Australian Literature the Short Stories

Australian Literature

The short stories "Dr. Wooreddy's prescription for enduring the ending of the world" by Colin Johnson and "Mr. Parker's Valentine" by Elizabeth Jolley addresses the issue of the cultural meaning of living and dying. In both literary works, living and death are equated with an individual's ability to preserve his/her culture, and pass on this culture to succeeding generations.

Dr Wooreddy" illustrates the death of the protagonist's tribe, which marks the tribe's 'cultural death,' and Dr. Wooreddy's survival becomes two-fold in the context of the story: his survival meant that he was still alive after the genocide of the "num" or white man; his survival also meant that the culture of his tribe lives on through him. Thus, his tribe's race and culture is perpetuated through him. However, even though he does not experience death, Dr. Wooreddy's "prescription" for survival can also be construed as death personified, primarily because the "prescription" entails giving up their identities as Aborigines and adopt the culture of the white man. Thus, though not explicitly expressed, Johnson tries to show that Dr. Wooreddy's survival is actually a death -- death for his tribe's cultural heritage and identity. A similar form of symbolism is used in Jolley's "Mr. Parker's Valentine." Mr. Parker's death is also considered as a symbolic representation of the death of his heritage as one of the early settlers in Australia: the arrival of Pearson and Eleanor in the house signifies the invasion of the 'white man from England' to dominate and reign over the white man who is an early settler of the country. Moreover, Mr. Parker is also a symbol of traditional society paving the way for the modern society to take over, represented by Pearson and Eleanor's characters. Thus, in both stories, invasion, both geographically and culturally, signified death of a culture in order to let a new one 'live' and perpetuate in a new society.

Judith Wright's poem entitled, "Bora ring," is a poem that uses both effective imagery and symbolism in order to illustrate the gradual weakening of tradition and heritage of the Australian Aboriginal community. Through the Aborigines' ritual, "bora," Wright attempts to describe in detail this tradition in the poem through imagery, while, at the same time, citing its death through the use of symbolism. Subsisting to the main theme of 'cultural death,' "Bora ring" uses implied meaning in each line of them. Examples of these are the use of "the dance is secret" and "the tribal story lost in an alien tale," lines in the poem that signify cultural death, the dissolution of the ritual in the midst of new influences from foreign settlers and/or modernization. Stanza three is illustrated as the most effective stanza in the poem: Wright's description of the Aborigines' loss from foreign influence is powerfully expressed as follows: "[t]he hunter is gone: the spear is splintered underground..." Cultural death is not the only tragedy that happens among the Aborigines, but also physical death (this may be construed as genocide), as demonstrated in the line, "The nomad feet are still." The last two lines of the poem provide a historical perspective of the issue that Wright discusses. That is, she resorts to illustrating genocide and cultural death as products of humanity's "ancient curse," which is "fear": "...the ancient curse, the fear as old as Cain." This means that despite being 'brothers' -- that is, being humans, we still let our fear of being dominated or controlled by others as a constant reminder to ourselves to become vigilant, and take aggressive measures to 'ensure' that the "ancient curse" that is fear will be abated at the expense of other people's lives and welfare. Thus, to pursue this end, the white man (in the context of the poem) had resorted to genocide and cultural death to ensure that they will continue to dominate and remain superior in human society.