Brown Brother Poem Analysis

We’re all the same, aren't we? At the end of the day, we’re all still human. In the poem, Brown Brother by Joshua Iosefo, he uses several significant language features to help the readers understand his belief on why we should encourage Pasific Islanders to break their negative stereotype. The three language features I will be focusing on are personal pronouns, inclusive pronouns, and direct address.

Joshua Iosefo uses personal pronouns in the mid-section of the poem, to help the viewers understand his view that stereotypes are something that need to be broken and changed. We see this when he says, “I will always blame the government, and everybody else around me, but never myself”. By using this technique, the author makes it sound

One case where he uses direct address is when he says “Brown brother- look at me! You can do all things through Christ- Philippians 4:13”. Using direct address makes the content feel personal and leaves the impression that the author is commanding them to have the urge to do something, which is to look him in the eyes and open their eyes to more opportunities than they believe they can have. It is also telling them that they need to break their stereotype in order to do that. Directly addressing the audience as ‘Brown Brothers’ is significant because it wouldn't be as powerful if he wasn't directing it to the target audience, which is the Polynesians. Joshua quoting the Bible is also important because it symbolises that he wants the audience to feel encouraged to do anything that they want to do, no matter what ethnicity they are. In addition to this, Iosefo also writes “You will go places, you will tell stories”. This tells the readers that he believes if they break their stereotypes, they will be able to break the negative cycle and be successful. As a result of using direct address, he reiterates to the Pasific Islander community that they have the chance to go anywhere and do anything they want to do in life, if they won't let the stereotypes hold them back. He wants them to also instil in their minds that they should not forget their culture in order to gain, like he says in the poem, but he only wants them to forget about the negative stereotypes about their culture, in order to move forward in