Neighbours
By Tim Winton
Neighbours by Tim Winton
is a very short story about a young couple moving into a new neighbourhood.
They notice that their new home was full of European migrants and don't feel
quite at home in the beginning, always having to listen to the loud conversations
of their next door neighbours, a Macedonian family and the hammering of their
other next door neighbour, a Polish widower. At first they only see the strange
and sometimes disgusting customs of their new neighbourhood.
After getting used to
their new surrounding the young couple starts liking their neighbours and
notice that they aren't that bad at all.
When the woman becomes
pregnant the neighbours immediately find out about it and start giving the
young couples presents and good tips. The couple isn't used to that
friendliness and is really surprised when the whole neighbourhood celebrates
the arrival of the new baby.
I chose this short story
thinking about the many immigrants living in Australia and their living
together peacefully.
The story shows how many
people from different countries can live peacefully together, although they
have a different lifestyle. There are a lot of migrants in Australia who moved
there because of various reasons, like war, the Great Depression, political
reasons and just because they started loving the country.
