IT’S RAINING IN MANGO - Thea Astley By: Isabella Bae What is the text about? It’s Raining in Mango is a story of Australian history that is told through four generations of the Laffey family. The stories which are set between the 1860s and 1980s are told by an aged woman, Connie, as she thinks back to the stories of the family her grandmother told her as a child. Thea Astley introduces several issues that were, and still part of Australian society through the hardships each generation face in an important part of Australian history. Some of the major events that are mentioned include; the settlement, gold rush, Great Depression, Stolen Generation and World War II. In each of these events racism is present, new feelings are introduced (gay …show more content…
It talks about her love towards Australia and even the harsh conditions. Like so, the tension between the Aboriginals and the settlers may be because they love the country so much, they fear that one will take it away from the other. In the poem, it also says that the person doesn’t mind the harsh weather conditions; the same goes for the book. No-one seems to mind the weather condition in the book, everyone is mostly focused on the gold. Even the swagman doesn’t mind the heat and just continues walking, “Why can’t you stay?”, “I’ve got to keep going”, “It’s an adventure isn’t it?”, “I suppose it is” (p.99). In Waltzing Matilda the swagman dies, so does the swagman in the book. The song The Children Came Back, by Briggs, talks about the Aboriginal children coming back home after they were taken away from their families. While in the book it talks about them being taken away. “All the Abo kids have to be taken to special training schools. It’s orders” (p.87).. Dad and Dave, like It’s Raining in Mango is set in Queensland. All of the texts studied in this unit including; My Country, The Man From Ironbark, Dad and Dave, Waltzing Matilda and The Children Came Back, were published or based in the times that the book was set