Character Analysis: Growing Up By Anthony Hill

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“Growing Up” by Anthony Hill is a short story that carries the theme of ‘racism is taught’. The narrator adopts the persona of an Aboriginal man, and the story, written from his point of view, is essentially him telling the story of when he encountered racism as a child to a group of young Aboriginals. The identities of the characters are created through their attitudes and values; the Aboriginal boy values friendship, he’s accepting of his circumstances but doesn’t want to be judged as any other black boy. His best friend, Evan Davis is created as one who also values friendship, family and education. The actions of the characters, their context and juxtaposition between the two , diction and dialogue help in constructing their identities. Evan Davis was not racist. He was not racist even though their story took place in a time where “it was pretty unusual for a black kid and a white kid to have anything much to do with each other”. Evan Davis did not discriminate the Aboriginal boy. Instead, he wanted to be friends with him. He sat next to him. The narrator was surprised, “he wanted to” – Hill emphasises on “wanted” to show the boy’s disbelief to the unusual actions of the white kid that suggested he was not racist.…show more content…
Evan Davis did not let racism ruin their relationship. Even though the white kids used to “poke fun” at him for being friends with a “boong”, he didn’t let that stop him. The Aboriginal boy also stood up for their relationship, when he says “I would knock their blocks off”, through his dialogue, the reader sees that he is ready to take up a fight with anybody who picked on him or Evan Davis, his white best friend. Evan would help the boy with his maths. Their friendship was mutual, or as the boy described it, “We give each other a
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