Helen Garner essays

Helen Garner essays Helen Garner is the most interesting character that is revealed in The First Stone because of her language techniques and her unique way of writing. It is a non-fiction text, very personal, (as we only hear Garners point of view) honest and frank. The novel was extremely controversial, particularly as Garner is a pioneering feminist, and her way of writing the book goes against all ideas and beliefs of feminism and being a feminist. The interesting thing about Garners writing technique is that she poses dilemmas and raises more questions than answers, so she keeps us guessing until the end of the book. Helen Garner is the most interesting character revealed in The First Stone, because since she is telling us the story of the Ormond sexual harassment case, we learn to value her opinion, which is the only one we hear throughout the novel. However, the content of The First Stone thrust Garner into an inescapable spotlight, and was a major controversy and she soon had many people (m ainly feminists) opposing her ideas that she wrote down in her book. The First Stone is a book about two young women attending Ormond University in Melbourne who were at a party and claimed to have been sexually assaulted by the Master of their University at the time, Dr Colin Shepherd. Garner became increasingly intrigued by the case, and as the story unfolds, the reader sees what Garner thinks of the two women, feminism, men, (encompassing sex and power) and indeed, what happened on the night of the party. She starts investigating and looking for interviews almost right away, even attending the final court hearing. She speaks to many people surrounding the case, such as Dr Ruth V, Janet F, Ms Vivien S, Ms Rose H, Barbara W, Fiona P, Ms Margaret L, Christine G and most importantly, Mrs Shepherd. Garner states in...