Shame Kevin Gilbert Analysis

Celebrating the launch of the "International of the World's Indigenous People" in 1992, Keating addresses the "White-Australians" failure in recognising the injustices embedded within Australia's colonial past. Keating highlights the plight of Indigenous Australians through the use of highly evocative alliteration "devastation and demoralisation" to expose White-Australian's "failure". This reflects his condemnation of the "Great Australia Silence" proposed by Professor Stanner 1968, underpinning the prevailing social inequity that has been subdued and unrecognised by many Australians, compelling his intended and the future audience to revalue their preconceived understanding of Australia's colonial past. Furthermore, He skilfully employs logos to reinforce his argument in "the Report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody showed… past lives on inequality, racism and injustice", emphasising the social disadvantage faced by the ATSI community. Through the use of cumulative listing, "inequality, racism and injustice", Keating accentuates the importance of learning and recognising our past injustice to catalyse social progression towards reconciliation, constructing a sense of pathos that emotionally prompts the audience to sympathise with Aboriginal

Today we believe that we live in a society that is greater than the past in acceptance and we have achieve inequality among all people in our country as they are treated right however we are further from the truth than we realize as inequality ravage the land. This is due to the shaky foundation that was built in the past and still affects our minds today. A satirical piece named “Tidings of Comfort and Joy” shows how far we really gone with its satirical elements like juxtaposition, hyperbole, diminution, allusion, and verbal irony. With the use of these satirical element we can find the errors of our ways exaggerated in a comedic story about how we as a community truly view the Aboriginal people. “Tidings of Comfort and Joy” flip the narrative

In this particular poem we understand through the persona’s tone, that they do not like Australia or the people and are therefore making a judgement of, and being of a negative opinion towards, the nation. The text begins with “You big ugly.” This is instantly causing proud Australians to take offence towards the poem, we know it is about Australia because of the title. The poem continues with lines such as “you bore me. Freckle silly children… you nothing much… you’re ugly… you copy…you big awful…” all against Australia.

Charlie articulates how he “never understood why you would ever feel the need to shoot the fish in the barrel… (if) they’re in a barrel, you’ve already caught them… they can’t escape... why bring guns into it?” Silvey’s use of characterisation and first person point of view portrays Charlie’s realisation of the community’s racial prejudice towards ‘the other’. The “fish” is symbolic of Charlie and how he is different to the people of Corrigan; who are like vultures – constantly seeking the chance to attack those that are considered the ‘minority’. Charlie’s close friend, Jeffrey Lu, is a gifted and committed cricket player who persistently tries to get himself in the local team, however, due to his Vietnamese background, “he’s ruthlessly bullied and belted about by the boys at school.” The emotive imagery and alliteration of “bullied” and “belted” further depict Charlie’s internal conflict in addition to his realisation of the community’s racial prejudice towards the peripheral of society. The use of emotive imagery positions readers to realise the extent to which powerful words can have; causing readers to recognise how crude and harrowing humankind can be towards the marginalised. Thus, Silvey effectively conveys to the reader how the indigenous race were isolated from ‘white Australian’ society; how intelligent individuals were ostracised; and, how groups of people with racially different backgrounds were isolated from mainstream Australian society.

Through the use of poetic devices, the author has successfully encouraged the audience to explore their thoughts on Australian identity and to reflect on our nation’s history.

Australia’s identity has always been a complicated one. Starting with Aboriginal genocide, 1800’s cowboys and villains, two world wars and a bunch of poems describing them, it makes it difficult to conclude on what being an ‘Aussie’ really is. Thankfully, the two thought-provoking poems Nobody Calls Me a Wog Anymore by Komninos Zervos, and My Country by Dorothea Mackellar both use their discerning selection of themes to reflect modern attitudes in some extent. Along with their themes, Nobody Calls Me a Wog Anymore and My Country both use their story to capture the attributes modern Australians possess to some degree.

I am here today to discuss our Australian Identity. How do you imagine a typical Australian? Maybe you see a blonde haired, blue eyed surfing babe? Or a bushman who drinks Bushels tea and four X beers while munching on some snags cooked on the BBQ? Or perhaps you see someone like Steve Irwin, our iconic crocodile hunter. Or do you picture the movie “Crocodile Dundee?” Australians are stereotyped and our typical Australian is usually imagined to be male. (Click) Russell Ward, well known author, portrays his view of the traditional Aussie as a practical man who is rough, tough bushman that holds true friendship and loyal spirits. Today I will be analysing two poems and one play and determining whether they are

Poetry is an effective way to display an individual’s attitudes, values and beliefs in words. A number of people in the 20th century turned to poetry as a way to escape from their emotions. Some of the poems written during this time were by migrants, which has contributed to the multifaceted nature of Australian society and culture; past present and future. The Australian poet, Peter Skrzynecki’s vehement attitudes, values and ideas about the migrant experience in 1950’s Australia, are evident in his poem, ‘Migrant Hostel’.

