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

AUT Master of Creative Writing 2008
Shorty © Michael Botur 2009
specific individual. Many characters are the shorty in a difficult
relationship with loved ones, colleagues or neighbours. These characters
are people who are not well educated, confident or articulate, because
they do not value these qualities. Some of these characters are stifled by
the roles they have grown into, although ‘It is a game that (the subcultural
person) can succeed in, unlike (that person)’s involvement in the world
that you represent’ (Martin, ibid.) However, in their stories, my characters
are sometimes redeemed by some nobility inherent in their humanity, a
nobility which is recognised across all cultures. Humanity – a quality
common in everyday life – satisfies the reader.
The characters describe their environment with difficulty and conflict,
in a style similar to Alan Duff’s Once Were Warriors characters. This style
is anathema to authors such as Ian McEwan whose characters are
articulate and culturally refined. Shorty aims to balance the expression of
inarticulate characters against those empowered by articulation, and
investigate this (im)balance.
In Shorty, archetypal characters have engaged with an environment,
and their character is refined because of this engagement. Rough
descriptions of some subcultural archetypes in Shorty are as follows:
- Socialist advocate (‘hippie’)
- confused teenage voyeur
- spunky personal trainer
- bumpkin farmer
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