Distinctive voices of Patterson's Poems and Day's Novel
Composers use distinctive voices within their text’s to enable us to think about significant issues within the world. Marele Day in her novel ” the life and crimes of Harry Lavender” uses the literary form of a detective fiction genre to challenge our perceptions of the roles of men and women in society and presents us with characters who use distinct voices in different situations revealing much about themselves and their relationships with others. Whereas Andrew Patterson challenges city life to the romanticism of the bush and outback throughout his poems.
Each of these composers use distinctive voices to present their ideas and allow us to think about certain issues within society.
The Most Distinctive voice within Marele Day’s novel “the life and crimes of harry lavender” is that of Claudia valentine. The voice of Claudia is unique and original. She is a strong and independent female private investigaque. These aspects ensure that her voice must be distinctive from the cliché’ voice of a male private investigator.
Her voice is believable because she is often lacking formality and speaks in colloquial terms familiar to the Australian reader ” a spanner in the works”.
The voice of Marele Day is also clearly evident in the novel. Her voice is interspersed throughout the novel, revealing a concern for the future of Sydney and for humanities failure to value the past and present. Her voice is poetic yet honest capturing her opinion of Australia and the world as a whole. At times it is obvious that the voice of Claudia is actually the voice of Day, this is most evident in her personification of Sydney as a “moody child” . Also day uses the voice of Harry Lavender to voice her concern about technology in the line “technology is light years ahead of ethics”.
Contrasted to both of these voices Day has created also created a distinct voice for Harry Lavender, Despite none of the characters actually meeting him. Day achieves this by interludes and First Person Narrative from the perspective of Lavender. This is effective as it enables the reader to hear his view of the world. Free from outside opinions of other characters such as Claudia. This raw voice of Lavender allows the responder to understand his view of the world and his relationships with others. Lavender’s voice is distinct because of the use of extended metaphors and imagery. Lavender uses imagery to describe his separation from his mother ” The umbilical cord wrapped in blood, severed as the grey soldiers closed ranks behind her”
It is without question that AB Patterson’s poetry highlights one of the most illustrious voices within Australian history. Through analysis of his poems his love for the country and outback is illuminated best in his poem ” The man from snowy river”. Patterson shows his strong affection for the country in the line “he would go wherever horse and man could go” in the literal meaning that he will go wherever his horse is able to take him.
Romantic concepts can be seen through the use of explicit imagery ” where the river runs those giants hills between” This enables the responder to visualise the raw natural beauty of the country. Patterson’s voice is distinctive throughout the poem Echoing a time and a place where the country was highly idolised and Romanised.
When composers use distinctive voices within their texts they enable us to think about significant issues in the world. Marele day in the novel “the life and crimes of harry lavender” challenges the way we think about relationships, our society and the roles of men and women. Whereas andrew pattersons poetry enlightens us on the romanticism of the bush and the outback.
