Oodgeroo Noonuccal And Maya Angelou

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Maya Angelou and Oodgeroo Noonuccal in their poems ‘Still I Rise’ and ‘We are going’ explore the scandalous nature of discrimination and expose the reasons for its need to be challenged. Where Angelou explores the nature of discrimination in the context of a defiant African American woman in her free verse poem, Noonuccal , in contrast, exposes the anguish of continued prejudice and the annihilation of her Indigenous community after European settlement. ‘Still I Rise’ commences with Angelou’s narrator challenging white men, their discrimination and oppression. Taunting them at each step she refuses to permit its acceptance or tolerance. In contrast, Noonuccal describes and challenges the impending annihilation of her Indigenous community at the hands of white men. Angelou’s …show more content…

She reminds that regardless of how hard the try “like dust” she will rise against their oppression and discrimination. In contrast Noonuccal through her imagery, introduces the last who “remained of their tribe. ” The group appeared alliteratively “semi-naked”, “subdued” and “silent” because they had been displaced and disrespected by their fellow white Australians. Rather than challenge them like Angelou, Noonuccal’s narrator reminds them that the Indigenous people are the original custodians of the land because they “belong(ed)” there and were “the old ways”; ways that white settlement has deemed unworthy of preserving. Angelou’s narrator continues to rhetorically question whether white man wishes to “see (her) broken” or with “bow(ed) head and lower(ed) her eyes?” because if they do she will not allow

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