The Ace of Diamonds Gang
Conal Casey-Potter
2009-Q2
Analyse how symbols have been used to develop your understanding of people OR ideas in at least TWO short written texts you have studied.
In the short written text “The Ace of Diamonds Gang” by Owen Marshall, two symbols that I believe developed my understanding of the ideas and an understanding of the characters in this short text were The Ace of Diamonds and the narrators Library card.
The Ace of Diamonds and the Library card are sort of like a ying and yang symbol. The Gang stands for confederacy, freedom, anonymity, rebellion and fantasy. On the other hand the Library card stands for nerdiness, weakness, identity, conformity and reality.
The Ace of Diamonds is repeated throughout the story. E.g. The Ace of Diamonds masks, which the boys made with white handkerchief and a red diamond stamp with oil paint. The masks gave the boys a sense of anonymity or a mystique. “There was a frisson as each known face became strangely divided.” The main idea behind The Ace of Diamonds Gang is that it was an escape from the troubled reality of life. Into a fantasy world in their small provincial town were the Ace of Diamonds ruled supreme. “For Bernie and me the Ace of Diamonds was more a life warp to escape from being 13 years old in a provincial town;” In this fantasy world that the boys had created around the gang, they began to see themselves as avengers, raiders and sentinels. However the most repetitive word which is used throughout the story is “wraiths” this word comes across in a few ways “wraith-like”, “like wraiths” and “wraiths” the most common being “wraith-like” the gang began using the saying when Bernie once said it “Like wraiths we went” The boys also liked to compare themselves to great groups like the Black Hand, Jacobites and the League of Spartacus just to name a few. I think this was a way to boost their sense of brotherhood. The symbolism used shows that the gang see themselves as separate or different to the rest of their community.
The other prominent symbol in the story is the narrators Library card, which lead to the downfall of the gang. The Library card symbolized the narrators mundane reality of life outside the Ace of Diamonds Gang. After being in the gang and feeling a sense of danger, excitement and an unbreakable bond. To then look at the Library card and see the complete opposite of that would have made the narrator feel like a geek or a conformist. The Library card seems to symbolize the end of boyhood for the narrator and the gang. “It was the end of free imagination, and boyhood perhaps”. The card also symbolizes the beginning of the narrators adolescence, the uncertainty and the lack luster creative mind that comes with it, but also the bland realization of the reality that is his life. The Library card is also a symbol of what the narrator now hates. Ever since Jorgesson came to his house and gave the card to the narrators father (which the narrator had mistakenly pinned to Jorgessons door instead of the Ace of Diamonds card), the narrator has despised paisley patterns and Geraniums ever since. This is because Jorgesson was wearing a paisley tie when he visited the narrators house, the geraniums because when the narrator saw Jorgesson coming to his house, Jorgesson walked past some geraniums (It is never actually said where the geraniums are). "an unnaturally tidy Jorgesson coming past the geraniums" "his Punch head was tilted to accommodate a paisley tie". This symbol shows that he wishes he was different but the reality is that he is just an ordinary kid.
My understanding of the development of how things have changed in the story is that the Ace of Diamonds Gang symbolized the narrators boyhood and the full force of a young 13 year olds imagination. The Library card is the opposite of all that the Ace of Diamonds gang stands for. It also the demise of the Gang. The card is also the symbol for the narrators adolescence and the sudden halt of his free imagination. Everything the gang isn't.
2009-Q2
Analyse how symbols have been used to develop your understanding of people OR ideas in at least TWO short written texts you have studied.
In the short written text “The Ace of Diamonds Gang” by Owen Marshall, two symbols that I believe developed my understanding of the ideas and an understanding of the characters in this short text were The Ace of Diamonds and the narrators Library card.
The Ace of Diamonds and the Library card are sort of like a ying and yang symbol. The Gang stands for confederacy, freedom, anonymity, rebellion and fantasy. On the other hand the Library card stands for nerdiness, weakness, identity, conformity and reality.
The Ace of Diamonds is repeated throughout the story. E.g. The Ace of Diamonds masks, which the boys made with white handkerchief and a red diamond stamp with oil paint. The masks gave the boys a sense of anonymity or a mystique. “There was a frisson as each known face became strangely divided.” The main idea behind The Ace of Diamonds Gang is that it was an escape from the troubled reality of life. Into a fantasy world in their small provincial town were the Ace of Diamonds ruled supreme. “For Bernie and me the Ace of Diamonds was more a life warp to escape from being 13 years old in a provincial town;” In this fantasy world that the boys had created around the gang, they began to see themselves as avengers, raiders and sentinels. However the most repetitive word which is used throughout the story is “wraiths” this word comes across in a few ways “wraith-like”, “like wraiths” and “wraiths” the most common being “wraith-like” the gang began using the saying when Bernie once said it “Like wraiths we went” The boys also liked to compare themselves to great groups like the Black Hand, Jacobites and the League of Spartacus just to name a few. I think this was a way to boost their sense of brotherhood. The symbolism used shows that the gang see themselves as separate or different to the rest of their community.
