Essay – A Fortunate Life by A.B. Facey
“Bert Facey is the epitome of the legendary Australian”. Demonstrate this from a study of his autobiography.
Albert Facey’s novel, A Fortunate Life depicts the life of an extraordinary man living in old Australia. Facey portrays many characteristics that would label him as being a ‘true Aussie battler’, but it is the deeper and more sensitive side of him that allows him to be labeled with the term – a legendary Australian.
A legend by dictionary terms is someone who is admired by others and achieved great accomplishments. Facey has certainly both achieved and accomplished much during his life, such as learning to read at a late age. Facey’s life was full of private success and were it not for his book; he would have remained an unsung hero throughout Australian history.
Facey’s lack of education haunted him throughout his early life. As Facey ‘hadn’t any schooling’ he found it difficult to read and write. Facey had always viewed his illiteracy as a personal shortcoming and took pains to not display his ignorance to the world. ‘Then a waitress came with a list of what we could have to eat. I was stumped – I couldn’t read or write. Then I had a brainwave and decided to have what Mr. Lander ordered.’
Facey was not comfortable with his feelings of inadequacy, and took many painful steps to try and rectify the situation. He eventually, through much practice and determination, learnt to read and write, and was able to pen his novel. The fact that Facey both acknowledged and overcame his illiteracy, shows him to be a man of great spirit and willpower as facing up to personal faults is never an easy thing to do.
Life as an itinerant rural worker was very tough for Facey and not very rewarding. Throughout his early life, Facey was forced to work for extremely poor money and working conditions. Although life was hard, Facey was not one to complain or make trouble. He worked hard for the Bibby’s and previous employers, and was a loyal worker and a good companion. Facey showed an immense amount of pride in his work and was always willing to lend a hand to a mate.
During his life, Facey made numerous friends or ‘mates’. He was friendly to the people he worked with, the soldiers he fought with and his family he lived with.
Sherman Alexie was a man who is telling us about his life. As an author he uses a lot of repetition, understatement, analogy, and antithesis. Alexie was a man of greater words and was a little Indian boy at the beginning of the story and later became a role model for other boys like him who were shy and alone. Alexie was someone who used his writing to inspire others such as other Indian kids like himself to keep learning and become the best that they can be.
Many of the soldiers that comprised Reserve Police Battalion 101 were of random choosing; they were not picked due to their anti-Semitic sentiments nor for their prowess in previous battles. Browning argues that these ordinary men were not forced to become killers rather they had the option to speak out against these horrific actions and accept the consequences of that or to conform to the orders even if it was a violation of their moral standards. Browning argued that any man had the potential to become a killer if their values were at all compromised, if they were susceptible to peer pressure, if they did not want to seem cowardly in front of their comrades, or if they had a dislike towards Poles, Jews or Soviets which may have been instilled by Nazi propaganda or its ideological training. Through Browning’s research he found out that of the approximately 500 German soldiers that composed Reserve Police Battalion 101, only about ten to twenty percent (50 to 100 soldiers) of men totally abstained from killing altogether, which means at
In Fog, Winton reveals distinctive Australian culture and identity by exploring the quintessential determination of Australian people in the face of hardships. Their determination is depicted through Lang's
Our abilities are often what we use to define our worth. Whether we fail or succeed our future lifestyle is open to our discretion; however, we fail to realize outside influences have the ability to cripple us. One way in which this is true is through the education system. If we fail to meet the average or typical standards of others we often mark ourselves as useless. Children, and adults, facing adversity in literacy see this as a daily struggle no matter what their individual disability is. In “Dyslexia” by Eileen Simpson, and “The Library Card”, by Richard Wright, details are what define their disabilities to their audiences. Through the descriptions presented in “Dyslexia”, we have the ability to place ourselves into Simpson’s point of view; meanwhile, in “The Library Card” it is easy to draw a connection between this story and the struggle of those in slave narratives such as the one written by Frederick Douglass.
During his journey to the burial site of his wife, he always was worrying about his well being before the family’s well being. The only reason that he decided to carry out Addie’s wish was that he wanted to improve his image by getting false teeth. He did care for his wife, but this caring was overshadowed by his love to improve himself.
Peter Weir’s 1981 film Gallipoli can in every sense of the phrase be called an ‘Australian classic’. The impact and effect this film has had upon the psyche and perspective of several generations of Australians has been significant. Whilst it can be argued that every Australian is aware of the ANZAC legend, and the events that occurred on the Turkish beaches in 1915, Weir’s film encapsulates and embodies a cultural myth which is now propagated as fact and embraced as part of the contemporary Australian identity. The film projects a sense of Australian nationalism that grew out of the 1970’s, and focuses on what it ‘means’ to be an Australian in a post-colonial country. In this way Gallipoli embodies a sense of ‘Australian-ness’ through the depiction of mateship and through the stark contrast of Australia to Britain. A sense of the mythic Australia is further projected through the cinematic portrayal of the outback, and the way in which Australia is presented in isolation from the rest of the world. These features combined create not only a sense of nationalism, but also a mythology stemming from the ANZAC legend as depicted within the film.
