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Bye, Beautiful

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Bye, Beautiful
Julia Lawrinson depicts the effects of racism on individuals through a range of techniques in her novel Bye, Beautiful. Through use of Sandy’s perspective, the reader sees how racism impacts the Read family, especially Pat. The author also uses characterisation to represent certain characters’ feelings of isolation and sadness and to show them as being different from the townspeople. Lawrinson also uses the very powerful symbol of Billy’s death to demonstrate the way racism effects individuals. These techniques and various characters will be explored further in this essay.

Julia Lawrinson represents the consequences of racism on Pat Read through writing from Sandy’s perspective, which encourages the reader to have empathy for Pat. Through …show more content…
Lawrinson creates a shy, insignificant character that goes unnoticed to the reader. This demonstrates that May did not feel as though her opinions were worthy of being spoken, as evident in the way Miss Masterson speaks about her; “People think they can do anything they like these days. No respect. They don’t know where they belong.” (pg. 60). May did not speak against Miss Masterson, but instead remained quiet for the remainder of the lesson. Readers of the book are still unsure about May’s character, symbolising the fact that her peers also are uncertain about her and do not care to get to know her due to her race. Lawrinson conveys through Sandy’s perspective that May’s opinions did not matter as “she was just a part-Aborigine” (pg. 107). This suggests that similar to Sandy, all of May’s peers do not bother to attend to her feelings and instead choose to ignore her character. Hence, the results of racism are examined in Bye, Beautiful through the characterisation of May Read and her experience with her …show more content…
Firstly, Sandy’s perspective is used to represent the consequences of racism on Pat Read, with her tending to be isolated from the rest of the town. Secondly, characterisation is used to reveal the effect of racism on May Read, for example May’s sadness and sense of unworthiness. Finally, the physical effect of racism is shown on Billy Read through the symbol of his death. Considering these points, Julia Lawrinson depicts the effects of racism in Bye, Beautiful on the Read family through use of perspective, characterisation and
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