Summary Of The Poems 'Then And Now' By Cathy Freeman

‘Crossing boundaries is essential for reaching one’s full potential’
To fulfill ones full capability he or she needs to cross boundaries such as emotional, physical or cultural, to achieve their goals in life. Not all boundaries crossed are positive, some are also negative but if they are never crossed, an individual cannot reach their full potential. Cathy Freeman in the autobiography born to run crosses many boundaries as a runner to reach her full potential and achieve her goals. Also in the poem “then and now” by Cathy walker as she crosses many boundaries throughout her life transition, while she sees her home destroyed but does not reach her full potential.
Cathy Freeman crosses several physical boundaries to reaches her full potential

When Cathy was sixteen, after winning the Commonwealth games her sister passed away instead of Cathy grieving she said ‘as i stood at the grave with my family i suddenly knew what i had to do, i had to run for Anne-Marie’ Cathy promised herself that she would run every race for her. Those obstacles she crossed helped her reach her full potential.
Cathy crosses a major cultural boundary as the first athlete to carry an Aboriginal flag in her victory lap. By doing this she attempted to fill the gap between Australian culture and
Aboriginal. She wanted people to be aware of the achievements of aboriginal people. she was proud of her culture and wanted people to see it. When Cathy was young she experienced many situations of racism, when she was ten she won 4 gold medals but never got them and instead they weir given to the second white girl this was mentioned in this dialogue ‘So come on, then’ ‘where are your medals?’ ‘i didn’t get any just certificates’ this dialogue coveys the racism that was present to stop aboriginal people from achieving their personal best. The more she raced the more people were un happy about her winning and made bad comment, ‘Ew, yuck you eat witchery grubs’ the purpose

Some boundaries are crossed dramatically but he or she does not reach their full potential and example of this is ‘Then and Now’ a poem by Oodgeroo of the Tribe Noonucal she was an Australian poet, her work conveys the aspects of Australian experience her poems mainly focus on her own perspective of perspective of the culture and beliefs of the both the
Indigenous people and white Australians, the racial discrimination that the Aborigines suffered.
Oodgeroo uses language and poetic techniques such as onomatopoeia, metaphor and repetition, to portray these aspect. She crosses emotional boundaries losing her identity and learning to adopt to a foreign culture an example of Irony in the poem ‘ One time our dark children played, their where the rail way yards are now’ this show two contrasting things that are opsite her old life and new life. She also physically/geographically changes her house and town to something she’s unfamiliar with, she uses imagery to show her the physical boundary she crossed ‘laughing as they hunt and swim, my dreams are shuttered by rushing cars. The use of imagery is to make the reader imagine what is happening. Oodgeroo