Maybe Tomorrow by Boori Pryor and Meme McDonald - Assignment Example

REVIEW OF “MAYBE TOMORROW” BY BOORI PRYOR AND MEME MCDONALD. Name Professor (Tutor) University Course City and State Date Review of “Maybe Tomorrow” by Boori Pryor and Meme McDonald. Maybe Tomorrow by Pryor Monty Pryor and Meme McDonald is a life story that relates to the author. It literary shows the path of Pryor regarding his career starting from where he was born at the Aboriginal fringe camps, to the runway, the DJ console, basketball court, catwalk, and performances and storytelling to the whole world. “You have got to try and play the Whiteman’s game and stay black while you’re doing it,” (Pryor & Meme, 2010) his brother, Perchance mocked him. The storyline is catchy and interesting and the author ensured that the reader is engaged throughout by incorporating an environment that is humorous and funny. Moreover, the script is also heartbreaking and this ensures that there is a feeling of compassion from the reader. Pryor tells the world about his own intense life experiences and the Australian historical view. Besides, he also shows the experiences of the Aborigine society before the Europeans came and after. The way Pryor connects all these aspects is effective and unique and thus ensures the reader learns. Through the exercise of Meme McDonald, the reader is directed through being humored and at the same time compassionate. The book Maybe Tomorrow is founded on two major aspects one is the history of the Aborigines based on the white settlers and the second is the life of Pryor. However, the history of the Aboriginal people of Australia is not systematic in the book but rather appear occasionally through the stories Pryor tells about his own experiences. Pryor starts the book in a worst possible and shocking manner as within his first 14 years he had already lost his sister, brother, and nephew. However, the first chapter is essential as it creates an insight into the sufferings the Aboriginal go through. The history of the Aboriginals in Australia is critical to how their lives are today. Pryor narrates that in his adolescence years Aboriginal people were not regarded as Australians. The struggle for my people even to be regarded as human beings was intense, let alone having the right to vote. There were many lives lost leading up to this point in time when, in 1967, a National Referendum was held, and finally Aboriginal people were recognized as Australian citizens with the right to vote (Pryor & Meme, 2010) The white man perception of the Aborigines is clearly presented in the book and covers all through the history of settlement. The National Referendum of 1967 that Pryor used in the text shows the how the minority in Australia were treated during the time. After the 1967 referendum, is when the black power movement started and was basically an attempt by the Aboriginal people of Australia to take control of their own political, cultural, economic, and social aspects to allow them to determine their own future (Attwood & Markus, 2007). This was previously not the case as Pryor narrates that, “...the Queensland Act that was in force right up until 1971 dictated how every aspect of your social and economic life as an Aboriginal person was run” (Pryor & Meme, 2010). It is difficult to understand how the life of an individual can be absolutely controlled. The director of Victorian Aborigines Advancement League (ALL), Bruce McGuiness spoke in 1969 and distinguished the black Aborigine movement as nonviolent and advocating for justice and freedom through coming together and working as a group (Broome, 2010). Pryor brings out the 1967 Referendum as a turning point concerning the treatment of the Aborigine people of Australia and the need to control their own lives and resources. Pryor goes to the extent of criticizing the white education system on how it taught the history of the Aborigines in Australia. The white education system used settlements to refer to invasion into the land and the reserves to which the Aborigines were forced to relocate to concentration camps. Pryor describes his own life as a male model and DJ in chapter four (Spurr & Cameron, 2000). The Aborigines were associated with alcohol and Pryor associates this to the fact that the Aborigines were taken off from their land, from their families, and were treated harshly (Spurr & Cameron, 2000). In his own observation, he believes that the Whites were also alcoholics as he explains this through the powerful impact his DJ experience of thirteen years has taught him. He states that, “Do you not think that it is ironic that I was getting paid to make white people drunk?” (Pryor & Meme, 2010). The book is mainly based on the bad relationship between the indigenous people of Australia and the white settlers. The activists that fought for the rights of the Aborigines were very active in the 1970’s. From the 1960’s all through to the early 1980’s, several campaigns