Preview

Critical Review My Place

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
537 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Critical Review My Place
CRITICAL REVIEW: MY PLACE, SALLY MORGAN Sally Morgan's My Place, published in 1987, is an autobiography about finding her Aboriginal roots and her identity with the focus on the lives of three generations of Australian Aborigines. Sally’s family never talked about their past and she was brought up thinking she was Indian. But she always felt different than her friends, their way of living was not the same, so her curiosity led her to realizing that she is Aborigine. And then her quest for knowledge of her past begins. My Place is actually a novel about woman’s search to find herself and her place in Australian society. The main themes are discrimination, racism and Aboriginal culture. They are presented through two different versions of autobiographical writing. One is Sally’s first person narration, which is more Western autobiographical and it focuses more on her individual quest to find her identity. The other focuses on the Aboriginal life and more on the community and family life of Aborigines. The novel has 32 chapters, which are divided into four parts: Sally’s narration about her early life, education, family relationship, her perception of herself and her self-discovery; Arthur Corunna’s story, he is a brother of Sally’s grandmother; her mother’s Glady’s story and her grandmother Daisy’s story. Their stories focus on their life when they lived in Aboriginal society. The whole book is a combination of narration, dialogues, descriptions, stories within stories, anecdotes, and personal reminiscences from various characters and also humour. All that provides balance and harmony to the book. The book is easy to read, the language is quite simple, descriptions of the nature are really specific and with the use of metaphors, symbolism and personification, the reader gets a vivid picture of the place that is described. However the first part, where Sally describes her childhood is a little bit boring, because there are mostly descriptions and details about

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Swallow the Air

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages

    She brings up the concept of Aboriginality and what it means to belong and how to multiculturally. We see this concept…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The poem “I am Australian” relates to the concept of belonging to and national identity. Repetition of 'I Am Australian' reinforces this, imagery of the environment and creates a link between the nation and the self, and thus the person is intimately connected to the country. The Poem is about celebrating diversity in Australia, between the people and the land.…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Aboriginals in Canada have always suffered and experienced hardships since the day their land was stolen. Despite all the rights, treaties, or equality statements presented they still feel the inequality and their problems remain out of the spotlight. Even though Aboriginal men go through many difficulties throughout their lives, Aboriginal women tend to suffer face more struggles than the men. These women do not have equal rights, have been forgotten, are being murdered without notice, and are not treated as second-class citizens and at times not even human. Aboriginal women remain undeterred; however, by these struggles, and persevere, while maintaining their strength and cultural identity. This essay will portray the analysis of different authors and their texts, portraying…

    • 1584 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Popular Music is Any music since industrialization in the mid-1800s that is in line with the tastes and preferences of the middle class.…

    • 710 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The nuclear family includes both parents and children while the extended family includes different members of the family such as a grandma, grandma, aunt, uncle... etc.…

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    4) Guidance is when you assist your child with the stuff they are given. Letting them know your point of view. A parent can give guidance by teaching a kid how to do something, for example when the parent is doing laundry and he/she calls their kid to help and they teach their kid to fold clothes…

    • 296 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    critical evaluation

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan in 1945 were not seen as a logical reaction to the war by everyone. Leo Szilard was a Hungarian physicist that was the first to conceive of the mechanics of the atomic bomb, and how it worked. He was fighting the use of these bombs on Japan, and trying to urge the President to reconsider the idea. Although he lost the argument over whether to use the bombs, his argument was valid based on the devastation that was caused by the atomic bombs in Japan. Given the results of the devastation in Japan, his side of the argument is unmistakably seen.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Both Peter Skrzynecki’s ‘Immigrant Chronicle’ and Gabriele Muccino’s The Pursuit of Happiness represent the need for belonging through a character’s place and interpret the general need for place in belonging. Within ‘Immigrant Chronicle’, Skrzynecki’s poems ’10 Mary Street’ and ‘Migrant Hostel’ particularly demonstrate the positive and negative effects place can have on one’s ability to belong. ’10 Mary Street’ deals with a younger Skrzynecki’s experiences living within his working class family home in a positive environment whilst ‘Migrant Hostel’ deals with the very early memories of living in the migrant camps within Australia and, though it isn’t a positive atmosphere, is viewed by Skrzynecki as the first real place that he can consider ‘home’ and can therefore belong to. The Pursuit of Happiness also deals with the issue of the need to belong to a place through the unfolding story of Chris Gardner and his son as they face barriers such as homelessness.…

