Summary of Neighbors by TJ Winton

Summary of The Story Neighbours

The story Neighbour is all about a young couple who have moved to a new place in Australia. The place where they have moved is full of European migrants. They have a house which is small and beautiful. It has high ceilings and paned windows which feels like an elegant cottage. The newly married young couple have started to live in such a multicultural and multilingual suburb neighbourhood. They are in a new phase of life along with full of dram and fascinating events coming in the days to come. 

This story has presented a fine concept that cultural and linguistic barriers cannot stop people from bestowing love and compassion. This story has presented different seasons with different changes in thoughts and behaviours. The newly married couple are 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. In the beginning, the environment is disgusting because the languages, cultures and activities are quite unfamiliar for them. They have become quite irritated to hear loud conversations of their next-door neighbour which is a Macedonian family. 

The Macedonian family live on the left side of their house. They always shout, scream and talk in a loud voice. Similarly, they are also disturbed most of the time by a Polish widower, an old man who always hammers the nails in the woods uselessly. The activity of the old man has also disturbed them. The old man lives on the right of their house. These two families are the main reason for young couples' irritation. They don’t like to stay with them so they remain away from them for the initial months. The neighbours are quite cautious and they also care about the young couple's activities. 

The young man writes his thesis and does household tasks whereas his wife works outside. She works in a hospital which is strange for their neighbours so they are shocked to see the young man sitting at home whereas his wife works in the hospital. They disapprove of males sitting at home and wives working outside. In the autumn season, the couple has decided and started to plant different types of vegetables in the kitchen garden. The neighbours have seen their activities so they want to advise about the plantation. The young man seems to be careful about the words. A big woman from the neighbourhood has given a bagful of garlic cloves to plant. 

Similarly, the young couple has built a hen house. It is not so strong so it has fallen sooner. The old man from their neighbourhood came there who was not invited. He has repaired it. In this way, they learn to share and care in the neighbourhood. They become bold and they have a feeling of pride. They have learned various things from the Macedonian family. They become quite close to their neighbours though they don't know their languages. They help each other in this way. 

After some time, the young lady becomes pregnant though they don’t have any expectations to become parents very early. They don't want their neighbours to know about the pregnancy but they know about the pregnancy. The neighbours start caring for the young couple more. The man gives her small presents of chocolates and packets of cigarettes. The Polish man gives them wood scraps for their fire. In the summer, an Italian woman offers names for the upcoming child. 

In the same way, the Greek woman assures her that she will get a male child after touching her belly. The woman who lives next door knits the baby a suit in the late summer. The Macedonian family waves and calls out the best wishes in their language. By seeing the support and care of the neighbours, the young man begins to weep. His concept regarding his neighbours has been changed at last. 

About the Author 

Tim Winton whose full name is Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories for both children and adults. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia and has won the Miles Franklin Award four times. His novels include That Eye, the Sky (1986), Dirt Music (2001), and Breath (2008). He also wrote several children's books, including Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo (1990), The Bugalugs Bum Thief (1991), and The Deep (1998). This story 'Neighbors' has been taken from Migrants of Australia edited by Harwood Lawler.

Understanding the Text 

a. Describe how the young couple’s house looked like. 

➨Even though their home was tiny, it had the appearance of a beautiful cottage due to the high ceilings and paned windows that were on the walls. Their house was not that luxurious or of High-standard but was perfectly cosy to live a life as a normal person. 

b. How did the young couple recognize their neighbours at the beginning of their arrival?

➨The young couple recognized their neighbours as uncivilized and annoying people at the beginning of their arrival from various odd activities that they witnessed. People in their surroundings used to scream, quarrel, make unnecessary noises. They also lack proper sanitation. They used to complain about their dog. They used to interfere with their household activities. All these things made them have a negative impression about their neighbourhood at the beginning of their arrival. 

c. How did the neighbours assist the young couple in the kitchen garden? 

➨ Neighbours helped them both orally and physically in their kitchen garden. Orally, they gave them some advice that was required to have proper benefits from gardening. They approached the work area and offered and advised them the ideas for spacing, hilling and mulching the vegetables they had planted. They provided them with some seeds and plants of vegetables as well. Thus they assist the young couple in the kitchen garden. 

d. Why were the people in the neighbourhood shocked at the role of the young man and his wife in their family? 

➨ The people in the neighbours were shocked by the actions of a young couple that was new to them. They were astonished to see that the young guy stayed at home and took care of domestic chores, while his wife worked at a hospital. It was frowned upon in the neighbourhood for men to sit at home while women worked outside. 

e. How did the neighbours respond when they learned about the woman’s pregnancy? 

➨ The neighbours' reacted to the woman's pregnancy with grace and politeness. They began smiling at the young couple all the time and showing a lot of concern for the young lady. They did all they could to help her in different ways. They gave her numerous presents, counsel, and attention in connection with her pregnancy. Neighbours showed their joy and happiness through various activities. Some people started offering them presents, hand-knitted sweaters, gloves, caps, some women started advising them baby names, some started guessing the child whether it will be a boy or a girl. From all these, we can infer that the people in the neighbourhood were very happy to learn about the woman's pregnancy. 

f. Why did the young man begin to cry at the end of the story? 

➨ At the conclusion of the story, the young man cried, realizing his neighbour's concern, care, and affection. When he found people applauding for his newly born kid, he couldn't conceal his feelings. He cried with joy at his neighbours' happiness. His view of his neighbours changed. He was able to understand the concept of interpersonal interactions. Angry and annoyed by their neighbour's interferences into their personal lives, the young couple had become resentful of their neighbour's. They were unaware that all of their neighbour's actions were motivated by love and concern for them. Their relationship changes when the Young Lady becomes pregnant and their neighbours' start admiring and wishing them well. This story's last scene depicts a young man's tears of gratitude for his neighbour's kindness. 

g. Why did the author not characterize the persons in the story with proper names? 

➨ The author did not give the characters a definitive name or identity because he wanted to represent individuals from various cultures and languages living together in peace. The author wants the reader to get influenced or inspired by the story by characterizing the persons of the story without finite names. The second reason could be, Tim may not want his readers to get too involved in the characters, rather feel the way people interact with each other in a diversified community. 

Reference to the Context