For example: excerpt from Blossom Beeby: “The Face in the Mirror”.
We are using metalanguage to probe the layers and to use quotes more accurately. This awareness leads to a marked improvement in our text response essays.
For Thursday 16th March, please read excerpts from Catcher in the Rye, (26) and The Great Gatsby (56)
Characterisation: The language of stereotypes
- Beeby tries to conform to the stereotypical image of a “smiley Asian” kid who acts like the perfect pleasant “Chinese daughter”.
- Owing to the fact that her Asian background is ignored, devalued and even stigmatised, Beeby becomes “scared” of Asian people.
- Owing to the stigma attached to Asian people, she is repulsed by the picture of the “shrivelled up old Asian woman”.
Imagery: The language of symbolism
- The metaphoric/symbolic reference to the inverted mirror captures …
- The image of the “clothing label” functions as a metaphoric reflection of …
- BB uses numerous images of self-reflection to convey her cultural confusion and the disjointed image of herself.
- Beeby uses the imagery of a commercial product to describe her sense of alienation and cultural displacement. She believes she was brought up in an environment in which her parents seemed to follow a set of rules about the integration and assimilation of “Asian babies”. In this context, her “asian-ness is pushed to the crevice in the background of my mind”
- The author also uses the imagery of the mirror as a tool of self-awareness to reflect her confused cultural identity. She is conditioned to feel like a “rosy white kid” but the mirror reveals a “foreigner”. The suppression of her Asian background unsettles her and creates self-doubts. She is made to feel as if being Asian is somehow inferior and this compounds her inferiority complex.
Similarities and differences: The language of comparison
- The coffee-table book provides idyllic images of the cherry blossoms which contrast with the picture of the old “shrivelled” woman.
- Beeby juxtaposes her renewed sense of comfort and sense of acceptance – “I fully acknowledged my Asian-ness” — with her previous sense of shame and repulsion. The nightclubs reflect her rebellious mindset and come to symbolise the comfort attached to the “cultural hodge-podge “ and a “comfort zone I’d never known before”. This contrasts with the manufactured image of the Australian family with a perfectly adjusted “Chinese daughter”.
- The difference between these two selves captures her emotional journey.
- The conflicting images associated with the coffee-table book are analogous to the contrasting imagery of the mirror.
- Using the imagery of the mirror, BB shows a contrast between her physical appearance and her white-washed mindset. (This mindset is reinforced through tripling devices – my friends were white, my mind was white, … “ This leads to a sense of denial and rejection that haunts her and leaves her feeling displaced, raw and empty. She is plagued by doubts and an increasing sense of resentment.
- Like the mirror imagery, the coffee-table book also becomes a symbol of her confused identity. There is a contrast between the beautiful serene landscape which is pleasant and acceptable and the “shrivelled up Asian lady” who repulses her.
We will use these features to write a text response essay about Identity and Difference, Belonging and Difference etc.
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