Council Wombat, by Jackie French, and Loaded Dog, by Henry Lawson, are two Australian short stories that I will analyse and compare looking for similarities and differences in the main characters, the settings, the plots, the use of narrator and also the authors’ individual styles and use of language. The main characters in these two stories are extremely different. Council Wombat himself is just like any normal, everyday wombat. Slow, caring and lazy whereas Tommy, the young retriever, in Loaded Dog is lively, active, joyful and far more interactive than Council Wombat. The choice of setting is realistic for both short stories. Council Wombat is set outside Canberra without any obvious timeframe. Loaded Dog is set in a small gold mining town in outback NSW in the late 1800s. The plots for both stories are very different. Council Wombat is quite monotonous with a sad ending while Loaded Dog is humorous and exciting with an entertaining ending. Council Wombat has to keep cleaning out his culvert before a nasty drought occurs. Sadly, he is found dead by the side of the road, run over by a car. To add to this, the other wombats in the story die as well. In contrast, Loaded Dog’s plot starts with Tommy, one of the miners’ dogs, finding and then racing around playfully with a special explosive cartridge the miners had made to catch fish. Unexpectedly, a fierce yellow dog appears stealing the cartridge from Tommy and subsequently blows himself up to everyone’s great delight!!! …show more content…
The use of a narrator in these short stories is also different.
Jackie French has written Council Wombat in first person. She has used the nouns we, I and us. For example, “We first noticed him after the rain.” Henry Lawson, however, has written Loaded Dog in third person such that the story is not narrated by any of the characters. Henry Lawson refers to the characters either by name or as he or
she. The authors’ writing styles are immensely different. Jackie French’s style is slow and patient, like a wombat. It is consistently descriptive with touches of humour “…he peered at our shovels in bewilderment.” while Henry Lawson’s style has a faster pace, like the playful young retriever, and draws the reader in to the story. Henry Lawson’s style is exciting and humorous and he occasionally uses some Aussie slang such as “How’s the fishin’ goin’ Da-a-ve?” The two authors’ different styles mean that their short stories have a very different pace and mood. To conclude, Council Wombat and Loaded Dog are two considerably different Australian short stories. Council Wombat is much slower and more descriptive than Loaded Dog while Loaded Dog is humorous and, in my opinion, far more engaging than Council Wombat. For these reasons alone, I believe that Henry Lawson’s style in Loaded Dog is without question more effective.
There are many writers that write poems and books with the same styles. This essay will compare the styles of Greasy Lake by T. Coraghessan Boyle and the fictional Pet Fly by Walter Mosley.
Throughout Gary Crew’s novel, ‘Strange Objects’, the author suggests that history’s repetitious nature, racism and the supernatural can only lead to situations in which many complications occur. Strange Objects represents these issues in a number of imaginative ways, such as paralleling factual events with fictional events. Gary Crew is Australia’s most awarded author for children and young adults. His novel, Strange Objects, has also won some accolades, due to its engaging nature, such as Winner of the Australian Children’s Book Council, Book of the Year for Older Readers and the 1991 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award.
Today, I will be telling my view on Australian texts. I will be analysing the text “The Exotic Rissole” by Tanveer Ahmed.
Motorcycles and Sweet Grass is a very rare occurrence in aboriginal literature. Most works about oppression and sadness as the aboriginal population once was. However, Drew Haydn Taylor attempts to implement humorous aspects of native culture in this novel.
Both ‘The Drover’s Wife’ and ‘The Loaded Dog’ depict life as an Australian during the Colonial period. ‘The Drover’s Wife’ depicts the everyday life of a bush woman and her
Mate-ship is a concept that can be drawn back to colonial times, It is particularly used to symbolise the bond between men and often used frequently in times of adversity and hardship. Mate-ship is reflected throughout Nick Enright’s ‘Property Of The Clan’, Peter Weir’s ‘Galipoli’ and the image chosen by me’ shown through the characteristics of courage and empathy which shape our individuals lives as Australians today. Many characters experience different aspects of mate-ship for the duration of property of the clan. Mate-ship takes all forms and is affected by the circumstances of many different situations.
Mee, S., 1999, Director’s Notes, from Box the Pony, Hodder Headline Aust. Pty Ltd, Sydney.
