Picnic at Hanging Rock Leaves Everybody Hanging

The Story and Mystery

At the beginning of our discussion of Picnic at Hanging Rock, by Joan Lindsay, Cindy V. summarized the author’s original ending (not included in most, if any, published editions), that has the corsets hanging in the air. The costumes in the movie reflect the dark eerie aspects of the story, with flowing long dresses.

We thought about the picnic taking place during the summer on a hot sunny day. We thought about the students wearing gloves and long skirts and stockings. We were having our discussion on a very hot day and surmised that the students might have experienced some fainting episodes or at least been physiologically close to fainting. This could explain some of the confusion that might have caused the girls to go missing and also to have memory lapses after their emotional experience on that sunny hot day.

Cindy V. mentioned the mystery surrounding Sara’s falling from a window: Applewood might have pushed her (Applewood had lied and told everyone that Sara’s guardian had fetched her). It was also left open to the possibility that Sara fell. Applewood’s lie could have been a stalling tactic to keep Sara’s disappearance secret until Sara would reappear..

Motifs and Symbols

Cindy V. mentioned numerous symbols and motifs: clocks, water, swans (a swan turns into Miranda), dreams (the author said she dreamed the story over some nights), and triangles (see below).

Irma heard beating of far-off drums, girls somewhat floated.

Cindy - many small things were motifs and symbols.

Dennis - small things can make big differences.

Time: Watches stopped at noon, so the group didn’t know when to leave Hanging Rock to return to school. They did know when to eat, and somewhat used the sun to gauge time.

Triangles: During the horse-driven drive to Hanging Rock, the math teacher suggests returning via the hypotenuse, and the driver doesn’t understand that.

Discussion

Joanne said there was much homosexuality alluded to in the book, particularly among the young women. Carla said that was a theme in the Amazon series.

Albert saw Miranda sort of float over creek and fell in love with her.

Cindy T. - Edith was a catalyst. She began the “tell us” chant when Irma came back to visit the school.

Cindy V. - When Irma was found, she was missing her shoes and corset. The lost girls had taken their shoes off (who takes shoes off while walking in the woods, or were they on a flat stone area and why would they leave it without shoes?); but taking corsets off wasn’t mentioned. Irma’s corset being missing indicates an unusual thing for her, as she was usually very proper and organized.

Carla – It is difficult to travel to Hanging Rock in Australia now - might be aborigine territory.

Discrimination - Aborigines were not mentioned in the book. British and, upper-class Aussies were.

Dennis: Currently there is an Aboriginal art show @ the Blanton museum.

Discrimination between men and women. Sara was discriminated on by headmistress.

Marron glacé – pastry Michael ate while talking with his mother. He was young, British, and shown to be respectful and respectable over the course of book

Michael was allowed to spend as much time as he wanted with Albert, his groomsman. He was left alone to do as he pleased, in contrast to upper-class girls, who were tightly supervised and had many rules to follow. Michael was attending the picnic, and Albert was helping there. Albert was Sara’s brother.

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Sola toupé: A men’s sun hat often called a pith helmet or safari helmet. Has a round part for the top of the head and a big brim that was made of the “pith” or soft heartwood of the Sola plant. If you google “solar toupé”, you find some bicycle seats. Someone said soldiers wore Sola toupés. Were they mentioned in the book? This blogger was busy taking notes and missed the gist of this comment.

Second Boer War - Britain Vs South Africa.

Queen Elizabeth II has ruled in Britain and Australia since 1952.

Ship - Mary Celeste was an American ship, found in the Azores with no one on board in 1872. It was a mystery.

Carla – The book was fiction; but because of all the real aspects, people think the story is true.

Dennis – In a Nabokov novel, half the book is footnotes, but it’s fiction.  

Write your own ending.

Cindy - watch movie for story and again for beauty.

Cindy V.- Read Dickens.