English Exam Flashcards
Where the dear family live (home).
“A humpy on the riverbank. Clean and homely”
Symmetry of Act One (home, resilence).
Beginning with the “AFTERMATH” where they are “rebuilding after a flood has devastated their home”
- “devastated”
- “sodden”
- “destroyed”
Ends with “WATERS RISING” and “THE FLOOD”
Sacrifices - Dolly (home, family, authority).
“rips” Dolly’s “magazines” yet Dolly “sighs, resigned” rather than “protest[ing]” she supports their survival even when it comes to giving up her cherished possessions.
G - “It’ll be alright”
D - “You always say that”
“Nan gives her granddaughter a hug” = underscores the reality that Nan Dear isn’t making these decisions to harm her loved ones by taking away the things they hold dear but rather to protect them from the world’s cruelty. (ensuring their survival)
Colonisation + home + ___ business.
Nan - “They forced us to leave. Forced us to leave Cummeragunja. Our home.”
D - “Who did?”
“But Nan doesn’t want to talk about that business and DOLLY knows it”
Family hierarchy.
Dolly and Gladys both say “Yes, Nan” or “Yes, Mum” showing their obedience.
Gladys dreams of white culture.
“curtsying” presents a “bouquet of flowers” to the queen. But “instead of being formal, the QUEEN pulls her in for a hug”
“lights come back to reality” “Gladys is holding a bunch of weeds.”
Historical account of the queen’s visit.
“THE QUEEN’S VISIT”
- Real “radio is heard featuring a description of the Queen’s 1954 Royal Tour of Australia”
- Used to immerse readers in the real setting during the time to enhance Harrison’s purpose of the play further.
- “the hessian they lined the roads with. The hessian I couldn’t get through and couldn’t even peek over.
- To “stop the likes of her seeing our humpies”
Explain Jane Harrison’s purpose of the play.
Harrison exposes Australian society as governed by misogyny as well as racism, resulting in a culture that produced relentless violence against Indigenous women such as Nan Dear, Ester, and Dolly. In their experiences of abuse, these women are denied autonomy over their own bodies, in two cases by white men.
Gender roles and expectations.
G - “If they’d given us better houses…But hessian! Like a bandaid over a sore”
G - “Oh, mum doesn’t it bother you?
N - “What good is it if I get het up? My job is to get food on the table”
G - “But decent housing, Mum-“
N - “Gladys, get off your high horse” “Anyway, it’s Papa Dear’s mission to make things better for the Aboriginal people”
Who is the author of Rainbow’s End?
Jane Harrison
When was Rainbow’s End by Jane Harrison published?
2007
When/where is Rainbow’s End set?
Set in the 1950s in the northern Victorian area of Shepparton and Mooroopna.
- Rural Victoria
Under the theme of Racism and Segregation explain Paternalism in Rainbow’s End.
Paternalism, describes an infantilising view of Indigenous people as incapable of looking after themselves and thus needing the protection of white people or the government; we see this in the way the Aboriginal community in ‘Rainbow’s End’ is constantly surveilled by white authorities (such as the Inspector) and in the memories of Cummeragunja alluded to by Nan Dear, where the Aboriginal Protection Act of 1909 had placed the Aboriginal community under strict control with the excuse of ‘protecting’ and taking care of them. Errol’s desire to protect Dolly and give her a ‘better life’ may also be interpreted as a reflection of paternalistic attitudes, with the exchange meant to symbolise how paternalism takes away the agency of Indigenous people like Dolly.
Under the theme of Racism and Segregation explain Assimilation in Rainbow’s End.
The playwright also exposes the indignant and traumatic consequences of assimilation. The Rent Collector and Inspector are perhaps the most obvious embodiments of assimilationist values, and are both represented as threats to the Dears family; specifically, they always appear as a threat to the children (first Dolly, and then Dolly’s child), as the playwright alludes to the history of the Stolen Generation, one of the greatest consequences of assimilation policies between the 1800s-1970s. Gladys’ rhetorical question, “why do we have to prove we can live like whitefellas, before we get the same opportunities?,” further illustrates how assimilation forced Indigenous people to leave behind their culture to reap the scarce rewards offered by white Australian society.
Under the theme of Racism and Segregation explain Segregation in Rainbow’s End.
At the same time, Australian society continued to be highly segregated, something which Harrison focuses on through the experiences of Nan Dear, who is served last at the butcher, or through Errol and Dolly’s relationship, which Dolly “knows cannot work” (p. 55). The hessian fence also appears as a symbol of segregation, preventing the Queen from seeing the humpies of the Aboriginal settlement. Furthermore, Harrison also critiques the scapegoating of Indigenous people for the living conditions imposed upon them through segregationist policies; this is best seen through Gladys’ sarcastic remark “as if we chose to live on a floodplain” (p. 120).
