AUT Master of Creative Writing Thesis Exegesis - Scholarly ...

AUT Master of Creative Writing 2008
Shorty © Michael Botur 2009
mutate within subcultural groups (Wyn & Harris 2004 p.274.) It is difficult
to locate the narrator of Model Railway in a specific subculture, but we
can identify that he is obeisant and respectful towards women, speaks
Noughties Kiwi teenage parlance, and lacks confidence, hence his
voyeuristic actions. He probably comes from a stable home, because he
is generous and references that his father took him to model train clubs.
The reluctance of the female characters Zebra Girl and Purple Girl to
engage with the narrator is because he doesn’t apply pressure to them,
and they already receive excessive attention from other passengers. It is
implied that they are institutionalised and will only react to pressure from
an overbearing interrogator – ie. a pimp or john.
Angela McRobbie and Jenny Garber have investigated the
relationship of girls to subcultures. Although it is hard to locate Zebra and
Purple in their subculture (Prostitute? Pickpocket?), what we can see is
that because these characters are barely involved with family and
motherhood, they are more pivotal to their specific (and deviant) area of
work (McRobbie and Garber 1975 p.113.) They have substituted
traditional family for a much smaller, tighter unit of two.
We should also look at the narrator’s mental health, which is implied
to have suffered from the death of the narrator’s sister (page 1.) In terms
of health, ‘youth are often positioned as helpless victims of social change’
(Wyn pp 279-280.) Wyn writes that research on Australian youth (who
share most cultural characteristics with New Zealanders) found diversity
of lifestyle (sports, art, community construction) and positive relationships
14