. This family consists of the mother, father, and child. They live on the left side of the couple's house. They're very loud. The noise they make often disturbs the newly married couple.


SETTING OF THE STORY

Neighbours by Tim Winton

This story "Neighbours" takes place in a neighbourhood in Moreton Bay.


DETAILED SUMMARY

Neighbours by Tim Winton

When the newly married couple moved into a new neighbourhood in Australia, they found an environment that was filled with European migrants.

The young couple's house was so small and beautiful. It had high ceilings and paned windows that gave the feeling of an elegant cottage. From the young man's study window, there was a fine sight of rooftops and parks. They had a dog, too. The young man worked on his thesis on the development of the twentieth-century novel. He used to do household tasks, and his wife used to work at the hospital. The young man used to listen to his wife's stories of eccentric patients and hospital incompetence.

 

THEIR IRRITATION AGAINST THEIR NEIGHBOURS

For them, the people, their languages, cultures, and their activities were quite unfamiliar and disgusting. They didn't feel happy about their neighbours at the beginning. They felt quite irritated to spend their time in their house due to their neighbours' activities. The young couple was so cautious about their neighbours.

They became quite irritated to hear the loud conversations of their next-door neighbour, who was a Macedonian family. They always shouted, screamed, and talked in a loud voice. They lived in the left-side house of the young couple. Similarly, they were disturbed most of the time by a Polish widower, an old man who used to hammer the nails in the woods uselessly. He lived on the right side of the young couple. He used to hammer the nails, only to pull them again. The old man spent his whole day in this manner. The knocking sound of nails disturbed them most of the time.

These two families were the main reason for young couples' irritation. The young couple remained away from their neighbours without talking to them for many months. They didn't like to be close to them only because of their activities. They felt uncomfortable with them. It took them six months to get the idea that the Macedonian family members were just talking in loud voices, not murdering each other. The little boy in their neighbourhood was so disgusting too. He used to piss on the street. Once, he was seen spraying the cat by the young man. His head was regularly shaved. The neighbours were also quite cautious about the young couple's dog. They were shocked to see the young man sitting at home while his wife worked in the hospital. The young man used to write his thesis and do household tasks, and his wife worked outside. The neighbours cared for the young couple's activities. They disapproved of males sitting at home and wives working outside.


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NEIGHBOURS' ADVICE AND HELP TO THEM

In the autumn season, the young couple started planting different kinds of vegetables in their kitchen garden. Due to this kitchen garden, the neighbours got a chance to give their advice related to the way of the plantation. The young man seemed careful about the words. A big woman from the neighbourhood even provided a bagful of garlic cloves for the young woman to plant.

After some time, the young couple built a henhouse. The henhouse was not firmly built. It fell sooner. But the old neighbour came there without an invitation and rebuilt it for them. They didn't understand even a word from him.


DEVELOPMENT IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP

By the winter, the young couple started smiling with their neighbours. They shared things in their neighbourhood. They had a sense of pride in living in the neighbourhood. They started walking in the street without their eyes lowered. They learned various things from the Macedonian family. They felt intoxicated. They spent their time sharing stories at night, enjoying and shouting along with them. They became quite close to their neighbours, though they didn't know their language (fractured dialogue).

 

NEIGHBOURS' CARE TOWARDS THEM

The young couple didn't have expectations to be parents quite early. They didn't want their neighbours to know about the pregnancy at first. When the neighbours learned about the pregnancy, they started caring for the young couple more.


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The man in the deli (shop) gave her small presents of chocolates and packets of cigarettes in a goodwill.

The Polish man provided them with wood scraps for their fire.

In the summer, an Italian woman offered names for the upcoming child.

A Greek woman assured her that she would get a baby boy after touching her belly.

By late summer, the woman next door had knitted the baby a suit

The young woman felt various emotions within her. The young man counted twelve faces at the fence. All those faces were waiting there for good news. The Macedonian family waved and called out their best wishes in their language.

The young woman bore a baby boy after her great efforts. A bit later, when the child lost the nipple and began to cry, the young man heard shouting outside. He went to the back door. On the Macedonian side of the fence, he found all his neighbours cheering. The young man began to weep after seeing them. The twentieth-century novel had not prepared him for this. His concept regarding his neighbours changed at last.


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