In the novel The Secret River written by Kate Grenville and the film One Night the Moon directed by Rachel Perkins, the two authors explore similar ideas and share similar structural features to communicate these concepts. The Secret River is set in the early nineteenth century and is about a young couple William and Sal Thornhill who lived in London and started with nothing. Throughout their adventure William was sentenced to death and was excused from his sentence, being sent to Australia with his family where he built a life for them. One Night the Moon is a musical film set in the twentieth century where issues of racism and ownership of land, similar themes to those explored in The Secret River are evident.
The novel The Secret River elaborates on themes such as cultural differences, racism and ownership of land. Throughout the novel the main character William struggles with an internal battle of owning a piece of land, and this drives Thornhill until he gets the land he desires. This shares a similar structural feature to the movie One Night the Moon where Jim forbids the “Black Tracker “Albert to join the search on his land for his missing daughter Emily, stating “no blacks on my land”. Jim is ignorant and dismissive of Albert, worrying too much about his ‘pride’ rather than finding his daughter. In The Secret River racism also plays a large role in the storyline, with Smasher Sullivan being one of the racist, narcissistic and vulgar characters throughout the novel. This is evident when it is explained that he kept captive an aboriginal woman in his hut as a sex slave and collected aboriginal ears and wore them as tokens on his belt.
Stylistic features such as figurative language is common in both Grenville’s and Perki...
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...s body, after months of being missing and Rose sings “I didn’t want to know this, I didn’t want to see this”. However Grenville uses lots of dialogue in her novel to express the different ideas and features throughout her storyline. This is apparent when Kate uses descriptive stylistic features symbolising “a scatter of stars as meaningless as spilt rice” (pg.4). This creates a vivid image for the readers in what Kate was trying to suggest about the ‘uncommon’ stars in Australia.
Both authors also use different perspectives throughout their text, which is another structural difference. In the novel The Secret River Grenville narrates the story through William’s perspective. His thoughts, feelings and attitude all play through the mind of the reader, giving them insight on how and why he commits the acts he does.
Works Cited
The Secret River
One Night the Moon
Despite their desperate needs to find their missing daughter, Jim refuses to let indigenous tracker, Albert to assist him in his search to find Emily. Albert is a police constable within the local police, yet Jim is blind and is unable to see him as equal to the other policemen because of the colour of his skin. Jim is assured by the police sergeant that “Albert’s the best tracker around.” This suggests that the local police do not see Albert differently to themselves, that they value him equally and use his skills to help them in their means to help their people. As the film is set in...
In society, appearance is an important entity on how we live our lives and how others perceive an individual. Appearance also can dictate how we perceive ourselves and it can also guide how our future can formulate, like occupation and personal endeavors. In three works of literature I will illustrate how appearance is an extensive focus, and how appearance is used in the works to display personality and to display how the story will proceed and conclude.
Langston Hughes and Richard Wright both evolved from the same literary period. Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri. Richard Wright was born in Roxie, Mississippi. Both authors wrote literatures in the 1930s. They had dissimilar writing styles, which were portrayed from their collected works; however, there were also similarities between the two authors. Hughes was a poet, novelist, and a playwright. During the 1930s, Hughes, as a popular writer connected with the Harlem Renaissances, became a public figure, working as a journalist, lecturing, and bringing out anthologies of black writing. Wright, on the other hand, worked for the Writers’ Project and did innumerable freelance journalisms. In 1935, he started to write fictions, which was strongly influenced by the literary Naturalism during that era. Richard Wright was an artist of complexity and subtlety. Hughes and Wright were both African American writers at that time. Their themes and writing styles leans towards racism, discrimination and equality. We see some of these ideas depicted in “Red Headed Baby” by Langston Hughes and “The Man Who Almost a Man” by Richard Wright. Social political issues were also portrayed, along with similarities in their writing language. Those themes were the main thoughts talked and written about during that era.
Twelfth Night” or “What You Will” is one of Shakespeare’s many comedic plays. This essay will attempt to critically analyse a passage in Act 1, Scene 5 of “Twelfth Night.” The passage centres on a conversation primarily between Feste and Olivia about the mourning of her brother. This conversation adds comicality to the play, which contributes to the shape of it as a whole. The passage also briefly involves the character, Malvolio, who contributes to an underlining truth in the play. This essay will explain the meaning of the passage, attempt to unpack the language uses and determine the ideas behind the language. It will then try to justify why and how those ideas in the passage contribute to the play as a whole.
The 2005 novel “Secret River” written by Kate Grenville is a historical novel detailing the life of 19th century Englishman ‘William Thornhill’ after his transportation to Australia as a consequence to crime. Originally Grenville’s novel was articulated entirely from William Thornhill’s individual perspective, however this outlook was changed in 2013 when “The Secret River” was adapted for the stage by Andrew Bovell. In his adaption Bovell sought to present the indigenous Dharag perspective, he hoped to achieve this through use of costume, dialogue, characters and song. Whilst Bovell attempts to recognise the presence of the Dharag people he does not provide the Dharag’s actual perspective to a great extent.