This poem is based on families throughout the war, making sense of their loved one’s death. While they are overcome with grief and sorrow, they have an overwhelming sense of appreciation for what their loved one had achieved in fighting for the country. Chaplain Jim Cosgrove has portrayed Australians as being very sacrificial, resilient, courageous, this can be seen through several examples in the poem. In addition to that, throughout the poem it can be seen that the poet believes mate-ship is a fundamental aspect of the Australian identity. ‘Their courage and belief are even stronger than their grief that their sacrifice is for a worthy cause.’ This example, in lines 13 and 14, shows the poets views of Australians, that they are brave, courageous and sacrificial. This is reflected in the Australian identity and supports Australia’s dominant cultural values. Another examples of this is in lines 23 & 24, ‘In the history of their nation there are many generations whose sacrifice has made our country free.’ An example of the poet displaying mate-ship as being a significant aspect of the Australian identity is in lines 17-18, ‘They want to tell their mates to never doubt or hesitate, to fight this fight against the reign of terror.’ The poet has used imagery throughout the poem, to help the reader construct an image. Furthermore, Chaplain Jim Cosgrove has set a somber and melancholy mood and tone through the choice of words that highlight the sacrifices made by soldiers in the war. Thus, giving the poem more

Powerful texts have the ability to lead the responder to make discoveries that can challenge their previously held beliefs and cause their perceptions of the world around them to shift. The speech Racism is killing the Australian Dream by Stan Grant is one of those powerful texts, addressing the ways that racism has affected the Indigenous Australians and the ways in which it continues to affect them. Grant uses both vocal and language techniques to convey strong opinions about the content of his speech and allow the audience to make discoveries about what is being said.

Authority, grief and guilt are all contextual themes in both ‘The Stone Boy’ by Gina Berriault and episode six ‘Pretty Boy Blue’ of the Australian television programme, ‘Redfern Now’. ‘The Stone Boy’ is a short story about a young boy named ‘Arnold’ accidentally shooting dead his older brother ‘Eugene’ otherwise known as ‘Eugie’ as they are on their way to pick peas. Episode six ‘Pretty Boy Blue’ of ‘Redfern Now’ is about Aboriginal police officer ‘Aaron Davis’ who under certain circumstances allows a young Aboriginal delinquent ‘Lenny’ to die under police custody. The themes; authority, grief and guilt will be explored from both materials and comparisons and contrasts will be made between them. The theme of guilt can be noticed in both;

Rudd accentuates this idea as he urges his audience toward reconciliation between the Indigenous and Non-indigenous Australians by acknowledging and reflecting on the past mistreatment of the Stolen Generations. Although the speech was received with standing ovation by many, some groups responded to the speech with a degree of apprehension and uncertainty as they lack a sense of responsibility. However, Rudd is aware of the hesitance in his audience as he states that “some have asked, ‘Why apologise?’”. Hence, he addresses his apprehensive audience by instilling a sense of responsibility within his audience toward reconciliation as a nation. Rudd executes this by reflecting on the mistreatment of the Stolen Generation and emotionally appealing to his audience through the use of Nanna Fejo’s anecdote, as her family was “broken up” twice by the government policy. As her experiences are unanimous to the Stolen Generations, it evokes empathy within the audience, thus challenging their initial reluctance. Furthermore, Rudd uses emotive language in order to emphasise the ‘pain, suffering, hurt’ endured by the Indigenous Australians as he states that the Stolen Generations have cried out for an apology yet are met with the parliament’s “stony, stubborn and deafening silence”. Through this, Rudd opposes apathy in response to the Stolen Generation as he condemns the past actions of the Parliament and spurs his audience to do the same, in order to prevent the repetition of a great wrong. Thus, he inspires them to take action as he compels them to “turn this page together”, promoting responsibility among the audience to reconcile. Hence he evokes understanding from his audience and overcomes apprehension. Although, his speech is unsuccessful in achieving its purpose as there is

Australia has stalled the process of addressing the issues of former governments as the nation possesses a narrow mindset of not being responsible for other people’s actions. Many continue to deny the existence of the Stolen Generation as Howard stated, “I didn’t believe genocide had taken place, and I still don’t.” (Howard’s statement, the Guardian) Due to the failure to act in a just and sympathetic manner, it has resulted in 16,846 Aboriginal children in out-of-home care in 2016, in comparison to 2,785 Aboriginal children in 1997. Australia must remove the finger from the national pause button to provide comfort for the deserving Aborigines who were exposed to prolonged suffering, abuse and persecution. The past, present and future generations need to apologise as it is a continuous lifelong struggle for Aborigines as “it never goes away. Just ‘cause we’re not walking around on crutches, doesn’t mean we’re not hurting.” (Confidential Evidence 580, Queensland Bringing Them Home Report.) Australia’s patriotic society lacks nationalistic sorrow towards the victims affected by these policies. This proves that Australians of this generation are obligated to feel remorse as the insensitivity towards Aboriginals

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) people have lived on the Australian continent for at least 40 000 years. Originally travelling from Asia, their culture is an integral part of Australia today. However, this wasn’t necessarily the case when Europeans first settled here. They were not treated as human beings. They were placed into colonies to eventually die out with some dignity. The texts that have been made or written by ATSI people are a good way to gain an insight into their culture. The poem An Elder’s Passing by Jonathan Hill communicates this importance of belonging to country and culture for ATSI people by telling the story of the land’s destruction by Europeans, and about how not all people of Australia know about this mistreatment.

The main theme which Wright has tried to imply throughout this poem is how badly Aborigines were treated when the white settlers took aver Australia and how they were forced to adopt different ways of living.