The Search for Self in Tirra Lirra by the River It has been suggested that Tirra Lirra by the River can be seen as a novel which ultimately aims to a better understanding"2. In my opinion, understanding is obtained on two levels in the novel. The first type of understanding is personal and introspective, and is discovered by the central character. The other is societal, achieved through allegory and symbolism, and aimed at the reader to develop this dual understanding through the exploration of two main themes: the quest for self-knowledge and the consequences of gendered societal repression. these themes and what Nora and the audience ultimately understand in relation to them.The Quest for Self-KnowledgeNora Porteous, the main character of Tirra Lirra by the River, embarks on a journey of self-discovery as an elderly lady. - mainly while she is in bed recovering from pneumonia. As physical exertion, which the reader later discovers is her usual response to periods of "waiting", is denied to her, she begins to explore her inner world of imagination and memory. Her most important discovery is that she has lived her entire life under the curse of an imbalance between imagination and reality. This imbalance is signified by Nora's many correlations with Tennyson's "Lady of the Shallot", and by the gulf between her physical appearance and her actions and inner character. One of the most obvious traits shared by the Lady and Nora is their desire for the perfect. social world of Camelot. Nora's "Camelot" is a "region of [her] mind, where infinite expansion was possible" and is more real than "the discomfort of the knees imprinted by the cane of a chair" (...... middle of paper .. .... from page 61. Willbanks, p. 62. Pam Gilbert, Coming Out From Under: Contemporary Australian Women Writers (London: Pandora, 1988) p. 140. Elaine Barry, “The expatriate vision of Jessica Anderson,” Meridian 1 (3) (1984), 3-11. This is from page 8. Alfred Tennyson, “The Lady of Shallot,” in Elaine Barry, Fabricating the Self: The Fictions of Jessica. Anderson (Queensland: UQP, 1992), Appendix 2. Elaine Barry, Making the Self: The Fictions of Jessica Anderson (Queensland: UQP, 1992), p. 89. Barry, Meridian, p. in Tirra Lirra by the River by Jessica Anderson, "Australian Literary Studies 3 (12) (1986), 316-323. This from p. 318. Willbanks, p. 60. Barry, Fabricating, p. 73. Barry , Meridian, p. 7. Barry, Manufacturing, p. 74. Willbanks, p. 71. Willbanks, p... 62.