    • 1598 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    GUAIA ESSAY

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Living on the verge of two different cultures can envelop in lost identities. Michelle Law is a girl who is torn between two different identities, a prevalent theme that coexists in the many stories of Growing up Asian in Australia. During Michelle’s early stages, she has stumbled upon many conflicts for her and her family to overcome. In Australia, she was teased about her appearance, her hand-me-down, hairless arms, oversized clothing, and her peculiar lunch. “Now that I thought about it, everything up to that point in my life seemed so incredibly abnormal compared to everyone else I knew.” She is appointed with the feeling of anxiety, she wanted to be normal. Michelle confesses to her mum she simply wants to be ‘normal’. Yet we are all the same, looking for a group to fit in and be normal, not be ashamed of your own culture and heritage. Thus, being portrayed as the outsider to the Australian Culture can impact to adjust their way of life just to fit in.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jasper Jones Moral Speech

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Craig Silvey engages us with Jasper Jones in order to convey a certain moral message in hope to make us stop and think. No one in this novel is truly accepted into the community, which tells me as the responder, that in order for this society to succeed differences need to be tossed aside. Jasper Jones is a credible recollection of the injustice, racism and social exclusion that exists in the Australian society. It also tackles growing up, first love, family unity, and a sense of belonging in a community.…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Australian Identity

    • 947 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Australian identity is a diverse concept that has developed overtime through significant events in our history. As a result of these events, it is has established Australia into a multicultural society that now includes numerous new lifestyles. However, it is an evolving concept that is still becoming, as further cultures are migrating to Australia and introducing unique traditions to the Australian life. This idea is further explored in the poem ’No more boomerang’ by Kath Walker, which exhibits how the Australian Aboriginals were forced into a westernized lifestyle by the British migrants. In ‘But I was born here, Miss’ by an unnamed migrant child, we venture into the life of an Australian migrant child who underwent difficulties at his school because of his ethnic background. In Tim Winton’s ‘Neighbours’, we witness how the juxtaposing lifestyles of the migrants and the Australians come together and live as one, peaceful community.…

    • 947 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ESSAY The Divine Wind

    • 808 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The setting is Broome, a town in Western Australia, shortly before and during the early years of the Second World War. At that time Broome is a typical Australian boundary town with weak, ramshackle buildings, "a straggling mile of wood and corrugated-iron shops and dwellings", its red dirt roads scribbling "through grey scrubland", and its ever present sea and white beaches. The scents of "saltwater tides and mock-orange blossom, incense and burning dung, cotton heated by the sun, spices in hot oil" determine the atmosphere of this town. The novel is set during the world war. It describes the Australia that is tensed by racism, hatred and distrust and ends into an optimistic remark. I was set during world war stresses and also the separation of races during the war seems evident in the country- Australia and as a multicultural country it includes the Nepponese and Aboriginal people population with different attitudes for these races had to be approaching.…

    • 808 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Racism In The Sapphires

    • 310 Words
    • 1 Page

    The strong presence of racism among Australian communities as depicted in the film caused such events, namely the Stolen Generation, to occur. This significant event was a period in late 1800s-1960s where children from both Indigenous, and non-Indigenous (i.e. ‘white’) origins were forcefully taken away from their families as a result of official Australian Government policy. In relation to the film, Gail’s recall of a bitter memory associated with Kay particularly sheds light upon this key historical event.…

    • 310 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dorothea Mackellar’s ‘My Country’ is a poem expressing Mackellar’s deep passion and love for her country, Australia. The whole poem’s intention seems to evoke the sense of praising for the country and express Mackellar’s deep relationship and passion with her land. Mackellar attains this response from the audience by using numerous language techniques such as; Juxtaposition, personification, sound patterns including alliteration and assonance, imagery, and paradox. The use of first person throughout the whole poem suggests that the theme of this poem has been evoked by personal experience.…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Review

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Spatial Order because the statement involves regions of land, which can be organized in a directional pattern.…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays