In literature, ‘voice’ is an expression of an author’s personality, and ideas, but

ultimately a communication of their perspective. In a short story rendition

inspired by Jack Davis’ No Sugar, I clearly encapsulate these notions. Based in
post-colonialist Western Australia, I explore the narrative of Billy Kimberley
and his voice of entrapped, fear filled anguish. In doing so, I portray the
perspective of aboriginal survivors and the emotional turmoil they have had to
endure in order to survive.
In the opening paragraphs, I immerse the reader in a forest plantation filled
with dark ‘’tall’’ pine trees that ‘’tower over’’ Billy. Through his eyes the reader
is made to feel ‘’small’’ enabling them to gain a sense of white societies
forceful oppression that dominates him and his actions. Manipulating
descriptive language I communicate Billy’s voice of powerlessness, giving
insight into the Aboriginal people’s perspective oppression. Additionally, I
further emphasise this by creating a surreal voice of isolation through my
clever application of a simile and a rhetorical question. The notion of being
‘’trapped like a bird in cage’’ was often felt by Billy, leaving him to wonder if
‘’liberty’’ would ever be in his people’s ‘’sights?’’ Thus, further encompassing
this voice of disenfranchisement and isolation.
In a reverie to his time in the Kimberley the reader is given insight into Billy’s
broken emotional state post-Ombulgarri massacre. In order to highlight his
torment, I use lexical choice to illustrate the ‘’ghostly’ ’agony filled cries’’ of
mothers and their babies as an ‘’unremorseful aroma’ ’tainted the air with the
smell of ‘’ sintering flesh.’’ In doing so my portrayal creates a discomforting
setting that displaces both Billy and the reader. Throughout this ordeal Billy’s
‘’spine quivers’’ leaving his body ‘’ridged’’ from fear. This presents to the
reader the perspective of the aboriginal people and the loss they have had to
endure, exhibiting a voice of fear. Such voice of fear is also aforementioned
earlier in my short story using short sharp syntaxes reciting that he must ‘’keep
his head down’’ in order to ‘’survive,’’ stressing Billy’s anxiety packed mind.
Ultimately, Billy’s voice is one of anguish and I construct this by the
increasingly perturbant weather as he re-tells the tragic events of the
massacre. Adopting pathetic fallacy and personification, I construct a
melancholic storm setting with rain that ‘’cries ever louder’’ as the wind
‘’increases in saddened speed’’ and ‘’thunder bolts’’ hit the Earth. At the end
the day Billy’s people are gone forever, their existence archived in our history
books. I encapsulate this by seamlessly manipulating metaphorical language to
symbolise that the once ‘’golden soil’’ and lives of the aboriginal people have
been forever stained in a ‘’unforgettable red.’’ Billy’s perspective now being
one of loss where white society has descended the world into ‘’chaos and
destruction,’’ only acts to further highlight this voice of chagrin and anguish.
Argo, my manipulation of a mantra of generic and textual techniques
constructs Billy’s voice as filled with isolation and entrapment at his and his
people’s powerlessness in the face of white society. A voice of fear is
constructed from his need for survival, and a voice of anguish is built from the
turmoil of his peoples dying remains.