Her er vores study guide til analyse af novellen “One of My Best Friends” (1994) af Peter Goldsworthy. Novellen kan du læse i lærebogen Departures (s. 78). I denne vejledning viser vi dig de vigtigste elementer til en analyse. Derudover får du et summary og hjælp til perspektivering.
Symbols
In the story, football and boxing symbolize violence. When they are children, the narrator and Willy are taught how to box and how to play football (p. 79, ll. 33-38). Consequently, they learn to engage in aggressive activities, and they grow up to become aggressive adults: “Football's where you learn aggro, not get rid of it” (p. 81, ll. 20-21). Furthermore, football and boxing are also symbolic of society’s expectations of boys, who are expected to fight rather than talk about their emotions.
The football court is symbolic of the conflict between Aboriginals and white Australians. The fight that breaks out shows the frustrations felt by Aboriginals who are discriminated against (pp. 80-81, l. 42, ll. 1-2).
The rabbits are symbolic of vulnerability. When they are children, the narrator and Willy go “rabbiting” (p. 79, l. 12), an activity where rabbits are caught in traps. When the adult narrator hits an Aboriginal football player, he “flipped over like a shot rabbit” (p. 81, l. 17). Rabbits are also symbolic of Aboriginals, who are a vulnerable category, treated as inferior by the white ...
