Elective 2: History And Memory
2009
Question 11 — Elective 2: History and Memory (20 marks)
Analyse the ways history and memory generate compelling and unexpected insights.
In your response, make detailed reference to your prescribed text and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.
History and memory both provide adequate insights into the past, but it is through the consideration and combination of the two that compelling and unexpected insights are generated. After having analysed and studied a selection of poems from Denise Levertov’s anthology ‘Freeing of the Dust’ and ‘Millicent’s Story’, which is an extract from the ‘Report of the National Inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal children from their families’ it has become apparent to me that …show more content…
The opening line expressed in first person ‘I’ve used up all my film on bombed hospitals’ makes it seem as if Levertov is dispassionate and neutral towards the war. This is further reinforced through the repetition of ‘bombed’, which conveys the factual and partial nature of history. It cannot create an intimate and detailed picture of this event, merely black and white facts and evidence. This is later contrasted by the peaceful imagery of her memory, ‘warm slant of afternoon light ‘, which provides the reader with completely new insights into the war. Levertov creates an unexpected insight into the Vietnam War through the juxtaposition and comparison of both history and memory, something history or memory could not achieve …show more content…
She recounts the horrific details of her memory, which have been all but neglected until recently, that completely contradict the history that was recorded and proclaimed about the care and welfare of Aboriginal children which is now known as the ‘Stolen Generation’. The colloquial Aboriginal dialect, ‘…whitefellas away…’ apparent throughout the transcript shows how Millicent is now expressing her own personal memories, which completely conflict with what was once recorded history. This demonstrates how memory has recently become highly valued. The manner in which she was treated is so appalling that it makes the listener wonder how this type of treatment was ever ignored. This is expressed poignantly in the imagery and alliteration of ‘whipped with a wet ironing cord’. This makes it apparent that history may give a completely biased and untruthful version of the past, although this version had once been considered the truth. The recent consideration of memories into this historic event has generated an unexpected and compelling
Question 11 — Elective 2: History and Memory (20 marks)
Analyse the ways history and memory generate compelling and unexpected insights.
In your response, make detailed reference to your prescribed text and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.
History and memory both provide adequate insights into the past, but it is through the consideration and combination of the two that compelling and unexpected insights are generated. After having analysed and studied a selection of poems from Denise Levertov’s anthology ‘Freeing of the Dust’ and ‘Millicent’s Story’, which is an extract from the ‘Report of the National Inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal children from their families’ it has become apparent to me that …show more content…
The opening line expressed in first person ‘I’ve used up all my film on bombed hospitals’ makes it seem as if Levertov is dispassionate and neutral towards the war. This is further reinforced through the repetition of ‘bombed’, which conveys the factual and partial nature of history. It cannot create an intimate and detailed picture of this event, merely black and white facts and evidence. This is later contrasted by the peaceful imagery of her memory, ‘warm slant of afternoon light ‘, which provides the reader with completely new insights into the war. Levertov creates an unexpected insight into the Vietnam War through the juxtaposition and comparison of both history and memory, something history or memory could not achieve …show more content…
She recounts the horrific details of her memory, which have been all but neglected until recently, that completely contradict the history that was recorded and proclaimed about the care and welfare of Aboriginal children which is now known as the ‘Stolen Generation’. The colloquial Aboriginal dialect, ‘…whitefellas away…’ apparent throughout the transcript shows how Millicent is now expressing her own personal memories, which completely conflict with what was once recorded history. This demonstrates how memory has recently become highly valued. The manner in which she was treated is so appalling that it makes the listener wonder how this type of treatment was ever ignored. This is expressed poignantly in the imagery and alliteration of ‘whipped with a wet ironing cord’. This makes it apparent that history may give a completely biased and untruthful version of the past, although this version had once been considered the truth. The recent consideration of memories into this historic event has generated an unexpected and compelling