MovieChat Forums > My Brilliant Career (1979) Discussion > I don't understand the book....

I don't understand the book....

posted 12 years ago by cookiela2001
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Just finished the book, and will watch this film soon. But what's at the root of the central character (and presumably the author) is lost on me.

Maybe it is because the author was 16 and could not see the scope of her life and character fully, but what Sybylla's really "about" seems...hazy. Or at least, kind of inhuman.

The book isn't really about choosing marriage vs. career, and the movie's director acknowledges that she specifically slanted the screen adaptation that way:

("I took My Brilliant Career and turned it into my own story. A lot of people have said to me 'Did Miles [Franklin] ever marry? Maybe she was a lesbian?' Maybe that's true, who knows. But I decided my story was to be about a woman who had a lot of potential and really did like men, and did want to be in love, but also wanted to have a career and fulfill herself and her own creative potential.")

In the book, Sybylla turns down Harold because he somehow isn't exactly like her. ("No, no, no, no, he was not for me. My love must know, must have suffered, must understand.")

The book's also a little tiresome in the way the heroine's forever anguishing about not being loved....while at the same time practically every man who meets her seems to like her, and wants to pursue things further. She goes on and on about being alone and forsaken in the world, when others are offering her companionship.

I guess it needs a more careful reading, but the story seems off-kilter. WHAT DOES SYBYLLA WANT??? From what I can gather about her life, Miles Franklin was either homosexual or asexual (either of which is fine, of course), but she either didn't understand this in her own time period, or else wasn't interested in explaining this fully (at least in this particular work).

Can someone explain her character better for me, please?

[–] cookiela2001 12 years ago

Okay...just watched the film last night....which is very good, but has some significant changes from the book. (There's nothing wrong with that, of course. All adaptations veer from their source material.)

These changes do change the emotional environment of the story, though.

Just off the top of my head:

1.) The farm Sybylla comes from at the beginning looks picturesque to us, if dusty. In the book, there is a more grinding poverty and VERY heavy work load. Each child milks 13 cows morning and evening, to the point where their untrained hands (the clan had a better life before moving there) and arms swell up horribly. So in dreaming of a different life, the heroine isn't just seeking independence, she wants SURVIVAL. Her family's farm life is physically crushing her. She also spares her few sleeping hours to stay up late and write...which makes her desire to create literature come across as more urgent.

2.) Sybylla's grandmother is more kindly in the book. She doesn't lecture the heroine about turning down marriage proposals, but instead comforts her with "There is no need to distress yourself so...I would not want you to consider marriage for an instant with anyone distasteful to you." This is a big difference, where in the movie the heroine's pressured from all sides, practically, to marry.

3.) The movie plays up this (invented) pressure in Everard's proposal scene, where the film has him stating, "I EXPECT to take you back to England with me." In the book, his proposal is more respectful. ("...at the end of that time I want to marry you and take you home. By Jove! I would just like to take you home. You'd surprise some English girls I know.") Again, this is a very different climate from the film's.

4.) Sybylla shocks herself by severely striking Harold (Sam Neil) in the face with a whip only AFTER she has accepted his proposal. In the movie, it makes it look like he's forcing himself on her and she is defending herself, while in the book, she does this when he leans in to kiss her after she's already agreed to become engaged to him. This is a HUGE change.

5.) When Sybylla is sent off to be a tutor, she actually has a nervous breakdown after about 2 months due to the hardship and isolation. This is softened in the film, and the reason for departure made more comical.

Basically....the film gives the plot an inflated shape. It works for the movie, to a degree, and some sort of change was necessary, because to some people (including myself) Sybylla's motivations and (romantic) reactions in the book aren't fully explained.

I will read the book again...perhaps there are explanations I missed. But looking around on the Internet, at least, there are scores of people who are also puzzled, in essence wondering, "What's up with Sybylla??"

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