CHAPTER THREE: JACK
Sunday 25 February 1940
Chapter Three takes the reader back to Richmond before the beginning of World War II. The chapter focuses primarily on Jack Husting as he struggles to adjust to life back in inner city Richmond, having worked for ‘eighteen’ months on a station (page 77). Just as Kip and Stanzi do in the first two chapters, Jack tells his own story and Jack’s connection to Kip’s story is revealed incrementally, reminiscent of Stanzi’s chapter. Jack has been working for his uncle amongst ‘horses and sheep’ (page 71) and life in the family home above their furniture shop in Swan Street feels stifling in comparison. Sleeping in his childhood bed, when he has been so used to sleeping in a swag or bunk (page 71), adds to his restlessness and frustration. Richmond itself feels like a ‘poor man’s paddock’ (page 73), the ‘barrenness, the ugliness, the sad crushed spaces’ and ‘[a]dvertising hoardings’ combining to evoke intense yearnings within Jack for the ‘pure air’ (pages 73–74) of the country. Jack’s sense of being trapped is heightened by his family dynamics. He is an only child, and this is subtly conveyed by his description that he is the ‘only nephew of a childless station owner’ (page 85). His life so far seems to have involved a series of carefully orchestrated moves by his mother to keep him safe from war and away from what she considers to be the wrong type of people. This has meant that Jack has lived away from home for so long (and for so often) that her suffocating need to protect him, whilst ensuring he is socially successful, has led to nothing but disconnection, Jack ruefully reflecting: ‘She doesn’t know me. Not at all.’ (page 72) It is just before the beginning of World War II and the era of Menzies (page 80) and Australia’s loyalty to Empire is writ large in its obedience to the King. Fears about the impending war has prompted overt displays of religious duty, inspired by the King’s requests for ‘prayers for the Empire, prayers that we’d defeat Germany good and quick’ (pages 72–73). Jack reports that ‘St Stephen’s is packed to the doors’ (page 73) but unlike his mother, he is neither fearful about his safety and soul, nor concerned with making social connections. Not only does Jack feel like an outsider in his own home, the idea of war has created a fierce social expectation that fit and the strong men will go to war. This pressure stems particularly from ‘old timer[s]’ (page 81) who fought in Pozières (page 81). Jack is questioned about being in ‘civvies’ [civilian clothing] and accused of being a ‘spineless bloke’ (page 82). Yet Jack is unperturbed by this social shaming; he feels no desire to go to war having ‘seen death at close quarters’ (page 80). Jack’s strength of character is underlined in the fact that he feels no pressure to conform even though his peers are swept up in the excitement of joining up and the promise of seeing ‘European stars’ (page 81). Chapter Three also sheds further light on the story of the Hustings' neighbours, the Westaways, and when Jack first glances Connie Westaway ‘[a]cross the lane, in the tiny yard next door’ (page 74) we realise that Jack is actually Jack Husting. Jack reveals that Kip is employed by Mr Husting as ‘day labour…an act of charity’ (page 74), emphasising the power imbalance between the families. Later we connect this to the death of Kip’s father, who we discover was called Tom Westaway (page 100). Jack is immediately entranced by Connie, who is ‘dancing’ (page 75) instead of sweeping and he declares, ‘She is the loveliest thing I’ve seen in all these weeks I’ve been away from the bush’ (page 76). However, the arrival of Mrs Westaway, presented by Jack as an angry and controlling figure, puts an abrupt halt to Connie’s moment of happiness. Jack sums this up metaphorically when he remarks, ‘The music has finished’ (page 76). Jack’s mother tries to play matchmaker by introducing him to Emily Stewart whose family go to St Stephen’s (page 84) and own the hardware shop on Swan Street (page 85). She is determined to see Jack married to the right girl and goes to great lengths to impress the Stewarts by putting on her ‘company voice’ (page 84), wearing a hat and putting on a lovely afternoon tea. This scene also allows Jack to underline his mother’s intense loathing of Catholics, complicating Jack’s attraction to Connie who is from the ‘family of Catholics...next door’ (page 85). Emily may have money, but her lack of polish is obvious when she uses phrases like ‘runned out’ (page 87) and her interest in washing machines is lost on Jack. Therefore, as soon as he can, Jack arrives on the Westaways' doorstep with a basket of lemons (which he claims have come from his backyard and are a gift from his mother) wearing ‘an ironed shirt and [his] good jacket’ (page 91). Jack notices Kip’s facial injuries confirming that Chapter Three is set in the same time frame as Chapter One. Kip's character also receives more shading. We discover that there are six years between Jack and Kip. Mrs Westaway’s physical appearance is more sharply delineated too, albeit in an unflattering way (page 92). Even though this is the first time they have seen each other since before Jack went away to school (page 74), Connie already feels connected to him, having heard him going out at night (page 97). Unanswered questions from the first chapter are also addressed. Connie is working at the Argus as an assistant to the photographers (page 97). Connie’s dreams of becoming a photographer are established, as are social prejudices about photography as a career—Francis declares that photography isn’t ‘respectable’ (page 98) nor is it acceptable to be a ‘girl photographer’. Instead, Francis values ‘a steady job. At a desk, in the government’ (page 99). It is also revealed that Mr Westaway was a typesetter at the Argus and that Mr Ward, Connie’s boss, took her on because he worked with Mr Westaway. Mr Westaway’s alcoholism is named (page 102), providing a hint as to what led to him being hit by a tram. Mr Ward is also presented as a romantic suitor for Connie and a way out of poverty for the family. Mr Ward also represents a path to respectability because Connie ‘won’t be able to work’ (page 101), thus emphasising the limitations placed on Connie by her gender. The importance of Connie's marrying well to Francis’ academic pursuits is also underlined— ‘must go to university’ (page 102). The prejudice suffered by Irish Catholics is laid bare when Mrs Husting tells Jack that ‘a boarder is a respectable way for a Catholic family to improve themselves’ (page 100) and that it’s a lucky for Connie that her ‘colouring’s not too Irish’. This foreshadows what Connie will choose to jeopardise and even reject in later chapters. The value placed on breeding is also highlighted by Mr Husting’s suggestion that Mrs Westaway is ‘common’ (page 102) and that ‘layabout boys with no responsibilities, the Kip Westaways of the world ought to’ (page 102) fight in the war, implying some people are more expendable than others. The chapter ends with Jack walking the streets of Melbourne tormented by imagined images of Connie marrying Mr Ward and the suggestion that he will join up to escape news of Connie’s engagement (page 104). Jack also loses his ‘lucky shilling’ (p.105) when his father plucks it ‘right out of the air’. This is the shilling that Jack’s dad gives to Kip and that Stanzi fears has been stolen by her client.