How Does the Chapter Leaving Paradise Provide an Insight Into the Negative Aspects of Belonging to a Disaffected Family and Race?

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The chapter, “Leaving Paradise” in Swallow the Air by Tara June Winch provides an insight into the negative aspects of belonging to a disaffected family and race through how it explores various social issues like alcoholism and domestic violence as well as other issues such as abandonment and discrimination. It demonstrates how these can influence the way in which people belong to a family as well as how the disadvantages faced due to cultural background can influence this. Alcoholism is introduced early into this chapter, when the author writes about Billy’s eighteenth birthday. The aunty that the protagonist May, and her brother live with has an alcohol and gambling addiction. She is described to be “either out or out of it”. The atmosphere, which May and Billy live in is also described as a place of “grog and fists”. On Billy’s eighteenth birthday, Aunty hands Billy a flask of bourbon. This action is particularly significant because in Indigenous culture, on a teenager’s eighteenth birthday, there is usually a traditional initiation ceremony into adulthood. The action of Aunty handing over the flask of bourbon acts as an initiation ceremony for Billy and represents how the Indigenous community has acquired all the negative influences of Caucasian society. The significance of Aunty giving the flask of bourbon to Billy also provides an insight into how alcoholism can have a negative impact on belonging, as it is ultimately what provokes Billy to leave home and detach himself from his family. The chapter, “Leaving Paradise”, provides an insight into the negative aspects of belonging, as it is the one of the contributing factors into the eventual disintegration of May’s household. Domestic violence is also one of the issues raised in the chapter, “Leaving Paradise”. It is shown to be one of the repercussions of alcoholism. In “Leaving Paradise”, May describes

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