The narrator’s prejudice makes him emotionally blind. His inability to see past Robert’s disability stops him from seeing the reality of any relationship or person in the story. And while he admits some things are simply beyond his understanding, he is unaware he is so completely blind to the reality of the world.
It may be hard to believe, but Clerc didn’t attend school or learn to write until he was twelve years old. He didn’t have any means of communication or education until his uncle-godfather enrolled him in the Institut National des Jeune Sourds-Muets which was the first public school for the deaf in the world; becoming the model for many other schools for the deaf in the time to come. Clerc exceeded
Laurent Clerc could not speak at all before he came to the school, but there he was taught to speak. When Laurent was saying some of the words, he would get some letters mixed up. After that would happen, his speech techaer would hit him. Eventually Clerc deiced to quit speech class amd never speak again, and learn to sign. He made a promise the day he quite that he was to never use his voice again.After everything that had happened at the school, Clerc stayed at the school and taught other students first as a tutor, then wanted to be a teacher, and so he did.
The Reserve Police Battalion 101 was a unit of German Order Police, which consisted of middle to lower class men from Hamburg, who did not want to be drafted into the army. The original participation of the order police in the final solution was to focus on the Nazi mass murder of European Jewry (9). The Police Battalion were playing a central role by enforcing the round up of Jews, Poles and Gypsies, guarding ghettos / camps, such as Lodz ghetto (41), they were responsible for the deportation to the concentration camps and the mass amounts of shootings of the minor civilians, such as the Jew Hunt in the early 1940s.
Whether it is a full moon, a waxing crescent, or a new moon, many wonder what is out there. If there is more to the universe, than just Earth. The Moons of Jupiter are an unknown topic to many, and there are many interesting facts about it. Galileo Galilei, born in 1564 played a huge role in most of the science we know today, and it is because of him we are beginning to understand the moons of Jupiter. All these moons of Jupiter’s have their own reason as to which they stand out why. All in all, even though the moons of Jupiter’s are unknown to many, it is an important piece to connecting the puzzle in our universe.
To gain a better understanding of the Federal False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-33, one must first consider when and how the law was established. According to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) (n.d.), this law was first “enacted in 1863 by a Congress concerned that suppliers of goods to the Union Army during the Civil War were defrauding the Army” (p. 1). Since its original presentation, the law has been amended – significant changes were made in 1986, followed by three more ame...
This book covers many different points of Schultz’s life. One, Philip Schultz takes a look back at his childhood school years and writes about his troubles and understands it was not because he was not intelligent but because he had a learning disability. Second, Schultz discusses a teacher who did not believe in him; the teacher laughed at him when he told his teacher he wanted to become a writer. The way
As a young girl at 14, I used to reminisce about the future, how badly I wanted to grow up, to drive, to be popular in high school, go to college and land an amazing job, have a huge home, nice cars, and an extremely handsome husband. The older I got, the more I began to realize all of the things I once desired for were not what I truly wanted. I began to realize the value of happiness, adventure, and creating memories rather than the value of temporary popularity, material items, and physical appearances. What I realized was that when one is lying on their deathbed, because the only thing guaranteed in life is death, they will not think, “oh what a lovely car I drove” but rather, “I remember when I went on my first road trip with my friends.” As mentioned in “Tuesdays With Morrie” by Mitch Albom, Morrie emphasizes the idea, “once you learn how to die, you learn how to live,” meaning, remembering that one day we will all depart from this world, one will realize what it truly means to live. Another pointer that can essentially alter one’s vision of living life: to live simply, as discussed in “Where I Lived and What I Live For” by David Henry Thoreau. Although thinking about death is a harsh reality on a young teenager, it is rather helpful to wrap our heads around it at a young age. Why? because as one grows older, they will see more death. Living a simple life may seem boring to a young teenager, but as one grows older and their schedules become bustled with work, and responsibilities, they will wish that they could step back, and choose a simple lifestyle.
Therefore, in the beginning of the absolutely true story of a part time Indian, Alexie carefully sets the stage for the rest of the novel. He demonstrates very clearly that through hope, even through the toughest times, you can embark on a journey of success. The novel ultimately accepts its premise that Indians can too be in good fortune, if they were accepted and also delivered what was best for them and their communities even after showing the grief of how being different can impact an individual’s life.