Oodgeroo Noonuccal

The poem “Then and Now” written by Indigenous activist Oodgeroo Noonuccal explores themes of cultural loss and colonisation whilst also expressing her own values, attitudes and beliefs. Noonuccal explores her value of her tribe through creating imagery. The author also expresses her attitudes and beliefs on cultural loss and cultural discrimination through repletion and metaphor. There is a nostalgic and melancholy tone to the poem showing the authors resent towards white society. The poem evokes sympathy in the audience positioning them to see how apathetic the white people are viewing the past and present how the author does.

Noonuccal explores her values or her tribe by creating positive imagery of her tribe. The author has started the poem saying how “In my dreams I her my tribe laughing as they hunt.” Noonuccal shared a positive image of her tribe with the audience to evoke sympathy as she followed by “But dreams are shattered…” This negative imagery that followed the positive shows how much the author valued her tribe and how she is “shattered” as she “see no …show more content…
Noonuccal shows how the white society still culturally discriminates towards aboriginals through a metaphor. In the 3rd stanza Noonuccal expresses how she now lives in a white society the way they live. In the sentence “As I walk alone in the teeming town.” Noonuccal has meant two things. Literally she means there are no aboriginals in a town full of people so she walks alone. Metaphorical the author is trying to say how she “walks alone.” meaning she does not feel accepted “in a teeming town.” The town is still full of people, but aboriginals even though integrated into white society, leaving their ways behind are still not accepted so they “walk alone.” This positions the reader to see how the author positions herself in the world. The audience gets a sense of discomfort and displacement in the world by Noonuccal’s attitude