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Empathy In Tom Wright's Black Diggers

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Theatre is not only presented as a piece of art, but as a tool of social reform to express the feelings of humans and contemporary notions of society. Plays are designed to reflect significant issues of a society, on which they were created. The play Black Diggers by Tom Wright, uses certain devices and forms of symbolism to emphasise not only the historical relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, but to link ideas to contemporary issues to provoke ideas of empathy. Wright creates a series of character encounters, to express how an Indigenous racial identity is perceived by society and compare a period of discrimination and infringement of rights to how it is expressed at war during World War 1. This provokes ideas of repentance …show more content…

Upon returning, Nigel “went on the wireless” (Wright 2015, Pg. 88) expressing his opinions behind “appalling brutality and savage butchery” that took place in massacres against Aboriginal people. Journalists responding to Nigel show difficulty in accepting his split identity as a “proud aboriginal Australian, and former soldier” expressing that his opinions on his own community have been disregarded although he had once been a respected soldier. Later, Nigel eventually becomes “a sad figure, walking against the flow of a busy city footpath, wearing a sandwich board, which reads TARZAN THE APE MAN. He hands out flyers, but no-one takes them,” (Wright 2015, Pg. 90) serving as a reminiscent reminder of his wasted potential, and he apologises, “Sorry Dad” and “takes swig from a bottle.” Later, the play ends with Nigel in an asylum, as he talks to a psychiatric nurse, he “can see the big world…” he doesn’t “want to join in he doesn’t belong” as he feels disheartened with the way everything turned out in terms of being an ex-serviceman. Nigel's legacy is intended to convey how racial identity had affected social status, where Wright uses Nigel's nostalgic outcome to provoke empathy and sentiment. In 1949, Harry had become a poor “derro”, (Wright 2015, Pg. 86) who is begging for money, where he encounters Stan (a non-indigenous ex-serviceman) dressed in “a suit and all” and acknowledges that “his time in the war were great days.” This encounter is provided by Wright to juxtapose between the two comrades who were once 'equals', and now Harry has become disadvantaged due to his racial identity. Ern and Norm experience psychological and physical difficulties upon returning from the war, being augmented by additional trauma of returning to a life filled with racial discrimination. These character experiences are shown by Wright

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