Perspectives

Literary perspective and current issues

The story “A Way of Talking” by Patricia Grace is a modernist text, as it explores socially-relevant topics like racism and speaking out against it and rather focuses on the inner life and development of one of the main characters, Hera. Also, the story takes place in a real-life setting and has a first-person narrator who shares her perspective on the events and the other characters in the story. Being written from the perspective of an ethnic minority in a former colony, the story also has post-colonial traits.

The story was written in 1975, when the Maori in New Zealand struggled with discrimination and offensive language and had fewer tools at their disposal to withstand it. These issues still exist today, but “call-out culture” has become a more widespread tool which is used to f...