Supportive Of Sally's Search For Truth example essay topic

Through the long journey to self-discovery, there are times when people would come into our lives and change it dramatically. These influences can be either positive or negative because sometimes those who are close to us would fill us with negative responses. In 'My place's ally is influenced by many people around her along the road to her self-discovery and her personal development is linked to the things they teach her. Undoubtedly, Nan has the greatest influence on Sally. Although Nan has always being ashamed of her colour and thought that the kids all wanted. ".. a bloody white grandmother... ". she, in many ways, taught Sally the aboriginal way, about the old cures and the nature. Nan also made Sally think about who she really is when Sally had never thought of herself as being black, which started her long search for the truth.

The way how Nan acted around government people and Sally's friends brought up so many questions in Sally's mind that she wanted nothing more than to solve them all. When Sally was rejected from the Department of Education representatives for the scholarship, she saw a vision of Nan, which gave her the courage to continue pursuing her dream. Even though Nan said "You can't put no lies in a book" to damp Sally's spirit, it only stabilized the faith in Sally to find out more about her family and tell only the truth in her book. Gladys also had a great impact on Sally's life. Similar to Nan, Gladys kept the secret of the Sally's Ab originality for a long time. She believes that " 'it was only a little white lie' " to protect the children.

However, on the journey, which Sally takes with her mother to Corunna Station, Gladys breaks the silence. She tells her story to Sally and shows the links between the Drake-Brockman family and Nan. By opening up in this way, Gladys is able to allow Sally to fill in some of the missing pieces. She now understands more about her background and therefore, herself.

It was obvious to everyone that Sally hated school, it was Gladys who pushed Sally through high school. Arthur, unlike Gladys or Nan, was very supportive of Sally's search for truth. He was proud of being a black fella and was very open about his life. When Arthur heard about Sally writing a book, he said. ".. there's almost nothing written from a personal point of view about Aboriginal people. All our history is about the white man". And he unleashed many valuable facts and information for Sally to write about.

This was very important to her because Arthur was the first one to talk to her about the past and gave her a start to write about. This gave Sally more strength and believes that she can do it. Sally always said that. ".. family was the most important thing in the world". She had an extremely close bond with her siblings, especially Jill.

She found Jill like a puzzle to her because unlike Sally, Jill. ".. didn't like getting chickens or chopping wood either, and she kept her clothes neat and tidy. She had a natural sense of order". The people of Corunna downs told Sally so much that she felt no longer like a "half person" but as a whole. She received spiritual comfort through the discoveries of her large group of relatives.

They showed kindness and enthusiasm. On the other hand, Sally's father, Bill Milroy, the primary link to her white inheritance was the most negative influence she received. As a violent alcoholic, Sally and her family sometimes had to flee the house to avoid him. He was one of the reasons why Sally didn't like school because she was worried about her parents at home. Bill influenced Sally to never drink or wed a man who drank.

Few other unpleasant memories for Sally were the incident about the aboriginal scholarship, where she was rejected and that was when she finally realized why. ".. Mum and Nan didn't like dealing with government people. They don't give you a chance". Drake-Brockman's could be also considered as a bad influence.

Although they willingly shared information about the past with Sally, they also tried to cover up the truth that Alfred might be the father to both Nan and Gladys. Everyone in our lives contribute in our growing up. Some may contribute more than others and some may affect us more than others but it's the little things that we consume from these people which makes who we are now and what we are going to be soon.