The Thorn Birds Style

The Thorn Birds Style

Point of View The Thorn Birds is written in the third person past tense, with an omniscient point of view. Each of the 7 books focuses on a single character, and is told primarily from that character's point of view, although the inner thoughts of other characters are also occasionally included. McCullough employs internal information and shifts in point of view to introduce material or thoughts to develop character and plot. Some of these shifts are inevitable, as in Book 6, where after Dane's death the point of view shifts to Justine. Others are employed to introduce new material for major or minor plot points, which the book's primary point of view character is unaware of, as in Book , page 55 where Paddy's thoughts are shown too illustrate his understanding of his difficult son Frank. Near the end of Book 2, the point of view shifts from Ralph to Mary Carson, to explain her reasons for leaving her fortune to the priest instead of her family.

McCullough manages the point of view shifts gracefully, without causing the reader disorientation, by maintaining a slight distance from each character. Employing an objective stance, with only occasional thoughts from the point of view character, makes the point of view shifts less distracting to the reader. Shifts in point of view are more pronounced and occur more frequently as the novel progresses, perhaps because the plot becomes more complicated, or due to McCullough's increased skill with the technique.

Setting The Thorn Birds is set primarily on Drogheda, a sheep ranch in the Australian Outback, an area McCullough is fond of and has extensive knowledge of. Long sections of the lengthy book lovingly detail the flora and fauna of Australia, especially New South Wales and Queensland, often for pages. McCullough also devotes space to the social and historical events of Australia, such as the roving sheepherders and depression era tramps. Compared to McCullough's detailed descriptions of the 5-foot long lizards, kangaroos, droughts and flies of New South Wales, her descriptions of Rome, Sydney and Greece are almost non-existent.

The focus of McCullough's work is in painting an accurate description of live on a sheep station near Gillanbone, New South Wales. McCullough thoroughly details the sulfuric smell of the bore head, the annoyance of flies and dust, as well as the numerous gates that must be opened and closed manually to travel by car or buggy from Gillanbone to Drogheda, the Cleary's ranch.

McCullough's extensive knowledge of the inner workings of...
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