No More Boomerang 'And Thou Shalt Not Steal'
Poetry and song are important because they can effectively tell a story and represent the values and beliefs of someone or a culture. The poem “no more boomerang” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal and the song “Thou shalt not steal” by Kev Carmody will be compared to see which is more effective at communicating the values of Indigenous peoples. To compare the two, I will look at the similarities and differences to evaluate the overall effectiveness.
Both the poem and the song are about how white man came to Australia and took the Indigenous people’s land and changed their way of life. They both use juxtaposition to emphasise the point and show how the Indigenous community was affected. Each verse in the song focusses on an aspect of white culture or an
event that destroyed Indigenous culture and took power away from them. Similarly, this can be seen in the poem as every stanza also reflects on one aspect that was destroyed by white man’s interference.
The song and the poem are different as the song uses references to known historical events such as the Marilinga nuclear bomb tests and the first fleet’s arrival. On the other hand, the poem uses comparisons between the Indigenous and White man’s ways. The poem uses an array of language features such as juxtaposition, metaphors, slang and rhyming to effectively communicate the point. The song emphasises the hypocrisy of white man with “Black man thou shalt not steal” when earlier it was said “we gonna steal your land”
The song “Thou shalt not steal” is more effective portraying the perspective of Indigenous people. This is because unlike “No more boomerang” it strongly emphasises the hypocrisy with well-known events in history rather than using general comparisons. The song also carries the message of hypocrisy in its chorus, which is repeated a total of 4 times (the total amount of versus in the song) throughout the song, being played after each chorus.
To summarise the song “Thou shalt not steal” is more effective at communicating the Indigenous perspective by showing the hypocrisy of white man coming to Australia and taking away the land from the Indigenous people only to be told they must not steal or they will be punished.
Both the poem and the song are about how white man came to Australia and took the Indigenous people’s land and changed their way of life. They both use juxtaposition to emphasise the point and show how the Indigenous community was affected. Each verse in the song focusses on an aspect of white culture or an
event that destroyed Indigenous culture and took power away from them. Similarly, this can be seen in the poem as every stanza also reflects on one aspect that was destroyed by white man’s interference.
The song and the poem are different as the song uses references to known historical events such as the Marilinga nuclear bomb tests and the first fleet’s arrival. On the other hand, the poem uses comparisons between the Indigenous and White man’s ways. The poem uses an array of language features such as juxtaposition, metaphors, slang and rhyming to effectively communicate the point. The song emphasises the hypocrisy of white man with “Black man thou shalt not steal” when earlier it was said “we gonna steal your land”
The song “Thou shalt not steal” is more effective portraying the perspective of Indigenous people. This is because unlike “No more boomerang” it strongly emphasises the hypocrisy with well-known events in history rather than using general comparisons. The song also carries the message of hypocrisy in its chorus, which is repeated a total of 4 times (the total amount of versus in the song) throughout the song, being played after each chorus.
To summarise the song “Thou shalt not steal” is more effective at communicating the Indigenous perspective by showing the hypocrisy of white man coming to Australia and taking away the land from the Indigenous people only to be told they must not steal or they will be punished.