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Australian Identit in Piper’s Son by Dominic Finch-Mackee Essay example

Decent Essays

Identity. It’s a broad and difficult concept. As Australians, our identity is multi-faceted, having various different expressions. One aspect of my sense of Australian identity is masculinity and the idea of the “Aussie Battler.” An Aussie Battler is a man from the working class, a person who has pride in the country they live in. An Aussie battler is a patriarchal figure who works hard to support their family, often spending their spare time with the family or at the pub. The Piper’s Son, an Australian novel by Melina Marchetta, reflects my sense of Australian identity through it’s representation of Australian masculinity in the depiction of Dominic Finch-Mackee as the archetypal “Aussie Battler.”

The “Aussie Battler” is a facet of my …show more content…

Throughout the novel, Dominic’s heavy, and eventually unhealthy dependence on alcohol is talked about. After the death of Joe, Dominic “drinks himself to oblivion.” This display of Dominic’s reliance on alcohol reflects the idea of an Aussie Battler, a person who deals with adversity in the unconventional way of drinking alcohol instead of talking about it.

Through characterisation, Dominic Finch-Mackee can be read as a representation of Australian masculinity through his depiction as the archetypal “Aussie Battler.” This contrasts to the representation of my sense of Australian identity in First Dance, a short story by Penelope Rowe which depicts alcohol, sexual violence and the “pack mentality” as elements of Australian adolescent masculinity.

As an Australian, my sense of identity in terms of adolescent masculinity is that there is a definite nature of sexual aggression, alcoholism and a pack-like mentality. In First Dance, my sense of identity is reflected through the characterisation of the adolescent men. In the short story, the group of teenage boys exhibit a pack. Roy — the natural born leader of the group, keeps his boys in order and makes sure they didn't get “out of line,” depriving them of attention. The rest of the group, looked up to Roy, relying on him. This structure of the group of teenage boys likens them to a wolf pack - Roy being the alpha male with an unspoken hierarchy in the remainder of the

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