Perkins is a professor of American and English literature and film. In this essay, Perkins traces the characters' achievement of a harmonious balance.

In his article on David Malouf's shorter fiction, Paul Sharrad argues that Malouf's stories explore the mystery inherent in “the moment of contact between different orders of experience,” specifically “the mystery of what makes people tick” and “of how some of us find intuitive balance in a world that others force into solid blocks of unfeeling certitude.” These mysteries are the main focal points of “Great Day” in its chronicle of one day in the life of the Tyler clan. During the course of this day, readers get glimpses of what makes each member tick as well as their struggles with the inevitable tensions that arise in a tightly knit family structure. The day, however, becomes “great” by its close, when the characters are...