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speech - “Stories create community, enable us to see through the eyes of other people, and open us to the claims of other”
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“Stories create community, enable us to see through the eyes of other people, and open us to the claims of other” In our modern society the importance of narratives cannot be ignored. Their power lies in their capacity to not just retell events, but also to harmonise groups of people; allow us to view the world from the perspectives of others; as well as manifesting their claims. This is epitomized in Michael Ondaatje’s, ‘In  the Skin of a Lion’ and Romaine Moreton’s, ‘Are  You Beautiful Today?’. In both texts, each author attempts to provide a voice for the marginalised and underrepresented. This thus creates community by enabling us, the reader, to see through the eyes of other people, as well as highlighting their experiences. Ondaatje’s, ‘In the Skin of a Lion’ enables us to view the world from the eyes of the unacknowledged working class. His focus on the downtrodden stems from his personal experience as a migrant to Canada. His country of origin, Srilanka, was divided by internal conflict and ignored by West. This leads Ondaatje to highlight the significance of narrative and need for voices of those left out of history to be heard. He comments: “Toronto is a city of immigrants but there is very little history about who they were, what their lives were like.” Ondaatje exposes the cruelty of class-based inequality, revealing that the rich keep workers poor and disenfranchised in order to exploit them for their own desires. This is achieved through disclosing the cultural and political context of early 20th century canada, when immigrants played an important role in canadian history. However, in history, who is remembered? Is it the workers who built the pyramids, or the Pharaoh that had it built?. Throughout civilisation, those in power wrote history, often leaving out the lower class. Likewise, the migrants who are disempowered due to their lack of ability to communicate are excluded. Ondaatje makes us confront this notion by having historical events such as the building of the Bloor Street Viaduct and the Waterworks depicted from the perspectives of the ordinary workers rather than the traditional officials. The objectification of the workers as simply a tool for labour is accentuated in this statement: “a man is an extension of a hammer, drill flame”. The metaphor employed here emphasises the plight of the workers; who are pawns, easily discarded and not valued by history. Furthermore, alienation in the migrant experience is exposed in this line, “There is no sound here - no wind, no noise of work”. The aural imagery as well as repetition of “no” exemplifies the isolation of the workers in the tunnel from above ground. As well as emphasising their working conditions, it also represents the absence of a migrant voice in history; as their efforts in the tunnel are never known beyond them. The employment of actual historical events, places and people, gives credence to their stories, inviting empathy and understanding. Thus by confronting the grand narrative, he enables us to see through the eyes of other people, the migrant workers. Correspondingly to the context, Ondaatje effectively highlights the marginalisation of migrants and sensitizes their struggle through foregrounding the importance of storytelling.

“Stories create community, enable us to see through the eyes of other people, and open us to the claims of other” The illumination of the Indigenous experience in Australia as an underrepresented community is explored in Moreton’s poem, ‘Are You Beautiful Today?’. As an Indigenous person herself, she is driven to provide a voice for Aboriginal Australians, depicting the importance of narrative in sharing experiences. Traditional effective Western poetry, whilst technically and aesthetically tailored for Western audiences, for the most part enshrouds the presence and experience of an Indigenous audience. This pertains to the idea that history is written by those in power. Thus by exposing the Indigenous experience, Moreton is effectively connecting the indigenous community which was initially separated from society, by providing a view from the Aboriginal perspective. We see this context manifest in the poem’s focus on the struggle and suffering endured by the Indigenous people. This provides a voice for the often under-represented and oppressed community. This is elucidated throughout the poem by recurring motifs and ideas. One such idea is the recurrence of laughter, as a subversive exemplification of suffering. By repeating the symbol, she accentuates the suffering and hardship in her people. We can observe this in this statement, “but I am so addicted to laughing, It just leaves me wanting more, like and injection, like an infection, And I do not know withdrawal". As well as reiterating the idea of suffering, she also comments on the commonality of using drugs in order to escape the suffering. This is further addressed in her line, “While talkin’ ‘bout jail, While talking’ ‘about death”. The employment of colloquial language and repetition creates a casual and dismissive tone towards topics such as death. Upon reading this we can see how Moreton is clearly emphasising how death and crime are considered ordinary in the community. Thus, through narrative, the author presents the world from the indigenous point of view by bringing light to the issues and hardships faced in their community. The creation of communities and perspectives of different groups of people is achieved through storytelling. In the instances of “In the Skin of a Lion” and “Are You Beautiful Today”, each author attempts to bridge the gap between communities. Ondaatje brings light to the migrant workers story, while Moreton assimilates that reader with the indigenous experience. Again, stressing how important narratives are, in shaping the world we live in....