Explain the theme family.
The text explores culture-specific understandings of family and contrasts how family is viewed and valued differently across Aboriginal and Anglo-Saxon culture. Whereas for Nan Dear it is shocking that Dolly’s family tree is not expected to include ‘cousins,’ for Anglo-Saxons in the 1950s like Errol, family seems to be a transient unit which one grows up from in order to form their own family, rather than a community which spans across generations. More broadly, family is explored paradoxically as a source of support and entrapment, especially when it becomes clear that wishes and dreams can clash with family expectations and individuals are forced to make difficult choices between themselves and their families. Furthermore, despite family being an unbreakable bond, Harrison does not shy away from critiquing the darker abuses of power (namely between men and women) that continue to plague families from both Aboriginal and white communities.
Explain the theme dreams.
Harrison’s play intertwines the dreams and hopes of individual characters with the playwright’s own hopes and dreams for the future of Australia and Indigenous rights. In the microcosm of the family unit, dreams are created, contested, and oftentimes crushed by reality. Gladys’ dream for better Aboriginal housing and her hope to see this realised through the construction of Rumbalara is shattered upon realisation that Rumbalara is not a good enough solution. Dolly’s dreams especially seem to be constantly under threat, whether due to societal barriers or pressures from within her family. It appears that Nan Dear’s cynicism and pessimism, fuelled by past trauma, become a hindrance to the realisation of Dolly’s dreams. This cynicism is treated with empathy by the playwright, yet simultaneously aims to prompt the audience to question how the hopelessness and distrust that comes with generational and personal trauma can prevent progress towards a better future.
Explain the theme sovereignty.
Sovereignty also takes the centre stage within the play’s thematic realm. Set in the only commonwealth nation which to this day lacks a formal treaty with its First Nations peoples, Rainbow’s End arguably seems to emphasise continuity rather than change. The play continuously alludes to the bitter irony of Indigenous people being treated like foreigners on their own lands, seen when Gladys objects “I’m not an interloper - I belong here - this is my land!” (p. 120). Through the voice of the radio broadcaster, who proclaims Centennial Park to be the “birthplace of the nation” (p. 15), the playwright exposes the pervasiveness of the myth of terra nullius, the false and racist belief that civilisation in Australia did not exist prior to British colonisation. From the regular inspections the Aboriginal settlement is subjected to, to its eventual bulldozing by the end of the play, it is clear that both the characters and the land are at “the whim of government, at the mercy of Protection Boards, at the vagary of landlords and property owners’’ (p. 48). Gladys’ tautology here perhaps speaks best to the numerous institutions that Harrison condemns as robbing the agency and independence of First Nations peoples.
Explain the theme gender and sovereignty.
While we often think of sovereignty as associated with political rights, Harrison also navigates the theme of sovereignty in relation to Indigenous women’s bodies. An intersectional analysis is pertinent as female characters suffer the intersecting consequences of being mistreated both on account of their gender identity and race. Harrison exposes Australian society as governed by misogyny as well as racism, resulting in a culture which produced relentless violence against Indigenous women such as Nan Dear, Ester, and Dolly. In their experiences of abuse, these women are denied autonomy over their own bodies, in two cases by white men. Nonetheless, Harrison elucidates that violence against women can also be indiscriminate, as Dolly is assaulted by her own cousin – in all of these circumstances, the author exhibits the violence of the patriarchy. Even when sexual assault is not present, such as the scene in which Errol grabs Dolly’s arm, the tense stichomythia of their dialogue and the stormy sound design aim to emphasise Dolly’s loss of agency and autonomy as she attempts to wrestle back control. Thus, in exploring intersections of race and gender, Harrison navigates the theme of sovereignty at a personal level, condemning the way it has been denied to Indigenous women.
Explain the theme innocence and coming of age.
Given that one of the protagonists (if not the protagonist) is seventeen year old Dolly, we may also consider ‘Rainbow’s End’ to be a coming of age story. One of Dolly’s central struggles is to be treated like a ‘woman,’ and to not have her family (especially Nan Dear) hide matters from her. Towards the end of the play, she wins this privilege yet the stage directions suggest it has come at a cost, the loss of innocence: “DOLLY smiles – she’s finally a woman in NAN’s eyes. But her smile is tinged with sadness” (p. ??) It thus appears that the playwright critiques the way in which the rite of passage into womanhood is associated with pain rather than joy, as the parallels between Dolly and Nan Dear suggest that they represent a common reality.
What should you always use when talking about authorial intent and verbs?
Adverbs
Eg.
Before = hits
After = aggressively hits
