31.05.

2011

One of my best friends

Fatima Waqar Zia

A) The narrator of the story is a son of a cop. He had a best friend who was a abo. And that best friend is willy one of the main protagonists of the short story. Willy is an abo. In Australia, and he is very ill-treated and he seeks peace within his best friend and his family. B) Their friendship starts off on friendly terms; both the protagonists are very caring and affectionate towards each other. They are best friends and are therefore often seen together. And one of the most important thing in their friendship is that they didnt care about what they were or what color their skin had. They were friends sincerely from the heart. And thats how their childhood went, with each others company carefree, and funloving. And as they grew they went apart, and as they say distance can ruin any friendship. So was the case with these two. Time made an impact in their lifes, and the once best friends parted their ways. Meeting after years lots had changed, their lives, societies, personalities, and most of all themselves. Their friendship couldnt bear the distance and broke apart. C) --D) --E) He may not want to talk as he feels hes not ready to hear about his past-present. He may not be strong enough to hear about it or bear it because he had never felt or gone through such pain. Its not about being a coward or not its really about if you cant help your friend then let it be, rather than being the cause of the pain. F) Its hard to say as for now since we dont know about Willys POV. But maybe he thought staying away was the best solution for him G) First of all I dont think the narrator nor writer is a racist. The narrator isnt a racist the time and place made him. Since childhood hes been hearing bad about abos. Then of course hell think negative about them, since thats all he heard since childhood. And a childs head observes a lot. So you cant really name it racism, another word for it would be unliking he isnt very fond of them but that doesnt mean hes an hater or racist. As that is said I believe not even the writer meant bad about Abos. I wouldnt call him a racist. I believe hes doing so to make the short story more realistic, and get some life in it. So the readers can know the reality of black-white in Australia. I believe the author has portrayed a realistic view of the current status of Australia. H) That could be one of the reasons, another reason we can figure out is that. They are meeting after ages, they are different, and they have changed a lot. Willy might not like the new change in his once upon a best friend and just to bring him back to earth he thought of hitting him Maybe because he was flying to high, and to get him back that was necessary. I) An argument between the best friend is something we could assume. A laugh is okay because he took it as a joke, but it doesnt mean he will not talk to him about the punch. - The setting is a realistic view of Australia. How differently white and black people live today, how different circumstances they have to go though. - The POV is written from the narrators view, where we can see how he looks t everything and everyone every person in his life and every event that has taken place in his life from childhood to adulthood. And his best friend who was with him most of the time - The theme I would say is best friends, difference in the culture and country. Those are the strongest themes - First a friendship that is so strong that it was together not caring about eachoters roots, but distance made its impact on them.

31.05.2011 -

One of my best friends

Fatima Waqar Zia

And then the different cultures in Australia, and how the different groups are treated there. This is one of the strongest themes, and it reflects throughout the whole short story.

3. What I think he meant by this statement was. They were treated like unreliable horses. Meaning they the abos is named the horses, and were treated like horses, but not like normal horses but those horses who often run away, or the stubborn ones. The ones you may call unreliable thats what the narrator calls them, meaning they are neither special nor trustworthy. Country people, the narrator is naming himself along with other of kind living with this abos. so whatever incident happened, they say we the country people never forget. A conclusion would be that they have a sharp memory, or they have an eye for these Abos. I would say it means if you once do something you will forever be tagged. Like in the short story, these abos do a lot of wrong things, and once done forgiven. But when they continue doing the same thing they get the tag of once a boong, always a boong. And somehow they lost the trust of the country people. Its repeated where such scenes take place twice, the abos repeats their actions, and the effect it has on the country people is that they lose faith and trust on them