In this story by Henry Lawson, a woman remembers the many hardships and few good times in her life as she sits up all night with only a dog to help protect her and her children from a deadly snake. The snake has crawled under their house. They can’t sleep inside, as the wooden floor has gaps in it. They cower in the kitchen, which is attached to the side of the house and has an earthen floor. The children sleep on the table. She sits on a chair with a stick on her lap, waiting for the snake.
Original Text / PDF (3,219 words)
General Comments
The Drover’s Wife is one of the few Lawson stories in which the central character is a woman. Interestingly, we do not learn her name. Rather, she is referred to in terms of her relationship with her husband. Most commentators agree that this is to portray her as being representative of all ‘bush women’. I would go further: it also invites a comparison between the strengths and attributes of the husband and wife.
For each to survive the challenges they face each day requires some shared qualities: physical and emotional strength, courage, practicality and resourcefulness. We learn from the woman that the Drover is careless, but a good enough husband. The word ‘enough’ here suggests some shortcomings. She tells us that one of these is that from time to time he comforts himself in the arms of other women. We also learn that although she expects him to give most of what he earns to her, when he has had money in the past he has spent some of it on unnecessary luxuries. She is also somewhat anxious because he hasn’t taken the trouble to write to her or send word in over 6 months.
Despite the loneliness and difficulties the woman faces every day, she appears content with her lot in life. The Drover, on the other hand, is ready to give up life on the land to move the family into the nearest town. I am not sure that Lawson would have intended it, but I think that in this story the woman comes out as the stronger of the two.
You will find another story on our website dealing with the difficult and often lonely life faced by women in outback Australia. In this story, The Chosen Vessel, the danger that the woman faces is of the two-legged kind.