Individual Assesment
The Unhappy Race White fellow, you are the unhappy raceYou alone have left nature and made civilized laws.You have enslaved yourselves as you enslaved the horse and other wild things.Why, white man?Your police lock up your tribe in houses with bars,We see poor women scrubbing floors of richer women. Why, white man, why?You laugh at the poor blackfellow’, you say we must be like you. You say we must leave the old freedom and leisure,We must be civilized and work for you.Why, white fellow?Leave us alone, we don’t want your collars and ties,We don’t need your routines and compulsions. We want the old freedom and joy that all things have but you,Poor white man of the unhappy race. Analyses Line1: white people are responsible for actors, word choice- aligns with Aboriginal culture Line2: repletion of ‘w’ and ‘y’ in line 1 and 2, accusatory tone- captured no freedomLine 5: effect- urges reader to question the behavior of white man; she seeks answers, repetition of rhetorical question in line 5 and 8. Line6: (tribe) writes this word choice because it’s what she uses in everyday life, (houses with bars) Aboriginal language- jail. Line8: repetition of rhetorical question and same effect of line 5. Line 9: – 2nd person, ‘You laugh at poor black fellow’- effect- directly addressing audience for emotional response ;black fellow;- punctuation to label stereo typeLine 10: you in line 9 and 10- repetition, (old freedom and leisure)- writes this word choice cause its what she uses in everyday life
Line13: (leave us alone)- plea, (collars and ties)- symbolism: restrictions
Answers to Questions of Poem ‘We are Going’ 1. They are subdued and silent because the aboriginals didn’t want to attract the white people as they were trying to hide and didn’t want to be seen. 2. The white men are represented as ants by the aboriginals because the aboriginals are angry and they think that the white people have polluted Australia and the aboriginals are stating where it says ‘We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers’, that it’s their land because they have been there much longer. Basically the aboriginals use a simile to describe how small the white people are because they are strangers to the land and the aboriginals have been there longer. 3. The bora ring is the land and everything the aboriginals own and it is essential to the poem because the aboriginals lose their bora ring in the end and the whole poem is about the white people coming to take their bora ring or in other words the aboriginals land. The bora ring is also the aboriginals connection between the land and is the centre of the poem because it is the main reason the white people have attacked the aboriginals not just in the poem but in today’s society. 4. The aboriginals reaction in line 8 is that they are basically saying that the white people are strangers to land as they have just met it and that it’s the aboriginals land as they are way less strangers to land then the white people because they have lived on the land a lot longer. 5. The purpose of the litany is to enforce that the aboriginals are the real owners and generation and that they make readers also feel confident about aboriginals and it also reassures the reader that the aboriginals are right. 6. The metaphors in this poem is to spice up the poem and make the reader want to read more and to also make the poem sound more interesting and more lively and make the aboriginals look stronger and the white people look more venerable. It also compares and makes the person sound like something else. 7. The beginning of the poems word choice aligns with aboriginal culture and during the poem there is a lot of repetition of the first letters like the word ‘we’. The poem is also in 3rd person. 8. Thunder is in a capital because it is language choice because it showing that the sky is huge and mad and that there is no difference wanting the word to stand out. 9. Basically the mood in this poem is sorrow and sympathy as the aboriginals talk sadly about how they lost their land. 10. The title ‘we are going’ basically means that the aboriginals are losing and that their generation is going. It is also made to capture the reader. The theme is sorrow and losses and the aboriginals are losing but are still fighting. The conclusion ends in tragedy as in the end it gloomy states everything is lost and they are going and this effect shocks the reader making him think more about the poem. This is an important piece of supplementary material because it is on the subject we are learning about and it is also teaching us more about how hurt the aboriginals are and why Kevin Rudd apologized.
