approach to Discovery David Strange LOW 7 conceptual Phe following article is set out as a practical worksheet for AOS teachers to structure their teaching of Tara June Winch's novel Swallow the Air around two of the text's more obvious themes. The teaching is aimed at Standard students struggling to enter the deeper waters of a conceptual approach to discovery. The article is structured in such a way as to remind students of the practical and viable links between their studies in Year 10 and the conceptual approach required in the HSC. It is also written so that students might perceive how the themes and concepts overlap each other in the analysis of the text and rubric. A further aim of the article is to demonstrate how students might organise their analysis throughout the various stages of drafting: identifying themes, concepts, textual citations, techniques and explicit references to the AOS rubric. THEME: PAIN A brief discussion of this theme in the text: Pain is a significant theme of Swallow the Air. May Gibson experiences a range of physical and emotional pain in her quest to discover herself, and by extension, her Aboriginal heritage. She experiences the early pain of her mother’s death ~ her sexual assault as a teenager at Woonona Beach — her forced exile from Wollongong ~ the unexpected and disappointing sighting of her father in the Northern Territory — brief periods of homelessness and imprisonment ~ her brother Billys crippling drug addiction ~ and the pain of rejection upon finally discovering the Gibson family in Wiradjuri country. Pain is what drives May to her significant lifetime discoveries: personal, familial and cultural, How is this theme linked to the concept of discovery in the text? In order to escape her pain and lead a balanced emotional life, May needs first to confront the provocative realisation that itis her broken family and lost dreams which create the majority of her suffering. May's painful personal discoveries at first prove difficult for her to understand; however, in time, they lead her to discover intensely meaningful elements of her mother’s personality, her own resilience, and her concealed Indigenous heritage via the people that she meets throughout the course of the novel 46 A IR: Which parts of the syllabus rubric support this concept? Discoveries can be fresh and intensely meaningful... Discoveries...can also be confronting and provocative, rediscovering something that has been lost, forgotten or concealed. How would you write a thesis and elaboration about this theme (in formal register), which includes references to the text, syllabus rubric, and a relevant concept about discovery? In order for May to reconcile her pain, learn from its experiences, and discover the full extent of her emotional life and Indigenous way of thinking, she needs to first locate and then actively escape the sources of her pain: primarily, a broken family life, a traumatic sexual assault, and the broken dream of ever reuniting with her father. This pain is initially confronting and provocative, but in May's case it ultimately leads her to rediscover the lost, forgotten and concealed elements of her Indigenous heritage. Therefore May's physical and emotional pain is a gateway to discover herself, her familial heritage and her cultural identity Where are the textual citations which support this thesis? Page 4: ‘Muingi was his name, the first turtle ever. ‘They said he was a tribesman who was speared in the neck while protecting himself under a hollowed-out tree! Page 6: ‘Pain had boiled up under its swollen body. But I had pity for the ray; I saw only the release of the dead inside. Stabbing my flip blade through its thick skin... An angel fallen, lying on its back, was now opened to the sky... the stingray was spilling at the sides - it was free’ Page 9: I thought about Mum's pain being freed from her wrists, leaving her body. Page 16: ‘He looked back at Aunty with night-shift eyes and a toothless, thin-lipped grin, as though a Stanley knife had just slit open the skin.” Page 31: ‘She'd be flat on the grass.and still dancing in her head, eyes glazed with an absence. a bliss imagined her as an angel, laying out her wings beneath the satellites of the sky. There she soared’ English Teachers Association of NSW © mETAphor Issue 2, 2015Page 147- ‘She says that they want to dig up the hearts, free out the veins, dam up the valves so they can live. Hungrily. With gold and steel towers. She says they are building high to get closer to father sky, closer to heaven. It doesn't work, she grins, and they will always fall. The jewels will go back to the mother eventually, She takes a saltbush branch from the coals and draws a circle in the dust. Issy says that everything is sacred, inside the circle and outside the circle; she says that we should look after both ateas the same. They are magic, she adds What are the literary techniques (language features) which support this thesis statement? Leitmotif: cutting ‘Metaphor: cutting open pain with knives, Symbolism: the pierced skin of the victims of pain, Extended metaphor: stigmata ~ the nails which pierce the skin ofa culture whose land is ‘hammered’ with buildings. Extended analysis of the concept which includes textual citations and technical discussion ‘Winch employs a cutting motif to symbolically represent her characters’ desire to escape the psychological pain which lies figuratively beneath the surface ‘The novel begins with the tragic event of the suicide ‘of May's mother who cuts open her wrists as her children play at Woonona Beach. The suicide is preceded in the chapter by the image of May herself cutting open a stingray to release... the dead from inside. ‘The sighting of the stingray therefore precipitates