Tales of Tears
Georgia McGillivray
The red soil crumbled against the burnt and raw feet of the aboriginals. A small, lurking group of aboriginals waited in the night for the governor’s appearance. Peering through the trees, Jannali one of the youngest and strongest of the tribe stood with determination and courage, gripping her spear tighter and tighter as the seconds went by.
Jannali’s partner who she was soon to wed, stood in front of her, putting his hand on her shoulder and whispered into her ear, “We will get through this, together” Jannali looked up at Baringah his big brown eyes made her heart flutter uncontrollably loosing her focus she whished that they could live happily.
The rocks on the ground started to tremble.
“They’re
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The thick billow of surging smoke crawled into the night sky. “Come out you filthy black creatures” the governor bellowed. Jannali leaped out from the tree onto to solider, who was standing next to the governor. She stabbed the him straight through his chest. As the blood dripped from the body Jannali’s face was infused with fury. Her spear swung around and hit George Arthur in the head. He flew backwoods.
The solders scrambled firing guns and aiming their spears, the mud soon became red. Jannali looked over at Baringah he was covered in blood sweat and mud. He had wounds all through his arms. Amongst the screams Jannali looked to find Aasta, ensuring she was still standing. Jannali’s heart felt like it had leaped to her throat. Jannali turned and saw Aasta being drag away by two solders. Fighting for her life, Aasta struggled but could not break free. Jannali screamed in frustration. She drew her spear up and swung the body around, taking two other soldiers out at once. Jannali kicked one of the soldiers that was dragging Aasta. The other solider grabbed his gun. Aasta shook him out of his stance. He
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She felt the pain as if a hundred blades were sinking into her stomach. Moaning and screaming, she writhed on the ground, grasping her body. Baringah stood over her. Shielding Jannali from the whites. She new she had to get out of there. She started to crawl. Hopeless getting know where, she grabs Baringah hand letting him know she’s still alive. A loud gunshot was fired. Jannali’s hand started to shake. Her heart sank, she screamed with agene and dred. Baringah was splashed in his own blood and was slightly trembling. Yet he still held on to his spear urgently as though it was his hope for survival. The essence of death is overpowering. She watched her partner gasping for air. Jannali screamed. It seemed that the entire world was watching him eagerly as he looked around unsteady. His eyelids slide over his eyes and his body fell to the
out to marry her as soon as possible. When Janie asked about love, she was
The way in which Januarie bases his search for a wife on concern for his own salvation and economic interests is menacing as it is a foreboding image for the rest of the marriage. His main interest lies in what he should do to ensure he experiences Paradise both alive and dead and thus highlighting his selfish nature. The economic concerns he shows for the match not only highlight this, but also his threatening lack of emotion that he is prepared to commit to the marriage. Rather than a child, he hopes for an heir, seeing only economic opportunity in any offspring. His fiancée can hope for little love for herself or any children.
The struggles that many face while experiencing poverty are not like any other. When a person is experiencing poverty, they deal with unbearable hardships as well as numerous tragic events. Diane Gilliam Fisher’s collection of poems teaches readers about labor battles within West Virginian territories, at the beginning of the twentieth century. Some of these battles include the Battle of Matewan and Battle of Blair Mountain. The collection of poems is presented in many different manners, ranging from diary entries to letters to journal entries. These various structures of writing introduce the reader to contrasting images and concepts in an artistic fashion. The reader is able to witness firsthand the hardships and the light and dark times of impoverished people’s lives. He or she also learns about the effects of birth and death on poverty stricken communities. In the collection of poems in Kettle Bottom, Fisher uses imagery and concepts to convey contrast between the positive and negative aspects of the lives of people living in poverty.
“Quantie’s weak body shuddered from a blast of cold wind. Still, the proud wife of the Cherokee chief John Ross wrapped a woolen blanket around her shoulders and grabbed the reins.” Leading the final group of Cherokee Indians from their home lands, Chief John Ross thought of an old story that was told by the chiefs before him, of a place where the earth and sky met in the west, this was the place where death awaits. He could not help but fear that this place of death was where his beloved people were being taken after years of persecution and injustice at the hands of white Americans, the proud Indian people were being forced to vacate their lands, leaving behind their homes, businesses and almost everything they owned while traveling to an unknown place and an uncertain future. The Cherokee Indians suffered terrible indignities, sickness and death while being removed to the Indian territories west of the Mississippi, even though they maintained their culture and traditions, rebuilt their numbers and improved their living conditions by developing their own government, economy and social structure, they were never able to return to their previous greatness or escape the injustices of the American people.
Reynolds, H. (1976). The Other Side of The Frontier: Aboriginal resistance to the European invasion of Australia. Queensland, Australia: James Cook University
In the beginning of their marriage she admired Jody and his aspirations for the tiny town they moved to. But as his status in the town moved higher, Janie’s status also involuntarily moved along with it. In her marriage with Jody, Janie’s own thought and feeling are suppressed and she realizes that she was saving up her thought and feelings for a man she had never even met. “She found that she had a host of thought she had never let Jody know about. Things packed up and put away in parts of her heart where he could never find them. She was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen. She had an inside and an outside now and suddenly she knew how not to mix them.” (pg.
The story chronicles situations that illustrate the common stereotypes about Natives. Through Jackson’s humble personality, the reader can grasp his true feelings towards White people, which is based off of the oppression of Native Americans. I need to win it back myself” (14). Jackson also mentions to the cop, “I’m on a mission here. I want to be a hero” (24).
