Rainbows End Essay Example

my mum and my Nan. ” Later, when Errol returns, he demonstrates his understanding of her family bond, saying “where you belong, and your family, is important. ” In scene five, the sale of the encyclopedia is a symbol of education, also an obstacle/opportunity that Gladys sees as necessary to Dolly establishing a sense of belonging in the white society. The anglocentric white society of the 1950s does not value Aboriginal knowledge which was passed down by oral narratives.

The Encyclopedia is a powerful of the displacement of Aboriginal culture by the anglocentric colonises. Harrison uses the metaphor techniques rain; thunder and lightning in the play to indicate the reality of events and their dramatic content. Lightening is used to indicate a dream sequence pause or beat – to emphasise the emotional impact of the interaction between the characters. For instance, when the lights go down it’s an indication that the event finished whereas if the lights go up it’s a fresh new event.

Nan dear, she doesn’t want to belong with the white society – shown when Gladys says: ‘ but descent housing’ and nan replies ‘get off your high horse, least we do things our way’. This symbolises that Nan dear does not want to accept the white lifestyle and culture and does not want to lose her aboriginal identity and values over the whites. Whereas Glady’s doesn’t mind accepting the white culture and values as she believes the doors of opportunity for education would open for her daughter Dolly, for herself and for her people.

In contrast, the extract ‘Stolen From Myself’ focuses on the cultural and personal differences

between aboriginal and the white people, this in conjunction portrays a sense of not belonging. The Aboriginal girl is taken away from her family and put into a white world, a world of hate, a world of difference and competition. The author Gyan Yankovich uses the technique of writing in first person to express her feelings of disconnection towards the white society. As she states “I miss my home. I miss my life, my friends and my family.

This quote illustrates a sense of not belonging within her new home and through the use of repetition ‘my’ it portrays that she does not belong to where she lives. Furthermore, by the use of negative word connotations such as ‘confused, cold, dark and sadness’ it draws a sense of isolation, alienation which altogether narrows down to a sense of not belonging. Gyan Yankovish the author of Stolen From Myself wrote in formal language, with a very sincere but resentful tone, for instance, “I looked around searching for the warmth I once knew, the warmth that can come only from a heart.

This delineates that the way her family treated her and showered her with love is no longer the same with the white people as she does not feel accepted within their community for who she is. Overall, Rainbows End and Stolen From Myself convey the concept of belonging in different ways. Rainbows end uses more a direct approach in its portrayal of belonging whereas Stolen From Myself reflects on the persona feelings of an Aboriginal girl that was taken away from her family. Both texts demonstrate ideas in belonging such as the stolen

generation, families, racism, as well as belonging to the place or the land and a white society.