Australian Literature the Short Stories Term Paper

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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.

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" 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......

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"Australian Literature The Short Stories", 20 November 2004, Accessed.6 June. 2026,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/australian-literature-short-stories-58759