Thursday's Child By Sonya Hartnett

During the Great Depression, when every ounce of life was bleak, withering, and hopeless, maintaining fortitude through adversity differentiated living another day and meeting the ravenous hands of despair. Thursday’s Child, a historical fiction novel written by Sonya Hartnett, explores the struggles of an Australian family during the Great Depression. Harper Flute, the narrator of the novel, reflects on the events of her early life with her family members. Da (Court Flute) is the father of five children, including Harper and her older sister, Audrey. In addition to being the husband of Mam (Thora Flute), Da is the scourge of the Flute family’s turmoil and anguish. Conversely, Mam and Audrey courageously preclude the family’s dissension through

Perpetuating out of his upbringing, and exacerbated through the turmoil of the Great Depression, Da’s cowardliness is the dominant impediment of the Flute family. After Devon, Harper’s older brother, inherits the wealth of Court’s father, Grandda, Mam explains the disagreeable relationship between Court and his father. Grandda, a clerk, aspired to ascend the corporate ladder, but jealousy enveloped him when Court, a junior clerk, received the company’s interest. Owing to his conceitedness and adamant search for corporate prestige, Grandda coerced Court to volunteer in World War I by warning his son that his “‘children…will forever hang their heads in shame” if he did not fight (Hartnett 76-77). When Da returns from the war alive, Grandda further dejects Court’s sense of authority by implanting the idea of moving into the country. The dysfunctional relationship between Da and his father is the inception for his cowardly nature. Grandda’s disinterest and dejection of Court perpetuates Da’s character and actions throughout his life. Furthermore, Da’s sense of incapableness contributes to the hardships the Flute family confront. For example, when Devon returns home unpaid

The months following the Caffy’s death, Harper is in desperate need of compassion and care. To fulfill Ma’s temporary absence, Audrey becomes Harper’s mother in the sense that she cares for Harper, and helps her through the loss of her youngest brother. Harper describes, “I needed someone to care for me in the melancholy months that dragged behind that breezeless morning, and I understood that my mother and father were gone: Audrey…had become all I had” (158). Resulting from Caffy’s accidental death, depression overcomes Harper. It is by Audrey’s hands alone that Harper is able to survive this loss in her life. In the following months, after the shanty collapses and is rebuilt, many of the town’s families offer food to help the struggling Flute family. While Ma gratefully accepts the offerings, Da churlishly rejects to eat any of the gifts, because he does not accept his own failings to provide for his family. While Da rebukes Lolly Fletcher, a town citizen, for donating a rabbit to the family, Audrey retorts, “The man gave us a rabbit because a rabbit is all he has…He’s as badly off as us, but he’s doing his best, anyway, and you’re not even grateful” (184). Similar to Thora, Audrey acknowledges Da’s poor character by emphasizing the fact that Da’s suffering is not unique, but the