The United States is made up of many different ethic groups. These groups vary from Latinos, Asian American, African American, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, and etc. These ethnic groups come into America speaking many different languages. However, many people are still surprised to learn that the United States has no official language. Many assume that English is the official language of the United States. But despite efforts over the years, the United States has no official language. Because the United States has no official language, it is suffering with large costs. These large costs will lead us on a road to wasteful government expenses, language battles that fuel ethnic resentment, and in the long run serious ethnic and linguistic separatist movements. An official English legislation is the answer to the problem.
Living in the United States as a Korean-American was not an easy task growing up. Sure I knew how to read and write English, but I did not know how to read, speak, and write my native language. It was difficult for me emotionally because I felt other people looked down on me especially Korean adults who often asked me why I did not know how to speak Korean in which I had no direct answer. "You should know how to at least speak Korean," they commonly spoke in a friendly tone, trying not to hurt my feelings. In my seventh grade year, I had the urge to take a step in order for me to fit in with the rest of my fellow peers, the Korean sub communities, and feel better about myself.
The issue of immigration has been a hot topic in the United States for much of its history. Recently the point of conflict has risen over the issue of bilingual education in public schools. Many people have become opposed to this form of learning and propose a speedy immersion program. Others cling steadfastly to the norm of bilingual education proclaiming that immigrant children would be lost if thrown into mainstream classrooms. Still, some have found middle ground through what have been termed dual immersion programs. Although it is somewhat difficult and complicated to sort through the different perspectives it is necessary; what is decided on this issue will effect the education of thousands of children for years to come.
The Secret River delves into the lives and attitudes of both British colonisers and the Australian Aboriginals already living on the land through a post-colonial lens. The post-colonial view is apparent in the prologue of the play. Granville and Bovell challenge the binary divine of natives being dirty and savage and the white Europeans of being superior. The Dharug people are portrayed as a civilized and functional family, virtually the same as a European family. This can be seen through the rapport within the family.
This is going to be one of those classes that I look back upon and say, ìWow, that course really changed the way I think about things.îI have been thinking a lot about what I want to say in this statement and now that I am finally writing it, it seems I am at a loss.I know, though, that the affects of this class, for me anyway, will be far reaching.It has helped me to think in new ways about a multiplicity of things: empowerment, nurturance, the rhetoriticity of race and gender, power, what it means to be an intellectual or a professional.If I were to try and sum up the immediate (and what I would think are rather superficial in that I think the influence of this class upon who I am as a citizen/teacher/woman/student/intellectual is only just beginning) impact that this course has had upon me, I would say that it has helped me to begin to think of writing/teaching/living as both public and private acts at the same time.Reconciling the personal and the public aspects of my life, ìmoving away from oppositions and towards multiplicities in [my] thinking (reading essay7)î, and thinking of myself not in terms of ìthis-or-thatî but ìboth/andî have been continuous threads throughout my reading essays.
In the book, World War Z, by Max Brooks, a character named Roy Elliot says, “When I believe in my ability to do something, there is no such word as no.” (160). This semester in English 112, I have challenged myself to earn an A in this course. After the first day of class back in August I knew this class was a perfect fit for me. I knew the guidelines and expectations were set high and would be beneficial towards my challenge to earn an A. Every night before I go to bed I make sure to back my backpack so that I am prepared with all my material. Another essential part of my bedtime routine is to set my alarm early enough so that I give myself enough time to get ready for my day and arrive to class before it starts so that I am not rushed. My goal to earn an A in English 112 came to an abrupt halt when I noticed that I had failed an assignment, the Bundy Citation Exercise. I received 28 out of 50 possible points on the assignment. I knew that I had to really work hard to earn higher grade on my future assignments. When I got the citation exercise back I notice
For many years, the thought of English being the official language of the United States has come with a little controversy. Some argue that English should be the official language because it is the most dominant language in the world. Some believe by doing so, it would create a stronger unity among the American people. Proponents believe that although the United States is diverse, it may be too much for the American people to juggle multiple languages. Others believe that English shouldn’t be the official language and instead be one of many prominent languages that are widely used in our nation such as Spanish, French, and Chinese. I believe English should be the official language in the United States. However, I believe more emphasis should be placed on learning new languages especially among youths in school and during developmental stages.
Question 1: Write your own definition of the term global language. A global language is one that is widespread internationally and used as the common one for communication between various groups and societies. It is the language that is most taught and learnt as a foreign and/ or a second language worldwide. This kind of language has a large amount of prestige, and official or special status. It is the language of politics, international business or economics, international communication, academic conferences, science, technology, tourism, media, publishing of books or journals, newspapers, and health sciences.
Over the years English inarguably has reached a status of a global language and commonly is characterized as a lingua franca. It has become the language that is spoken by millions of people all over the world; as the mother tongue, as the language used for international communication and as the language learned in the millions of schools.