Reading & Responding - Unit 1 Â
By Jane Harrison
Sample Essay 1 PROMPT "Stolen deals with each characters struggle to be reunited with their cultural identity" Are they successful?
"Stolen" does deal with each characters struggle to be reunited with their cultural identity as each characters story follows their journey in discovering their background. However, not all characters are successful in their search, with some characters being successful but other struggling to reach their goal. Such struggle is shown through various stories, language and settings, which is able to create a sense of difficulty and success throughout the play. Even if a character is seemingly successful in finding their roots, 'Stolen' is also able to highlight the complex issues involved with the stolen generation.
The story of Anne follows her struggle to be reunited with her aboriginal identity, Anne is successful in discovering her roots but complications were still apparent. Anne is adopted by a couple who feel as if they are 'saving' her from the degradation of aboriginal culture by raising her as their own child. But after her Aboriginal mother becomes ill, she is informed of her aboriginal culture for the first time. Even though being successful in finding her origins, Anne's story is able to show the complexity of the issue. She is left thinking 'I don't know where I belong anymore', suggesting that she is unsure how she can cope with the two different worlds, considering her upbringing.
Sandy is successful in being reunited with his cultural identity, but in a different way from Anne. Although Sandy is never reunited with his family, after he was taken away from his mother as a child, as she was declared an unfit parent. This was due to the authorities finding 'a can of peas' 'past its used-by date' and they 'took us kids away'. But Sandy was successful in that he was able to be a peace with his culture and was able to recognise his cultural identity. He believed, his 'people are from the desert' and he was a one with the earth and dreamtime culture. This is shown as Sandy tells stories such as 'desert sands'. He also believed that 'he carried his home with him' which meant that no one could take this away and he realised 'I don't have to hide', showing he was at peace with his identity.
Shirley's struggle to be reunited was long and hurtful journey, but after being reunited with her family Shirley was very optimistic and it would be true to say that her struggle was a successful one. Even though she was stolen her self, Shirley's story is one of how she was trying to find her own children, Kate and Lionel. After being put 'on hold for VCE ENGLISH UNIT 1&2
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Reading & Responding - Unit 1 Â
twenty-seven years' and experiencing great difficulty she was able to be reunited with her family and enjoy the pleasures of being a grandmother. Shirley was happy to say that her grand daughter Tamara 'has a mother and grand mother' making Shirley's struggle a difficult one but also a successful one as she was happy with her identity despite the hurt she suffered.
Jimmy and Ruby's stories were far sadder than the others as they were not really successful in being reunited with their cultural identity. It seems as if their unspoken abuse as children had grave effects on them later in life as Ruby descended into madness and Jimmy spends time in prison. Jimmy was always told that his mother's 'Not coming. She's dead' but in fact Jimmy was just lied to and Jimmy hears of his mother 'Nancy Wajuri' being alive, but tragically his mother dies before they could meet and Jimmy hangs himself in prison so that he could 'finally meet his mother'. Ruby's story is also quite sad as her innocence is stolen from her as she was abused as a child. As a result cruel voices reverberate in her head 'Clean for me, Ruby, Wash for me, Ruby'. Although she does reunite with her family there is little chance that the reunion will help the healing process, as she ignores meeting her family due to her madness. 'I don't need no home of me own' suggest she has being so strongly institutionalised and crazy that she is denying meeting her family.
In addition, it is rather clear that Stolen does deal with each characters struggle to be reunited with their cultural identity. Some are successful and others aren't. Yet all stories are unique and the measure of success is different for various reasons, but underlining all this is the struggle the characters are faced with in order to be reunited with their cultural identity after being stolen from their own families.
VCE ENGLISH UNIT 1&2
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