Why Weren T We Told Henry Reynolds Analysis

Henry Reynolds purpose in his memoir “Why Weren’t We Told” is to bring social reform in Australia regarding the reconciliation of the Indigenous. In his attempt to portray his purpose, Reynolds illustrates the misinterpretations of the Indigenous people which he argues is due to both political omission and neglect. Reynolds by writing in a memoir structure allows the use of personal anecdotes, which help Reynolds to create an intimate appeal to the audience. The first personal anecdote is about the unjust nature of two girls who were put in a prison cell due to them ‘swearing’, their prison cell is described as “thick concrete walls and the little thin girls”. The juxtaposition of both the images coupled with the epithets “thick” and “little, …show more content…
Through the parallelism Reynolds infers a sense of paternalistic power that the Director has over the Indigenous people. Through this paternalistic power, Reynolds infers that the Indigenous are not given the freedom that they deserve and are treated like children, revealing the tension between Reynolds personal views and the political view of the Director. Coupled with this the quote by Reynolds about the Director reveals his own bias “dispensing charity to favoured families”. The epithet of “favoured” emphasises the negative connotation that is put on the DNA director. Initially Reynolds is shown to highlight the power of the DNA director but then makes assumptions about how the director uses this power to help the “favoured families”. This is seen as an assumption due to the lack of evidence that is presented, and by making a negative assumption Reynolds bias towards the Indigenous is displayed to the audience. Reynolds bias is again displayed to the audience through the title of two consecutive chapters “Myth of Peaceful Settlement” and “Arguing about Invasion”. Through juxtaposition Reynolds is able to polarise opinions instead of highlighting the complex nature of the historical event. By polarising opinion he attempts to bring controversy which promotes debate throughout the world which in turn bring popularity to the book as well as his purpose regarding social reform. Reynolds opinion is visible through the epithet “myth” causing the opinion on settlement to be considered false, again illustrating bias to the