Gossip and Scandal Theme Analysis

Picnic at Hanging Rock is a fictional book written in the form of a true crime document. For years after its publication, readers sought to uncover any trace of news articles or historical documents about the purportedly real disappearance at Hanging Rock—to no avail. Just as Joan Lindsay created shock, titillation, and rabid interest in her readership, the characters within her novel spread gossip, rumors, and scandal. By creating a book which in itself serves as a metafictional commentary on the toxic environment of sensationalism created therein, Joan Lindsay uses Picnic at Hanging Rock to show how gossip and scandal have the power to influence and impact the lives and fortunes of those within it—from the wealthy and powerful to the obscure and downtrodden.

From the early pages of the novel, Lindsay takes every opportunity to show how the potential for scandal and gossip control the daily lives of her characters. The girls of Appleyard College are perhaps the characters most intimately connected with the theme of gossip and scandal. Even before their fateful journey to Hanging Rock, the teenage boarders find their lives controlled by the potential of their every action to reflect poorly upon their school and to render them social pariahs. As Mrs. Appleyard sends the girls off on their journey to Hanging Rock in a covered drag, she reminds them not to remove their gloves until they’re past Woodend, the nearest town. She also instructs them never to remove their hats no matter how stifling the heat on the journey or at the rock. This simple example shows just how little fuel society would need to turn the girls into objects of gossip and scandal—the girls are told to stay completely covered because failing to do so would mean appearing lewd or improper according to social norms. Mrs. Appleyard, to be fair, is overly obsessed with appearances—but as she bids the girls goodbye, even she knows that the collective future of the school and the individual futures of the girls hinge on how they present themselves to others.

Once news of the disappearances at Hanging Rock breaks, the girls find their lives transformed by the rumor mill in their small, rural township. As Appleyard College becomes the focus of gossip, scandal, and mystery, concerned neighbors, local and city policemen, members of the press, and intrigued townspeople alike knock at the door day and night. The girls’ schedules are disturbed, their learning environment becomes the subject of scrutiny, and their very educations are threatened. As speculation about the nature of the disappearances gets more and more out of hand, concerned parents write to Mrs. Appleyard asking to pull their children from the school. The girls’ own questions about what has happened to their classmates and math teacher begins to drive them all slowly mad—as evidenced by their traumatized collective reaction when Irma comes back to school to visit, gather her things, and say goodbye. The girls’ entire environment has been destabilized by the far-reaching effects of gossip, scandal, speculation, and uncertainty—and all of their lives, forever changed the day of the picnic, are further thrown into tumult by the maelstrom of stories swirling around them.

Joan Lindsay’s clever use of the true crime genre to tell a fictional tale serves as a metafictional commentary on the glitter and allure of scandal, gossip, and drama. From the time of its publication, Lindsay’s novel was marketed as—and believed by many to be—a true crime book. Readers hunted tirelessly for more information about the purportedly truthful disappearances, driven by the unsolvable mystery’s gravity and unknowability. Joan Lindsay herself constructed the very foundation of her novel around human nature’s insatiable need for scandal and gossip, knowing that the same uproar which, in the pages of the novel, spawns countless news articles and endless verbal speculation about the nature of the disappearances would propel her actual novel into the hands (and minds) of curious readers.

By creating a story about the destabilizing effects of gossip and scandal which itself, as a book, has long relied on the human desire for those very things, Joan Lindsay has created a perfect example of how sensationalized media and dramatized rumors can make or break one’s fortune. Just as the Hanging Rock scandal had the potential to bring Appleyard College to its knees, Lindsay created a book which had the potential to shape her life, career, and legacy—and she pulled both plots off with aplomb.