The notions of the Australian voice as multifaceted and diverse, is insightfully expressed in Tim Winton's short story anthology The turning and the Drover's wife by Henry Lawson. Australian voice in literature often explores the quality inherent to the Australian identity of overcoming hardships. The stories Fog, On her knees, and The Drover's wife explore these hardships through the notions of mateship,and the importance of family in facing these challenges.
Have you ever read short stories by ray bradbury? In this essay i will be taking you through the similarities and differences i found while i was reading the three stories. I will also be discussing the characters and how they helped to give a better picture of the settings. Shall we begin.
Craig Silvey’s Jasper Jones is a powerful text, conveying ideas that protest against the social norm of the 1960’s. Protagonist Charlie Bucktin is a teenager living in the small Australian town of Corrigan in 1965. His daily routine is somewhat interrupted by the intrusion of Jasper Jones – the town’s scapegoat – knocking at his window. Together, they attempt to solve the murder of Laura Wishart, a young teenager found hanging in Jasper’s secret hideout. Is this a sinister end for Laura or is Jasper being set up? Jasper Jones, by Craig Silvey, demonstrates that fictional stories not only have the power to move the reader emotionally and physically, but also to change the way the reader sees humanity by delving into issues such as racism, condemnation and the unknown.
Claudia Rankine uses the second person point of view in Citizen: An American Lyric, and because of this choice it creates some moments that lead the reader to think critically about what is going on. One example of this can be found on page 66 when Rankine writes, “What else to liken yourself to an animal, the ruminant kind?” (Rankine) This quote in the context of the lyric puts the reader into a position where they feel how much words and actions that they think nothing of, can make people of color feel both segregated and alone. Incorporating this point of view into a rhetorical question also forces the reader to think about the problems at hand as if it is directly happening to them. However, Rankine not only uses the word “you” to make her lyric second person, but quite possibly the most moving and memorable moment of the book includes other pronouns of the second person point of view. In a quote that reads, “I they he she we you turn only to discover the encounter to be alien to this place.” (Rankine) Rankine shows that through the use of many different pronouns she is capable of including everyone in the story, thus pulling them in and giving them a sense of involvement is what is happening. This use of “you” and other pronouns is what makes Claudia Rankine’s writing style nearly unmatched in drawing readers in and actually making them care about real world problems. However, point of view is not the only literary tool that Rankine has on showcase is Citizen: An American
First Person is when the author chooses one character to tell the story. You will often see the words, “I,” and “me,” through out. The narrator will most likely be in the middle of the action, or telling the story from a past perspective.
One of the most endearing aspects of The Riders is the clever characterization. This allows the reader to relate to the typical national stereotypes and yet very extravagant personalities portrayed in the novel. The characterization, together with Winton’s considerable skill at using the characters’ view to evoke a sense of place, are two of the strengths of The Riders. The character of Fred Scully, the ‘hero’ of The Riders, is one of the most wonderfully written characters to have come out of Winton’s writing so far. Scully’s character encompasses all the traditional traits of the Australian: his use of vernacular, appearance, humor, as well as the outlook and many more. Winton has the reader accompany Scully in his desperate struggle through Europe and it is Scully’s personality that the reader finds themselves enjoying more than the sightseeing trip.
The first-person point of view is crucial to the theme of Welty's story. It is both quicker and funnier to show that the narrator is self-centered and melodramatic than it would be to tell it. Sister is definitely the star in the melodrama. She begins her tale with "I," and every event is made to revolve around herself, even her sister's marriage:
Composers show how confronting and meaningful discoveries can be through how their characters and settings of their works are depicted. I agree with this statement, because the discoveries made within a text by the audience are there to piece together the picture of which is the texts underlying motive. Examples of this can be seen in the texts ‘Rainbow’s End’ a play by Jane Harrison and the children’s book ‘The Rabbits’ by John Marsden and Shaun Tan. ‘Rainbow’s End’ follows a family of three Aboriginal Australian females; Gladys - single mother trying to support her daughter and help her succeed in life, Nan Dear – Gladys’s mother and Dolly – Gladys’s teenage daughter, showing the struggles that they as an Aboriginal family face in a Anglo-dominant, 1950’s Australian society. ‘The Rabbits’ is an allegory, or retelling, of the British colonisation of Australia, with the British being represented by rabbits and the Indigenous Australians being represented by numbats, an endangered Australian native animal. Both of these texts display themes of discrimination and assimilation towards aboriginals, giving us the chance to discover and understand their struggles.