Literary analysis of One of My Best Friend
Australia, the world's sixth-largest country by total area, used to be a very judgmental, unfair and narrow-minded country. It was in 1901 where the fruition of the white Australia policy came and the British took over Australia and it became a British colony. This British colony used to have a very big problem with social justice and human rights. They only wanted the white, beautiful and fit young people, and they exterminated the aboriginals of Australia. It was not easy as an aboriginal to live in Australia at this time, which I want to show by referring to the story “One of My Best Friends”, written by Peter Goldsworthy. I want to describe how the text indicates that Australia used to have prejudices against abos.
The short-story “One of My Best Friends” is written in the period where the British people controlled and owned Australia. The short-story is about a friendship between two characters: Willy and the narrator. The narrator is a person who is physically strong and really knows how to defend himself. The reason to this could perhaps because he is a son of a cop. The father has maybe taught him to stand up for himself. Even though he is physically strong and is being moved from school to school, he still manages to “end up” with the loners, dunces, stammers etc. He is not afraid of “using” people which this quote proves: “And I always befriended them in return at first, for they were useful to break the ice with. Although I often had to turn on them later as I settled in, and took my rightful place further up the pecking order.” (p. 1, l. 24-26).
In defiance of his strong mind, he is not good to talk about emotions. He feels very uncomfortable when Willy is talking to him abo...
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...nce a boong, always a boong!” The last example is when Willy and the narrator meet again at the football game when they both are grown-ups. The white men are afraid of playing against the abo’s, because there was a rumor who said that somehow people always ended up leaving the field by ambulance - it is only the abo’s fault they think.
The theme of this text is clash of culture. The message is that you have to give the different people (the aboriginals) an opportunity to develop themselves. In this case were Willy never got a chance to do it. He always got mocked and beaten up because he was different. Also the author clearly states that it is not fair to give different kind of opportunities to different kind of races. Altogether, the society back then was a society with lacking recognition of the aboriginals’ culture, and friendships got spoiled because of it.
The idea that indigenous Australian communities are underprivileged and do not receive the same justice that the white community accrues is represented through Jay Swan and his interactions with the corrupt white police officers and the indigenous locals of the town. My empathetic response to the text as a whole was influenced directly by way the text constructs these ideas as well as my knowledge of the way indigenous Australians are represented in the mainstream media and the behaviour of the police force as an institution. These contextual factors and the way Sen has constructed ideas influenced me to empathise with the indigenous
Though the stereotyping and alienation is strong in Dougy and Gracey’s community they manage to break away from it. The whites feel that the Aborigines get everything free from the government and never do any work of their own, and according to the book, most of them do just this.
...at these several events in our nation’s history have demoralised our reputation to other countries globally. To make us known as a better country to other nations, we’ve completely abolished the White Australia Policy, gave back the aborigines their freedoms and we were also the first country in the world to give women rights. Australia today in present day is now one of the most multicultural societies on Earth, and we definitely follow our values of mateship, acceptance and freedom.
As European domination began, the way in which the European’s chose to deal with the Aborigines was through the policy of segregation. This policy included the establishment of a reserve system. The government reserves were set up to take aboriginals out of their known habitat and culture, while in turn, encouraging them to adapt the European way of life. The Aboriginal Protection Act of 1909 established strict controls for aborigines living on the reserves . In exchange for food, shelter and a little education, aborigines were subjected to the discipline of police and reserve managers. They had to follow the rules of the reserve and tolerate searchers of their homes and themselves. Their children could be taken away at any time and ‘apprenticed” out as cheap labour for Europeans. “The old ways of the Aborigines were attacked by regimented efforts to make them European” . Their identities were threatened by giving them European names and clothes, and by removing them from their tra...
Miller’s use of personification and symbolism in the book shows the situational irony that surrounds Willy. This highlights the overall message of blind faith towards the American Dream. The major case of irony in the book is Willy’s blind faith in the American Dream. This belief is that if one is well-liked, they will become successful. The truth is actually completely opposite. The real belief is that if one works hard, with no regard to how well liked they are, they will be successful. This relationship is shown between Willy and his neighbor Charley. While Willy believes likability is the only way to success, Charley works hard and does not care how people think of him. Through his hard work, Charley started his own business, and is now very successful. Willy, however, ends up getti...
Within Australia, beginning from approximately the time of European settlement to late 1969, the Aboriginal population of Australia experienced the detrimental effects of the stolen generation. A majority of the abducted children were ’half-castes’, in which they had one white parent and the other of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. Following the government policies, the European police and government continued the assimilation of Aboriginal children into ‘white’ society. Oblivious to the destruction and devastation they were causing, the British had believed that they were doing this for “their [Aborigines] own good”, that they were “protecting” them as their families and culture were deemed unfit to raise them. These beliefs caused ...
