The Shilling

The value of the shilling that is gifted to Kip from Mr Husting for his work in looking after Charlie the horse is, at first, valuable only as money would be to a child. To Kip, having it means he has amassed some control and is now faced with choices on how he might spend it, toying with the idea of spending the afternoon at the ice rink or spoiling his crush, Annabel Crouch. Its value compounds as it makes an appearance again in Stanzi’s chapter, being displayed in an album. Although, the value of the shilling in monetary terms has dissipated, when it was gifted to Stanzi from her father, now an elderly man, to her it holds a far more personal appreciation. The disappearance of the shilling, just as Stanzi and Charlotte have planned to frame it as a gift for their father highlights that it’s presence has been an important factor in their lives growing up.

The Shilling Quotes

‘It wasn’t just any old coin. It won me my new saddle in a two-up school last winter, back on the station. That was my lucky shilling.’ (Jack Husting) p 105

‘Maybe love is more like a coin: moving between people all around us, all the time, linking people within families and on the other side of the world, across oceans. If we drew the path of a single coin, the trajectory it had taken, it would link us to all kinds of strangers. We would be connected to people we’ve never even met.’ (Stanzi Westaway) p 69

The Pendant

In a similar way to the shilling that Kip is gifted, the pendant makes its way through the generations and holds meaning for those who possess it. When a young Francis Westaway steals the pendant from an old woman’s house, its origins are of no great importance. Its beauty captures Francis and even as a young boy he understands the need to keep the manner in which he acquired it a secret.

Like so much of Jordan’s novel, the first time we read about the pendant is not its origin and we must chronologically order its origins as we read. It is used by Charlotte, who has been given it as a gift from her mother Annabel in a superstitious ritual to confirm her pregnancy; valued for its traditional heritage as opposed to its monetary worth, much like the shilling.

Later on, when Francis gifts the pendant to Annabel in an attempt to impress her, he is found out to be a liar and it is Kip that demands she keep it as recompense for the way his brother treated her. Ironically, both the shilling and amethyst pendant would be useful to sell in a society struck by rationing and economic hardships, but both Kip and Francis seem to understand there are some things more valuable than money.

The Pendant Quotes

‘I hold the pendant between my hands, I hold it close to my heart, I hold it above the incense burning on my dresser. I close my eyes and say a few words to the universe. I am its child. I know the universe is listening.’ (Charlotte Westaway) p 123

‘I rub my hands together, reach around my neck to unfasten the pendant and warm it in my hands. It is perfect, purple and gold with sharp edges, the right thing to make the decision because it is part of my family. My mother gave it to me and my father gave it to her. It is my connection with all those who have gone before me.’ (Charlotte Westaway) p 142

The Photograph of Connie and Jack

The existence of the photograph of Jack and Connie is not known until very late in the novel, meaning its importance, although still poignant, provides a climax in Kip’s narrative. Kip’s emotional reaction to Alec finding the hidden picture in the backyard of Rowena Parade, confirms his involvement in the sad love story of Jack and Connie. Not only does the photograph capture the passion of a relationship that never had the opportunity to flourish, it holds place as a representation of the many sweethearts that parted ways when the men were deployed, never to return; it forms the fabric of Australia’s story in World War 2.

As an aside, it was also the catalyst that inspired Toni Jordan to write the novel. Its relevance within the novel and out is undeniable.

The Photograph Quote

‘This photo won’t be out of my sight from now on. You’ve given me my sister back, Alec…wherever she is, I’m sure she’s looking out for you.’ (Kip Westaway) pp 259-60

Literary Allusions

In order to properly contextualise each chapter into its respective decade, the novel makes copious literary illusions within it; and allows readers to make connections between what they know about the text being mentioned and the characters within Nine Days. An example of this is within the chapter pertaining to Kip, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Dickens’ Great Expectations are cited, contributing to our knowledge of Kip as an adventurous pre-teen on the cusp of adulthood. His enlightenment, much like the protagonists in both texts, come later in the text when he is prematurely exposed to death, love and loss in the war torn neighbourhood of his youth.

Similarly, Jack Husting references Gulliver’s Travels upon his return to his old neighbourhood and family home; a suggestion of returning to his old life to find he no longer fitted in and had grown away from it. Likewise, in the present day Alec refers to Austen’s ‘Bennet chick’ (p 267) to cement out understanding of his oppression living with three women.

However, in contrast to Francis disguising his litigious behaviours as escapades of ‘The Shadow’, a character out of a comic book, Jordan uses the absence of these allusions in characters such as Connie and her mother Jean to illustrate their inability to dream of an existence away from their own. Perhaps Jordan is also hinting and the lack of education of women in the 1930s and 40s as she is almost certainly arguing for the value of literature by citing such literary classics.

Literary Allusions Quote

‘It seems I’m the only one who notices I’ve grown… this Gulliver life fits my mood, a stranger in a strange land.’ (Jack Husting) p 72