An individual’s discoveries and their process of discovering can vary according to social context and values. This is evident through different experiences of discovery within Jane Harrison’s ‘Rainbows End’ and Gwen Harwood’s ‘Father & Child.’ Harrison and Harwood present Gladys and Dolly from Rainbows End and the child and father from Father and Child to discover individual growth in themselves with the use of characterisation and various other language techniques. Both texts reflect on a feminine and a father and child context.
In Rainbow’s End, Harrison allows us to engage in the concept of individual discoveries through Gladys to prove her point. Her character is perceived as an individual who later becomes assertive. The use of an early stage direction, ’Gladys sees dolly in a robe and clapboard hat’ shows the motivation of Gladys in seeing her daughter becoming successful. However the second quote here, “But hessian - like a band-aid over a sore” present a negative tone. This displays the notion of the white society covering up the Indigenous culture. Towards the end, Harrison’s use of a short declarative sentence in, “We demand the right to make our
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She uses several lines to prove Dolly’s realisation that there is a need to grow up and have a good future. Harrison applies stage direction in ‘she points to the encyclopaedias’ as the answer to Errol’s question about their cultural identity. The second quote here, “You’re white. I’m Aboriginal. Or haven't you noticed” underlines that Harrison is preventing Dolly from discovering a new life outside her town. Towards the end, a transformative discovery is created where Dolly is above her expectations in life with the use of a short declarative line, “I’m going to Melbourne. To Nurse.” Thus, Harrison has conveyed her point about how transformative discovery can impact on one’s individual