Theme and message

Community

The theme of the story “Neighbours” by Tim Winton is. This is explored by looking at the couple’s relationship with their neighbors. The couple initially feels as though the neighborhood they moved to is a foreign land in which they are strangers. They do not understand or like their neighbors, and the neighbors find them just as strange. However, they soon start helping each other by offering advice or exchanging small gifts, usually food grown in their garden. 

News of the wife’s pregnancy spreads quickly, and several members of the community try to help the expecting parents in whatever way they can: 

The man in the deli gave her small presents of chocolates and him packets of cigarettes […]. In the summer, Italian women began to offer names. […] By late summer the woman next ...