SAMPLE RESPONSE

Moving on to new experiences can result in people experiencing a sense of hesitation because they are leaving a familiar existence and entering the unknown. This notion is explored by the poet through the metaphor of a “sidewalk” that “ends” representing the end of the familiar and a “street” that “begins” representing the unfamiliar. These contrasting features of a regular suburban landscape emphasise that experiences ending and new experiences beginning are natural and parallel to one another. The hesitation attached to this is developed by the poet’s evocative visceral imagery, strong imperatives, and use of alliteration that suggest people need encouragement to “leave this place where the smoke blows back”. Because the streets are dark and they wind and bend it is hard for people to envisage what lies ahead and this creates a sense of trepidation. This trepidation is then extended into the third stanza, wherein the poet heralds our need to be able to foresee what new experience entails through the metaphor of “the chalk-white arrows”, which accentuates that we yearn for direction of any sort and in our hesitation even directions sketched in chalk are acceptable. 

SAMPLE RESPONSE

When we coexist within an institution, inevitably the individual experience is intertwined within a collective experience, as is showcased in the stage notations provided by Harrison for the play Stolen. 

Of greatest significance in this play, it would appear from the notations, is that responders acknowledge the harrowing experiences of the five individuals represented. The character list which leads the notations not only showcases the individual story of each stolen child but also provides poignant, emotive descriptions of each character: Jimmy is ‘shamed’, Ruby feels ‘abandoned’, Shirley is a ‘nurturer’, Sandy belongs nowhere and Anne is eventually bewildered. Evidently, each child has a markedly different experience and outcome as a result of being Aboriginal children from the stolen generation. 

Amplified through symbolism and a raw metaphor, Jimmy’s story stands out in particular as being an individual one. His individual experience is highlighted because Harrison has his bed face a different direction to the others and in turn it serves as a prison – which is where ‘a mischievous boy/shamed older boy/ and tormented man will spend much of his time. Another example of such – and in complete contrast to Jimmy – is the bed of Anne, which has much prettier bedspreads because her story is laced with the undertones of denial of heritage due to being adopted by white people. Harrison’s sympathetic tone when describing the girl who was “too young to understand” again showcases the individual experience of those who were adopted. Nonetheless, her identity is inextricably linked to those of the other characters because she is undeniably an indigenous Australian and this immediately joins her to them. 

The nature of the collective experience as a cold and miserable one is immediately evoked in Harrison’s description of the “five old iron institutional beds” which are essentially within a children’s home, which is the context of the collective experience represented. Focusing on this aspect, the collective experience is common to the children - Harrison explains in a blunt, didactic paragraph – because “they were all ‘stolen’ and placed in a children’s home, although not necessarily at the same time”. Despite this note – which is laden with ambiguity, Harrison goes on to state that the children (during the play) “interact as though they were all in there together”. This paradox is an integral feature utilised by Harrison to lead readers towards an awareness that a collective experience does not necessarily have to be experienced at the same time but more so evoke the same emotions and produce the same qualities in individuals who have been a part of this collective.