In Rainbow’s End, Harrison portrays the idea of the struggles of the Indigenous people as they discover their ability to have a voice for themselves and their rights of cultural identity within the white society using the characterisation of Gladys to prove her point. Gladys character …show more content…
The first part is the Barn Owl, it displays the loss of innocence of the child because of killing the owl. In the first stanza, “let him dream of a child, obedient, angel - mind”, the use of religious imagery is applied here to emphasise the idea that she doesn’t want her father to know what she has become, but prefers her father to imagine his daughter as an innocent girl. Later in the fourth stanza, juxtaposition is used in “a lonely child who believed death clean and final…” to depict the child’s awareness of death and how it is not humane. “end what you have begun”, a short declarative line by the father shows how he is a character with wisdom. Therefore, Harwood proves that discoveries can lead to new understandings using the characterisation of the father and …show more content…
It presents the nature of life and death through reality. She proves that the impact of discoveries can lead to unique renewed perceptions and new understandings of their world. “time's long-promised land.”, a religious allusion implied here symbolises the time for the father’s life is to an end. Further in the poem, the use of imagery and rhetorical question is applied, “Who can be what you were?” where the matured child questions the character of her father knowing that no one can be like him. “sunset exalts its known symbols of transience.”, this line contrasts with the line in Barn Owl where it mentions ‘early sun’. The sun symbolises his life which indicates there is only a short time left for the father.
Overall, both Harrison’s ‘Rainbows End’ and Harwood’s ‘Father & Child’ convey the concept of discovery through renewed perceptions and new understandings using the characterisation of the main