or ‘foreshadows’ the death of May's mother in Swallow the Air. We remember too that the turtle Mungi was once a tribesman speared in the neck after hiding ina hollowed-out tree ~ that the ancestor spirit watched over and took pity on him, allowing Mungi the warrior to live on as a turtle. The inclusion of the Dreamtime story adds a layer to the novel's metaphorics: the ancestor spirits will similarly watch over May in her journey of self-discovery. In May's account, the stingray has swallowed its struggle. The novel is more broadly then about English Teachers Association of NSW» mETAphor Issue 2, 2015 how May figuratively expels the swallowed air of Wollongong’ escarpment, the ‘swallowed struggle’ ofher fractured childhood, the ‘swallowed struggle of her teenage sexual assault, and lifelong pain at being a ‘half-caste' Aboriginal outsider. The cutting motif carries over into a broader theme of memory (discussed later in the article); May will need to ‘cut open’ and closely examine the painful events of her life before she is able to properly forget them. In the novel’s extended metaphor of pierced skin, Winch experiments with the imagery of religious stigmata as 2 mark of spiritual pain and suffering The chapter ‘My Bleeding Palm’ chronicles May's sexual assault which ultimately leads to her escape from Wollongong; upon entering Sydney in ‘The Block; May observes that the ‘buildings were like a bed of sprouted nails... around and beyond the stil life, for miles, was a crawling, prickly blanket of identical houses and roads’ Winch draws upon the extended metaphor of religious stigmata to symbolise the pierced skin of a culture whose land is studded with chaotic and identical buildings. The cutting motif carries over later into Issy's explanation of the white man’s destruction of Australian earth in the chapter, ‘Just Dust! Ultimately cutting open the earth and plundering it for minerals and gold will not profit the white man any more than it will provide relief for a person cutting open their veins and draining blood in the attempt to ‘release... the dead from inside’ As Issy explains, the ‘jewels’ of the ground will eventually return to mother earth; the white man’s industrial quest is destructive and futile. Similarly, the skin- cutting of May’s mother is an ultimately self- destructive attempt to escape her pain, However, in this early, sad image in the novel there is at least the hope that her soul will return to mother earth, providing a source of comfort and inspiration to May in her quest to escape her own pain and rediscover her Indigenous identity Unless May escapes her pain and leaves ‘Wollongong (with its literal and metaphorical ‘trapped air) she threatens to become like Aunty: broken-spirited, addicted and prone to abusive relationships with men who do not care for her. Cutting is primary motif in Winch’ novel for our primeval desire to release ourselves from. physical and emotional pain, and navigate our way through the myriad of personal, cultural and social discoveries which prove confronting, unexpected and painful a7THEME: IDENTITY A brief discussion of this theme in ihe text: Identity is a significant theme of ‘Swallow the Air’ May Gibson sets out ona quest to discover her identity as a young woman with mixed British and Aboriginal heritage. Her quest for identity takes her on a journey to see her father (who previously only wrote letters), and to experiment with different elements of her personality with characters as various as Joyce, Charlie, Gary, Johnny and Issy. She ultimately decides that she is her mother's daughter in both the literal and figurative sense ~ the curiosity imparted to May by her mother’s teachings has set her on a journey to locate and understand her Indigenous identity. Her pursuit of an Indigenous identity is ultimately a function of ‘memory (a significant motif in Winch’s narrative). May’s rejection by the Gibsons at the novel’s end is ultimately beneficial, in that she recognises that discovery of place (even the heightened importance of an Indigenous sense of place) is not as important as her intrinsic understanding of self: May's discovery of her personal and collective memory is, inextricably linked to her unfolding sense of self. How is this theme linked to the concept of discovery in the text? In order to fully discover her identity and thrive as.a young Wiradjuri woman, May seeks to find herself’ through a variety of means: understanding her younger self through her mother's stories; journeying to live with the Indigenous people of Redfern at the Block; travelling west to Condabolin to be with the Wiradjuri people. This quest for identity is something deliberate and carefully planned, however, the sudden and confronting experiences along the way also shape her sense of self-recognition. In order to fully discover her identity, May will first need to be protected on her journey, guided in how to draw upon personal and collective memory, and led by Issy to perceive the world as an Indigenous thinker. Which paris of the syllabus rubric support this concept? rediscovering something that has been lost, forgotten or concealedDiscoveries can be sudden and unexpected, or they can emerge from a process of deliberate and careful planning evoked by curiosity, necessity or wonder. 