Discursive relfection Flashcards
Introcuction discursive reflection
Inspired by stimulus, my discursive piece, How to Be Remembered: Be Good, Be Bad, or Be Both, draws heavily from Ray Bradbury’s The Pedestrian to illustrate the impact of tyranny on historical memory while also contrasting Helen Garner’s Dear Mrs. Dunkley in its reflection of memory. Through this piece, I aim to explore the dilemma of how one is remembered by history.
Body 1: Memory and Power in The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury
Using the reflective tone of The Pedestrian as a powerful lens, I examine society’s persecution of individuality and acts of kindness. The bleak imagery and tone of Mead walking past “empty streets,” a symbol of widespread repression. This inspired my rhetorically question, “Perhaps history forgets the tragedies, perhaps there isn’t enough room in the textbooks for their mundanity?” to reflect the bleak tone surrounding the dehumanisation of history, where acts of protest and kindness, like Mead’s, are often forgotten. In contrast, those with authoritarian power “forcefully inscribe their names into history,” which I highlight through a pessimistic tone that, “it is obvious that the ‘good guys’ don’t get as many pages as the evil ones.”
+ ANS stimulus
better to be feared than loved.
Body 1: part 2
Moreover, I argue that history is shaped by those who commit evil, initially through the rhetorical question, “Why are the ones who started the wars remembered and not the ones who finished them?” This juxtaposition critiques how those in power, like the autonomous police car dismissing Mead’s career as a writer as “no profession,” manipulate history to craft their own narrative. Further, I mirror this sentiment through historical allusions to figures like Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, whose suppression and “bloodshed of millions” have led to their glorification in modern times. Therefore ANS stimulus
Body 2: Selective Memory in Dear Mrs. Dunkley by Helen Garner
In addition, I use Dear Mrs. Dunkley as a framework to explore the complexities of memory and how history evolves over time. Through personal anecdotes, I reflect on my changing interpretation of the past, much like Helen Garner’s evolving relationship with Mrs. Dunkley. This is seen in Garner’s shift from the bitter repetition, “You stared at me… You mimicked… You humiliated me,” to the more conciliatory, “Please accept… the enduring love,”. In contrast, my piece concludes with the unsettling thought, “So maybe being the next ‘bad guy’ isn’t such a horrible idea… or is it?” This rhetorical question mirrors the introspective tone of Dear Mrs. Dunkley, expressing the harsh reality that history tends to favour power and destruction over compassion and kindness.
Conclusion discursive
Ultimately, by juxtaposing the themes in The Pedestrian and Dear Mrs. Dunkley, I fulfilled my aim in illustrating the shifting nature of history and the uneasy truth that, more often than not, power overshadows virtue in how we are remembered.
