Prejudice Assignment

This land is mine/ This land is me

Hamza Akhtar 10B1

Summary

 The song “This land is mine/This land is me” compares the opinions of an
Aboriginal Australian and a ‘white’ Australian about the land. Both sided show
their opinion on the land the white man believes is his, whereas the
Aboriginal believes the land owns him. The white man describes how he
signed legal documents for the ownership of his land and the Aboriginal
mentions how the land was passed down from his ancestors all the way to
him.
How the text show the issue of
prejudice
The main way in which prejudice is shown in this song is through the use of
juxtaposition. Juxtaposition is evident as the poem compares the opinions of an
Aboriginal and a ‘White’ Australian on the land they have. The ‘white’ man says,
‘This land is mine’ whereas the Aboriginal says, “ This land owns me .” The poem
portrays that the Aboriginal is much more connected to his land and ‘white’ man
is arrogant. Therefore the juxtaposition in this song demonstrates prejudice
between whites and Aboriginals on their land ownership.
Continued…

Repetition is used when the Aboriginal is referring to his land. The lyric he
repeats , “They wont take it away,” refers to the land that may be taken away
from him by the whites. This portrays the strong connection the Aboriginal has
with the land and how worried he is about them taking it away from him. Racial
prejudice is evident in this poem as explores the times where land was wrongly
taken away from the Abroriginals.
Continued…

The change In the rythm and also the use of rhyme demonstrates racial
prejudice. The background music while the white man is sing seems to be very
constant and slow paced. Whereas when the Aboriginal is singing the music is
changing and is very fast paced. This portrays the pride the Aboriginal has about
his land. The slow paced music shows that the white man is less caring and that
he only cares about his ownership of the land.
Is the text similar to ‘To Kill a
Mockingbird’
 The song ‘This land is mine/This land is me’ has many similar aspects to ‘To
Kill a Mockingbird’. One of the facts that make them similar is that they are
both mainly about racial prejudice between ‘white’ people and ‘coloured’
people. The aboriginal man in this poem is very similar to Tom Robinson as
both characters were under contant pressure from the majority of society.
Both characters were racially discriminated. In the song the man is worried
about his land being taken and Tom Robinson was accused of crime he didn’t
commit.