The assimilation policy was a policy that existed between the 1940’s and the 1970’s, and replaced that of protectionism. Its purpose was to have all persons of aboriginal blood and mixed blood living like ‘white’ Australians, this established practice of removing Aboriginal children (generally half-bloods) from their homes was to bring them up without their culture, and they were encouraged to forget their aboriginal heritage. Children were placed in institutions where they could be 'trained' to take their place in white society. During the time of assimilation Aboriginal people were to be educated for full citizenship, and have access to public education, housing and services. However, most commonly aboriginal people did not receive equal rights and opportunities, for example, their wages were usually less than that paid to the white workers and they often did not receive recognition for the roles they played in the defence of Australia and their contribution to the cattle industry. It wasn’t until the early 1960’s that expendi...
Willy Loman’s feelings of alienation and loneliness are direct psychological results of his interaction with society and the conditions that are found within it. Although, he does not necessarily have the ability or allow himself to have the ability to define his feelings as such, they are still very much a part of his everyday existence. This is evident in his constant bragging and attempted compensation. He does not feel that he is truly a part of society. Indeed, he is not. Miller himself seems to be saying that this is not necessarily a bad thing; this society is not that wonderful. Yet Willy still yearns to be like his brother, Ben, and the other men he sees making up the work force. He desperately wants to command respect and be a part of the group. Although usually he just goes about his business as best he can, he does at times admit his feelings:
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.
The objectives of this written task were to show how Willy’s family (Linda, Biff and Happy) viewed his death and his achievements. I also attempted to illustrate their individual relationships with Willy. I chose to use the format of a formal police report as it allows all three characters to express their views of Willy freely. Emotions were adjusted to the minimum since this is a police report, except for the case of Linda whom I consider would be too weak at that point to control herself. Their stories do not correspond exactly because some are trying to hide the facts. One difficulty I encountered was imitation of tones of all three characters. After reading the original play again, I managed to capture Linda’s admiration and Happy’s indifference. Various factual details were added carefully to increase the authenticity of the police report, such as the dates, the autopsy result, the photographs and the model of Willy’s car (a red Chevy).
Willy is a multi-faceted character which Miller has portrayed a deep problem with sociological and psychological causes and done so with disturbing reality. In another time or another place Willy might have been successful and kept his Sanity, but as he grew up, society's values changed and he was left out in the cold. His foolish pride, bad judgment and his disloyalty are also at fault for his tragic end and the fact that he did not die the death of a salesman.
Willy is blind to the reality around him. This blindness, is his tragic flaw like that of Oedipus Rex. Willy is a dreamer who is unable to face the realities of a modern day society. Willy builds his whole life around the philosophy that if a person is well likedand good looking, he will be successful. Willy says to Biff, "I thank Almighty God that you are both are built like Adonises." Later, Willy makes the comment, "Be liked and you will never want." His need to be well liked is so strong that his choices throughout his life, and his blindness to the reality around him, prevents Willy from realizing his dreams and values were flawed.
This scene displays Willy’s regrets and pride; he wants to provide for his family but isn’t willing to give up his dream to do so. At the beginning of the play, Charlie is described as vulgar and mundane, however he is portrayed as sympathetic and caring to his less fortunate neighbors. Willy has a developed mindset throughout the story, this mindset being one of allusion. Willy is convinced that the more people that like someone, the farther they will go in life. The issue here is that Willy claims to be very well-liked and that is how he got as far as he did. Though in all reality, Willy did not make it very far in life, which is what brings him to his neighbor’s house to beg for money and support, which his neighbor is already giving him. His neighbor Charlie has a son named Bernard, who is seemingly a perfect child who makes Willy jealous, for his own son’s sake, who can’t do simple math. This jealousy corrupts Willy’s mind further, and only makes him want to take further actions to taking from his neighbor. Willy is all about success and providing for his beloved family, though this is not shown through his actions. As aforementioned, Willy is not willing to give up his dreams to support the family, he is the type of person who is all talk and no walk. This shows even through his attempts to take his own life, these are also actions of
Willy is a salesman trying to find success in a country known for its endless amount of opportunities. He grows up seeing how successful his brother, Ben, has become and because of this he is determined to succed in his lifetime. He wants to show his family that they can achieve whatever they put their mind to. Willy sees the American dream as the ability to become prosperous by the amount of individuals that like him. It is easily shown that he feels personality, not hard work and improvement, is the key to living a successful life. “You and Hap and I, and I’ll show you all the towns… And they know me, boys, they know me up and down New England. The finest people. And when I bring you fellas up, there’ll be open sesame for all of us, ‘cause one thing, boys: I have friends. I can park my car in any street in New England, and the cops protect it like their own…” (Miller 24). Willy always raised his kids to think being popular and well liked was most important. He told them that if they had those two traits t...
...he way he’s teaching his boys are right or not. Willy’s lack of understanding on how to teach his boys, leads him to teach the wrong ideas which would lead to Happy and Biff’s demise since both of them would believe they are entitled to everything without working hard. Willy’s failure as a father is caused by the wrong ideas he taught and the lack of experience.