English-hsc-unpolished gem quotes
UPG Quotes
Notes: Do not put page numbers in your essay! You can use these ideas but not the wording.
Pg
Quote
Explanation or Connection to Belonging or to the Role of Language
1
‘like a chicken talking to a duck’
Expresses how silly communication sounds between speakers of two languages.
7
‘all went to bed with clothes-hangers shoved in their mouths.’
Their wide grins reflect their joy at getting new things freely from the AU Gov. This helped them with basic needs and to adjust to living in AU
10
‘My father…growing larger and larger as he approaches the top with a smirk pasted on his face, like a slow zoom in a cheesy Chinese film.’
This happened when they encountered escalators – something foreign to the Pung’s. The father tries to alleviate his wife’s fears about going down one.
10
‘My parents become pioneers navigating a new land’
This makes him sound like a great Australian pioneer – making the connection for the readers that they too descended from immigrants who had to adapt to a new land.
10
‘Every journey is one small step for Australians, but one giant leap for the Wah-sers.’
This parodies the mission to the moon and also implies the “distance” the ‘Wah-sers’ must travel to fully belong in AU.
11
‘She thinks about the ones back home who are unprocessed and waiting to be processed, unlike the meat that is stacked in tins of twelve in front of her.’
The extended family is split between two countries. Alice’s mom thinks about her relatives while in the grocery store full of plenty.
21
‘my grandmother is a brilliant storyteller and conversationalist when she is not attacking people with bones in her words.’
Words can hurt relationships which can harm one’s sense of belonging in them.
25
She thanks ‘Father Government…like Father Christmas, as if he is a tangible benign white-bearded guru…
Grandmother personifies the AU government perhaps because Cambodian government was a dictatorship. “Benign” is in stark contrast to the
Notes: Do not put page numbers in your essay! You can use these ideas but not the wording.
Pg
Quote
Explanation or Connection to Belonging or to the Role of Language
1
‘like a chicken talking to a duck’
Expresses how silly communication sounds between speakers of two languages.
7
‘all went to bed with clothes-hangers shoved in their mouths.’
Their wide grins reflect their joy at getting new things freely from the AU Gov. This helped them with basic needs and to adjust to living in AU
10
‘My father…growing larger and larger as he approaches the top with a smirk pasted on his face, like a slow zoom in a cheesy Chinese film.’
This happened when they encountered escalators – something foreign to the Pung’s. The father tries to alleviate his wife’s fears about going down one.
10
‘My parents become pioneers navigating a new land’
This makes him sound like a great Australian pioneer – making the connection for the readers that they too descended from immigrants who had to adapt to a new land.
10
‘Every journey is one small step for Australians, but one giant leap for the Wah-sers.’
This parodies the mission to the moon and also implies the “distance” the ‘Wah-sers’ must travel to fully belong in AU.
11
‘She thinks about the ones back home who are unprocessed and waiting to be processed, unlike the meat that is stacked in tins of twelve in front of her.’
The extended family is split between two countries. Alice’s mom thinks about her relatives while in the grocery store full of plenty.
21
‘my grandmother is a brilliant storyteller and conversationalist when she is not attacking people with bones in her words.’
Words can hurt relationships which can harm one’s sense of belonging in them.
25
She thanks ‘Father Government…like Father Christmas, as if he is a tangible benign white-bearded guru…
Grandmother personifies the AU government perhaps because Cambodian government was a dictatorship. “Benign” is in stark contrast to the