48 They can lead us to new worlds and values, stimulate new ideas, and enable us to speculate about future possibilities How would you write a thesis and elaboration about this theme (in formal register), which includes references to the text, syllabus rubric, and a relevant concept about discovery? In order to discover her concealed Indigenous identity and understand herself as a strong Wiradjuri ‘woman, May deliberately sets out to discover her past, familial origins, and cultural history. Her eventual discovery of self emerges via a combination of deliberately planned and unexpected challenges which test her ability to perceive the world as an Indigenous thinker immersed in the Dreamtime. May's response to these challenges transform the assumptions we make as responders about the problematic nature of identity, memory, and the ideal means to discover the inner core of our intellectual and spiritual being Where are the textual citations which support this thesis? Page 4: ‘Mungi was his name, the first turtle ever. ‘They said he was a tribesman who was speared in the neck while protecting himself under a hollowed- out tree’ Page 9: ‘Tears fell into the ice-cream container... Salt water smeared her handwriting of black marker - remember’ Page 22: 'When we're kids we have no fear, it gets sucked out in the rips. We swim with the current, like breeding turtles and hidden jellyfish, as we drift out onto the shore? Page 88: ‘Was he hiding under the bed, Mum? Was hen the cupboards reaching out for your wrist? ‘Was he under the house? Is that why you dug up the backyard? Why you became blank and told us nightmares instead of dreamnings? Page 97: ‘When I looked into the mirror I saw agitl, lost and hollow ~ the same as every other fifteen-year-old, I guessed. I didn't see the colour that everyone else saw, some saw different shades ~ black, and brown, white. saw me, May Gibson with one eye a little bigger than the other I felt Aboriginal because Mum made me proud to be... but when Mum left, I stopped being Aboriginal’ Page 99: We're all family here, all blacks, here, from different places, but we're all one mob, this place here. Engisn Teachers Association af NSW © mETAphor Issue 2, 2015Page 194: ‘My mother knows that I am home, at the water Iam always home. Aunty and my brother, we are from the same people, we are of the Wiradjuri nation, hard water’ What are the literary techniques (language features) which support this thesis statement? Leitmotif. Mungi the turtle Symbolism: Water Extended metaphor: Memory as water. Extended analysis of the concept which includes textual citations and technical discussion May seeks to discover her true identity, which by ‘virtue of her hidden Aboriginal heritage is something lost, forgotten and concealed. Early in the narrative, May's mother converts an ice-cream container into protective hats for her children, effectively creating a turtle shel] to protect them against the pain which is to come in the aftermath of her suicide. In symbolic terms, Winch positions May as the turtle Mungi from the Dreamtime narrative. May isa mysterious Aboriginal woman whose character and history is ittle understood by those around her, and a figure strongly aligned to the water. When May learns of her mother’s death, she immediately thinks of Mungi and the stingray ~ both are symbols for the ongoing discovery of her personal and cultural identity. Water is a strong elemental aspect of May's personality. She is both a salt-water woman of the Dharawal people and a fresh water Wiradjuri woman. ‘We remember that May's mother has sent off her children to the ocean on the day she suicided. Figuratively speaking, she sent her children to the ocean as salt water creatures, but May will return to the freshwater of the Wiradjuri people to discover herself. May is adaptable ~ she can survive in the salt water and fresh water. But the salt water is a symbol for personal heartache and pain: ‘My mother knows that Lam home, at the water I am always home. Aunty and my brother, we are from the same people, we are of the Wiradjuri nation, hard water’ Mary's English Teachers Associaton of NSW > mETAdhor Issue 2, 2015 indigenous ‘Dreaming’ begins in the ocean and is carried over into Redfern. She will be protected (ike Mungi) by a shell. Metaphorically speaking, this ‘Shell’ is the memory of her mother, and her continual curiosity at the ongoing discovery of her Indigenous heritage. Memory will protect her but, also cause her to figuratively cut open her memory and examine its entrails in the effort to be free. May can choose to either live within her shell and know nothing of her farnily past, Indigenous culture or biological family, or else cut open her pain and release ‘the dead inside’ Memory is metaphorised a water in Swallow the Air as means to show its fluidity; its currents cannot always be predicted Moreover, memories can be stagnant and decay, or else may be still and run deep. We may either resist the flow of our memories or else be drowned in them. May's lifelong lesson is that she needs to find ‘a way to ‘swim’ through her personal memories and form a protective shell (like Mungi) as she does so. ‘The irony of the chapter title “The Block’ is the way it at once captures the Indigenous identity of Redfern (discovery of place), and symbolises the memory ‘block’ of Indigenous people cut off from their traditional lands and ancestry. It is also significant given that the realisation of the previous chapter (‘Territory’) is that May ‘needed to remember before she could forget’ Despite her ultimate rejection by the Gibsons in Condobolin, May accepts that discovery of place (and biological identity) is not as significant as an intrinsic exploration of personal and collective memory; an exploration which leads to intensely meaningful possibilities as an Indigenous thinker to transcend the limitations of traditional western intellectual and spiritual discovery. Activity: Students can collect more textual references for one of the themes annotate the extended writing examples using different colours to highlight techniques, examples and references to discovery select another theme which they can explore using the above structure