Stereotypes In Allan Seymour's Play 'The One Day Of The Year'
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Australia is known as a country that upholds great ANZAC spirit, and nowhere is this more evident than in Allan Seymour’s 1962 play, The One Day of the Year. Seymour represents the Australian Digger as the main concept underpinning Australia’s identity. This perception is primarily demonstrated through the use of the character Alf and his national pride. Growing up, My family demonstrated a very strong compassion towards the ANZAC’s as my mother’s father was a fighter pilot in world war two. This compassion that my parents display towards the ANZAC’s has been adopted by me.
The notion of the digger and the larrikin hero is an important part of Australia’s harsh experiences of pastoralism, the goldfields, bush ranging, shearing and droving.…show more content… Historically, the stereotypes adjacent to the digger, such as the Bogan were only used to label servicemen or ex-servicemen. This stereotype was used to define a man who had grown up in a rural and underprivileged area. Nonetheless, the stereotype of bogan Is used to typically describe a lot of the Australian population; it refers to everyone who is not living a privileged lifestyle. The word bogan now consists of the attributes of a person with a lower working class background, or whose speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour exemplify a gratified working class mentality. The bogan will generally also lack sophistication and refinement. This can be strongly represented through the use of the characters Bruce and Sheila, the typical image of Australian men and women according to…show more content… This can be revealed throughout the characters of two different generations; Alf and Hughie. As Alf is an ex-servicemen he holds great gratitude and respect towards the diggers, he also has a few of the attributes of the stereotypes which surround the concept of the digger. Alf’s son Hughie nonetheless presents an opposite view of the diggers. This is demonstrated throughout the document on Anzac Day for the university newspaper that Hughie wrote, which predominately focused on the boozy aftermath of the celebrations. He explains that people are taking benefit of the fact that they once participated in war and using it as an excuse to get drunk. This is an act that is very disrespectful to the fallen soldiers on the day they should be respected the