for the Aboriginal rights commenced (Broome, 2010). Some of the rights included land rights and economic independence. The aborigines through their activists also fought to have control over their own affairs since the white man controlled almost all affairs of the indigenous people of Australia. Pryor states that "…the way things are structured at present is that there are industries within the country which are built on us staying down, out and dependent on handouts. This has been going on since invasion day. This is the way governments have kept us powerless.” (Pryor & Meme, 2010). Such control is what the rights activists were fighting against and they wanted the Aborigines to regain control over their own lives. Pryor was told stories by Uncle Peter about the treatment he underwent as performing artists; he was treated like a performing animal. He said that the white people viewed them as blacks when they wanted them to be black. During the fight for the rights of the Aboriginal people of Australia, the activists underwent a lot of harassment by the police and media. The local authorities were not pleased and any Aborigine man or woman that spoke out about rights was aggressively dealt with. With aspects such as official curfews from 9.30 pm, the Aborigines were prevented from walking on the streets and speaking out (Broome, 2010). The Aborigines found to have broken the curfew were harassed and charged indiscriminately on false charges such as foul language, offensive behavior, and drunkenness. Most of these harassments were witnessed in Redfern. Pryor in his text Maybe Tomorrow brings out this harassment from the media and police as he tried to deal with the loss of his family members. Overall, the 1970s and the 1980s were the turning point in the lives of the Aborigines in Australia. Although results have not been felt as projected, the history of the Aborigines and the oppression they faced from the whites is now known to the whole world (Broome, 2010). Through texts such as Maybe Tomorrow, Pryor and many other authors have taken huge steps in enhancing what the activists started in the 1970’s. One of the major rights that the Aboriginal activists fought for were the land rights with the movement started in 1966 and in 1976 the first act of Aboriginal land rights were secured. By the 1980s, the government had introduced the ministry of Aboriginal Affairs and through this ministry, the government introduced land principles for the Aborigines. Apart from the Aborigine history, Pryor uses storytelling to show the importance of family and reconciliation. He uses personal experiences through storytelling of family issues and he offers suggestions that can be practically applied to facilitate reconciliation. He uses the tragedy of his family to get the compassion of the reader. His two brothers and a sister committed suicide while his nephew died in a car crash. The family strategies he encountered would have brought down a weak individual but Pryor gave up his career as a DJ in Melbourne to work with Paul who is his brother. Pryor notes that through the experiences in the white people schools he was able to gain the tools to survive and live in the white people’s world. As opposed to this, his family gave him the experience he needed to survive and live in the black people’s world. The experiences he was able to gain from both the two worlds has allowed Pryor to shape his personal life and then communicate it to the world through storytelling. Pryor advocates for reconciliation and through his new role, he has been able to form a connection between him and the people of his land. The reconciliation process in Pryor's life is taking place in different ways. The first way is through his own personal family losses in which he has come to terms with them. Secondly, Pryor has been able to reclaim his history and Aboriginality status. Finally, he has been able to carry on with reconciliation by dedicating his own life since he holds the belief that reconciliation is the solution in creating a harmonious tomorrow. Overall, the use of storytelling and conversation in Maybe Tomorrow is essential for Pryor in his attempt to use literature to unite and reconcile Australia. “I can see right there in front of me the face of a nation changing” (Pryor & Meme, 2010) is the quote on the cover of the book and this is a clear statement of the reason he wrote the book and his intentions to reconcile a nation. References Attwood, B. & Markus, A., 2007. The 1967 referendum: race, power and the Australian Constitution 2nd ed., Canberra, ACT: Aboriginal Studies Press. Broome, R., 2010. Aboriginal Australians: A history since 1788, 4th ed., Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin. Pryor, B. & Meme, McDonald. 2010. Maybe Tomorrow. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2010. Internet resource. Spurr, B., & Cameron, L., 2000. Excel HSC Standard English 2004-5. Glebe, N.S.W: Pascal Press. Read More