CRITICAL BLOG
QUESTION: Reflecting on a previous blog post, what are your thoughts on a text that has influenced or impacted you the most within the unit? Why do you think it has been so impactful?
I have chosen to look back on my first blog titled Australian Literature Blog #1, where I had chosen to write about my personal opinion and insight into the work by Eva Johnson titled “A Letter to my Mother”. This is a personal reflection to the set of responses made public on the 19th of August, 2019. The questions include: "Which poem or story that we have looked at so far made an impression on you? What was the impression it made? Why did it touch your feelings and imagination?”
The extract had, up until recently, been the most impactful work I had encountered within the Australian Literature unit. Compared to other works we have studied; it was easy for me to sympathise and connect emotionally with the messages conveyed by Johnson.
Looking back on the majority of the unit and the works that we have explored within the last several weeks, I have become familiar with many Australian writers and poets. Some writers and works that I have personally come to favour include Miles Franklin, Kenneth Slessor, Patrick White’s. “Mrs Slattery and her Demon Lover”, Kim Scott and Michael Dransfield’s “Fix”.
However, the work that I have found most personally impactful, by far, is the 1896 work titled “The Chosen Vessel” by Barbara Baynton. This may be because I had the opportunity to closely study and analyse the text as a part of the second assessment for the unit ‘Analytical/Research Task.’ Through this personal analysis of the short story I was able to completely understand the representation of women within the Australian society, and the difficulties and dangers of their role within the land, within the setting at the time. Looking at this text in comparison to the work of Henry Lawson seriously highlighted Baynton’s focus on the bushwoman’s vulnerability and defencelessness against both the harsh isolation of the Australian bush and to men. This was interesting to me as several of the dangers expressed by Baynton within the text, are still relevant to the dangers of isolated and rural living experienced by women today. I am aware of this through several personal experiences, during my time living in multiple rural settings. Baynton’s supposed use of personal experience, to draw on realistic emotion and circumstance within many of her works, also adds a somewhat sombre and secretive element to the short story, which I can appreciate.
Reflecting on my original set of responses in ‘Australian Literature Blog #1’, about Eva Johnson’s “A Letter to my Mother” and comparing them to my thoughts on the work “The Chosen Vessel” by Barbara Baynton, I have come to realise that the use, depiction and reference of personal experience within the works are very intriguing to me and is a significant reason as to why I have come to enjoy the works. I also tend to enjoy works that I am able to personally associate, including the messages and themes, to my own life and experiences. Ultimately, I believe that this is why I find the works impactful and stimulating; but also because I have always been interested in the historical role of women, particularly within Australian culture. I believe that both writer, Johnson and Baynton have writing about the roles of women in a beautiful and evocative way.