What is Australian Identity? Around the world, it is usually a big stereotype. The novel ‘Josh’ by Ivan Southall provides an Australian Identity. The novel also helps portray how Josh transits from an Aussie Lad to an Aussie Man. The novel is about how Josh goes to Ryan Creek for a week but uprising conflicts throughout the novel result in him trying to run away back to where he belonged. The book was set in the Great Depression which meant that most people were in poverty. Throughout the novel ‘Josh’, Ivan Southall effectively displays how Josh transitions from an Aussie Lad to an Aussie Man by developing his character, using the setting and theme.

Ivan Southall expresses how Josh transitions from an ‘Aussie Lad’ to an ‘Aussie Man’ throughout the novel by developing his character. The novel as stated before was set in the Great Depression, “There’s been a very serious depression and you were lucky. It didn’t hit the Plowmans as it hit many people,” indicating why Josh didn’t understand what it was like to be affected during a depression, as his family were not affected by it. Josh later in …show more content…
The setting is very different to which Josh is used to. Josh lives in Melbourne which is a capital city but he goes to Ryan Creek for a holiday. The two different settings help to display a sense of difference or conflicts. When Josh asks for the bathroom, Aunt Clara doesn’t know what this room was, “the Throne Room … it’s outside. Places like that we do not keep indoors,” suggesting a difference in the house plan of a city and a rural area. The ‘we’ was emphasised to signify the difference between the rural people and city people. Josh’s first impressions of the town were “looked quaint as if time had slipped a cog,” indicating that Josh thought the town was ‘quaint’ as this starts another sense of isolation. Ivan Southall uses themes to portray how Josh improves from an Aussie Lad to an Aussie