It took two husbands but Janie had found her voice, even though both marriages were void of love, it was now she could accept that a firm stance, did not need to go hand in hand with affection. Now all that was left was for Janie to find her true love and she could finally reach her horizon. The form of true love came to her in a man much younger than herself, this individual’s name was known as
The mother’s resilience proves to be the key to overcoming her strife. “The second night in the car was not as much fun as the first, but my mother seemed in good spirits” (King 143). Refusing to betray her values as a proud First Nations people, the mother had her and her son spend two nights in their vehicle, and would remain doing so until they let her through. “Early the next morning, the television vans began to arrive” (King 144). It was only once news reporters heard of Laetitia’s mother’s plight and brought awareness to the matter, that something changed. The government has no desire to appear in a negative light, so they allowed the family to cross the border while still declaring them as Blackfoot. The mother’s pride for her Blackfoot identity spread to her daughter as well and after seeing her mother and brother appear on the news, she contemplates returning back to her community. “Laetitia said she was thinking about moving back” (King 147). The narrative ends with the final sentence; “I watched the border through the rear window until all you could see were the tops of the flagpoles and the blue water tower, and then they rolled over a hill and disappeared.” (King 147) The disappearing flagpoles symbolize the families experience with injustice. Even though their personal experience with oppression had ended, it is still a factor that remains for other minorities, even if the injustice is not always
John arrived home that day intent on finally going through with it. He passes under the portrait of his mother beaming down at him. Tears like thick dog slobber well in his eyes.
Throughout the text, the white colonists are very racist towards the Aboriginals. Even cattle, horses and white women are placed hierarchically higher in society than the black people. In response to this, Astley constructs all narrations to be written through the eyes of the Laffey family, who are respectful towards Aboriginals, hence not racist, and despise societal ideologies. By making the narration of the text show a biased point of view, readers are provoked to think and feel the same way, foregrounding racism shown in the ideologies of early Australian society, and showing that Aboriginals are real people and should receive the same treatment to that given to white people. “They looked human, they had all your features.” (pg 27) There was, however, one section in the text whose narrative point of view was not given by a character in the Laffey family. This instead was given by a voice of an Aboriginal woman, when the Aboriginal children were being taken away from their families. By giving voice to the Aboriginal society, the reader is able to get a glimpse of their point of view on the matter, which once again shows that society was racist, and Aboriginals were treated harshly.
Louise Erdrich’s short story “American horse” is a literary piece written by an author whose works emphasize the American experience for a multitude of different people from a plethora of various ethnic backgrounds. While Erdrich utilizes a full arsenal of literary elements to better convey this particular story to the reader, perhaps the two most prominent are theme and point of view. At first glance this story seems to portray the struggle of a mother who has her son ripped from her arms by government authorities; however, if the reader simply steps back to analyze the larger picture, the theme becomes clear. It is important to understand the backgrounds of both the protagonist and antagonists when analyzing theme of this short story. Albetrine, who is the short story’s protagonist, is a Native American woman who characterizes her son Buddy as “the best thing that has ever happened to me”. The antagonist, are westerners who work on behalf of the United States Government. Given this dynamic, the stage is set for a clash between the two forces. The struggle between these two can be viewed as a microcosm for what has occurred throughout history between Native Americans and Caucasians. With all this in mind, the reader can see that the theme of this piece is the battle of Native Americans to maintain their culture and way of life as their homeland is invaded by Caucasians. In addition to the theme, Erdrich’s usage of the third person limited point of view helps the reader understand the short story from several different perspectives while allowing the story to maintain the ambiguity and mysteriousness that was felt by many Natives Americans as they endured similar struggles. These two literary elements help set an underlying atmos...
Her spry, Timberland-clad foot planted itself upon a jagged boulder, motionless, until her calf muscles tightened and catapulted her small frame into the next stride. Then Sara's dance continued, her feet playing effortlessly with the difficult terrain. As her foot lifted from the ground, compressed mint-colored lichen would spring back into position, only to be crushed by my immense boot, struggling to step where hers had been. My eyes fixated on the forest floor, as fallen trees, swollen roots, and unsteady rocks posed constant threats for my exhausted body. Without glancing up I knew what was ahead: the same dense, impenetrable green that had surrounded us for hours. My throat prickled with unfathomable thirst, as my long-empty Nalgene bottle slapped mockingly at my side. Gnarled branches snared at my clothes and tore at my hair, and I blindly hurled myself after Sara. The portage had become a battle, and the ominously darkening sky raised the potential for casualties. Gritting my teeth with gumption, I refused to stop; I would march on until I could no longer stand.
The general walked up to the temple to meet with the leader of the tribe. The general seemed calm and collects as he climbed the steps of the Untamed temple. He kept his eyes glued on the tribe’s leader. He was alone, carrying only his black dagger for protection against the leader’s spear. While the Untamed may think they have the upper hand, they don’t know about what division he comes from.
In this context, the Aboriginal writer Sally Morgan’s My Place is a landmark in the history of Aboriginal literature and it has been one of the most successful Aboriginal works, both in Australia and on an international level. She (Sally Morgan) presents a story that is relatable to both Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians. She presents a book/history that forces both white and indigenous Australians to assess the past whether or not a correct Aboriginal history has been told in Australia. Morgan also confronts the indigenous reader with the idea of learning their past and accepting indigenous identity, even if it is painful. Consequently, Sally Morgan can be considered the pioneer of Aboriginal life stories of women writers; and over time, after her, many other women writers have used this literary genre as a form of denunciation of the brutalities and consequences of the Stolen Generations, exactly as she