𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗪𝗢𝗡'𝗧 𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗩𝗘

Communism. Capitalism.

We’ve all heard these terms tossed around but what should we even think about them? 

Which side should we support? What about Big Pharma? The Red Scare?

Well not to worry readers, for today I am here to try and patch this little hole we collectively have in our lizard brains, using the power of Australian short stories (woo!)

Today I’ll be talking about a short story from Tim Winton’s collection of short stories, “The Turning”, called “On Her Knees” and it’s a real ripper (which may be as in rip-your-eyes-out-boring). It’s mostly about Vic –the main character of “The Turning”– and his mother, Carol Lang, who works as a cleaner, and is accused of stealing 500-dollar earrings from her rich client. In the story, they are hired by them again anyways and they find the ‘stolen’ earrings, but Vic realises their powerlessness despite the fact. But regardless of how entertaining you find the story,a bit of consideration about how money makes the world go 'round, is really in order for most people and this story makes for a great critical perspective.

But first, I have a quick announcement from today’s sponsor, Karl Marx.

 

Nah, I’m just kidding obviously but we do have to go a little into
economic theories before we can really get into the story.

The main economic theory that’s relevant to this story is Marxism.  The principal idea of Marxism is that the factors of production by which economic power can be perceived should be moved from the upper class (the bourgeois) to the working class (the proletariat). To go a little further into its history, Marxism arose around the mid-1800s – a clear response to the plight of the workers during the Industrial Revolution.

So how is Marxism relevant to the story? Well, the story can be read as a promotion or reflection of Marxist ideas, with the client, who is our antagonist, even though they never appear in person, and are a representation of the upper class (the bourgeois). On the other hand, Vic’s mother represents the lower, working class (the proletariat).

But now with that bit of understanding under our belts, we can start going into the text. I’ll be discussing some of the key ideas of the story, as a Marxist reading, but honestly it’s a pretty dominant reading.

1. The working class

The first idea that the story presents has to do with the working class. As I said earlier, Vic’s mother, Carol Lang, represents the working class as a whole in the story. In the opening paragraphs, the first-person narrator, Vic, describes her history and her character, with a tone laden with admiration and pride. She embodies traditional ideals of an ‘ideal worker’, dedicating great time and energy into her work, a sort of “stiff-necked working-class pride”. Interestingly, she also has many attributes commonly associated with toxic masculinity, “never [saying] a word” to ask for help when taking a major workload, and also hiding her feelings and emotions in rare moments of weakness, “[weeping] under the lemon tree where she thought [Vic] couldn’t hear” when she gets sacked for the first time.

Now, you could take this and put it under a bit of a feminist lens, but under this reading, I’m taking it as a standardisation (and naturalisation) of the power imbalance in the business relationship that she depends upon for her livelihood, especially seeing as she’s a single mother providing all the money for her family.

Tim also calls out her appearance, which is sort of battered, and bruised, with “ravaged hands” and “veins [standing] out in her calves”. Especially since he also comments that “she had been so pretty once”, really highlighting the idea of the toll of working such an intensive job for so long (which she was forced into).

2. The upper class

His next point is all about criticising the bourgeois upper class. He paints them as sloppy, stupid, insincere, and honestly —pardon me for the profanity— just total asses.  He asserts their total lack of respect as a direct consequence of their (perceived) success, that the “householders who thought most highly of themselves were invariably the worst payers and biggest slobs.”

The bottom line though is really that he sees them as having far worse character than people from the working classes, as represented by Carol who’s “more scrupulous, more honest than any of them.” But rather than just a patronizing attitude, the way that the client in the story treats our protagonists could be considered downright inhuman. She "gives [them] the sack and then asks [them] back for one week while she looks for somebody to replace [them]”, as if they were disposable tools rather than other people. But it gets worse yet, as it’s revealed that the five-hundred-dollar earrings which were allegedly stolen, were of so little value to her that she never reported it to the police, even if only to claim insurance. Carol even says that even if they were to realise that they were wrong, they wouldn’t apologise, saying that “it’s how they’re brought up.” Through these comments, it’s made clear that the exploitation of workers by the upper class has been standardised to the point of being passed down through generations and realised even by the workers themselves. 

3. Exploitation

The third point I’m going to talk about is the sheer powerlessness that the working-class experiences against the upper class, in addition to the difference in goodwill and sincerity he observes between the classes.

When Vic ends up finding the ‘missing’ earrings, vacuumed up with the rest of the dust after simply being dropped onto the floor under the client’s bed, he is —quite justifiably— more than a little miffed about the “fake outrage” they suffered as a consequence of the client’s negligence.

But he quickly gets over it, relieved that their name can be cleared, having found the supposedly stolen items. However, Carol immediately shakes her head, saying that “all she has to say is that she made me guilty enough to give them back” as a way for her to keep the job and save face. When Vic suggests going to the police themselves, she reiterates the importance of keeping her reputation, saying “that’s all I’ve got – my good name.” At the beginning of the story, Vic views his mother’s pride at her good reputation as just a matter of personal pride, but he realises now it’s actually almost a necessity. The client by client nature of the job emphasises the instability of their livelihood and dependency on the upper class, that over the fear of “[losing] the rest of my jobs” she is unable to “fight back” no matter what they say about her.


And so, Vic is finally forced to the conclusion that he’s “powerless to defend her”. Now while they’re not financially dependent in the normal sense, like in a close relationship, they’re still dependent on jobs from them and are left unable to fight back in any capacity due to fear of being discarded like yesterday’s trash. 

However, in the end, they don't take the money, leaving it with the earrings, saving their dignity in part but further sacrificing their livelihoods.

 

Thus, we can reach the conclusion of our Marxist reading, that the hard-working and sincere working class are more deserving of power than the (perceived to be) lazy upper class, in the form of economic power, and desiring that ownership of the factors of production moves to the working class.

But now you may be wondering: what other basis (if any) do I have about this reading being the dominant reading like I said before?

Well with a little further digging, you can find a little on what Tim Winton thinks on this matter in other works too, and sure enough, it’s the same ol’ spiel. To try to summarise his economic beliefs into a sentence, he thinks (neoliberal) capitalism is failing, and in his words “there’s no invisible hand, and if there is one, it’s scratching its arse”. This is especially as the environment is very dear to him and our waste-heavy consumerist lives cause it great damage, for which he makes no attempt to hide his disdain.

But anyways, no matter your political beliefs (but especially the wrong ones), you should always try looking from a whole range of viewpoints – yes even the ones you’d probably cringe at. But that’s all for me for today readers, so until next time!

Word Count: 1428 (exc. bio of 52 words)