The other prominent symbol in the story is the narrators Library card, which lead to the downfall of the gang. The Library card symbolized the narrators mundane reality of life outside the Ace of Diamonds Gang. After being in the gang and feeling a sense of danger, excitement and an unbreakable bond. To then look at the Library card and see the complete opposite of that would have made the narrator feel like a geek or a conformist. The Library card seems to symbolize the end of boyhood for the narrator and the gang. “It was the end of free imagination, and boyhood perhaps”. The card also symbolizes the beginning of the narrators adolescence, the uncertainty and the lack luster creative mind that comes with it, but also the bland realization of the reality that is his life. The Library card is also a symbol of what the narrator now hates. Ever since Jorgesson came to his house and gave the card to the narrators father (which the narrator had mistakenly pinned to Jorgessons door instead of the Ace of Diamonds card), the narrator has despised paisley patterns and Geraniums ever since. This is because Jorgesson was wearing a paisley tie when he visited the narrators house, the geraniums because when the narrator saw Jorgesson coming to his house, Jorgesson walked past some geraniums (It is never actually said where the geraniums are). "an unnaturally tidy Jorgesson coming past the geraniums" "his Punch head was tilted to accommodate a paisley tie". This symbol shows that he wishes he was different but the reality is that he is just an ordinary kid.
My understanding of the development of how things have changed in the story is that the Ace of Diamonds Gang symbolized the narrators boyhood and the full force of a young 13 year olds imagination. The Library card is the opposite of all that the Ace of Diamonds gang stands for. It also the demise of the Gang. The card is also the symbol for the narrators adolescence and the sudden halt of his free imagination. Everything the gang isn't.
The Paper Parcel
Conal Casey-Potter
2009 Q2
Analyse how symbols have been used to develop your understanding of people OR ideas in at least TWO short written texts that you have studied.
In the short written text "The Paper Parcel" by Owen Marshall, the symbol which I thought developed my understanding of the ideas in the text was the narrators costume the parcel. The parcel is a symbol which is used to show the transience of a number of things in the narrators life. The transfer of his boyhood into adolescence, the transfer of his both social and sexual status from being cool and attractive to being socially inadequate.
The narrator has his first encounter with the laws of sexual attraction when Fiona McCartney passed a message that she wanted to see him by the canteen at playtime. She told him that she wouldn't be going with him. She went on to say that he wouldn't have any trouble finding someone to go with. This made him more anxious about getting a partner, until a girl named Kelly Howick saved him from his own anxiety by asking him instead.
The paper parcel was a costume which the narrators mother made for him at the last second. The narrator found out that he would be going too the dance as a paper parcel when he asked his mother what he was going to the dance as. His mother remembered a new years party where she saw a person dressed as a parcel, apparently he was a big hit. This goes to show how little adult customs apply to the world of a younger generation.
In the real world, a parcel is used as item for transporting something from one place to another. The narrators parcel costume symbolizes this fully, as his mother is sending him from home which is an adult world where adult customs apply and mummy always knows best, to the dance which is a childes world with child rules, where the narrator has to make his own decisions. When he arrives at the dance things seem to get worse for the narrator. He feels though the parcel doesn't make him seem the way he wants to be portrayed. The parcel symbolizes the narrators social demise as the night goes on. As his sexual and social status falls apart, so does the parcel, with his stickers and stamps falling off, and then the parcels paper begins to crinkle. The narrators naivety shows at this point as he believes that "The power of sexual preferment was enough to transform me;" it's not. I felt sympathetic towards the narrator because his mum had pretty much poorly rapped him in a parcel and sent him on his way. You would think that the parcel would be a symbol of a progression in the narrators life. The important stepping stone from being child to being an adolescent. But it's not, because he really doesn't learn anything from his experience. He is still just as naive as he was before. He believes that the next year will be different, and Fiona McCartney was going to be his partner etc. So the parcel represents the narrators life in transit, and his social life falling to pieces.
The narrators mother thought the parcel would be a good idea because at an ADULT party where adult convention applies a man came dressed as a parcel. She didn't realise that the style at a childrens dance is not the same as at an adult party. The costume designs aren't witty or funny, they're supposed to be cool or a reflection of yourself in a sense (e.g. Dusty went as Captain Marvel who is an heroic character). The narrators mum doesn't really take the dance seriously, she thinks that it's just a little kiddies party, underestimating its importance to her son. The narrator thought that the parcel costume was a terrible idea, the author uses profanity and repetition to get the narrators emotions across. "A parcel; Jesus." that line was repeated to emphasize the narrators blatant disappointment. The parcel represents the important things in the narrators life being misunderstood by his parents.
The narrator obviously blames his parents for the disaster that occurred on that fateful night in his life. The parcel represents the narrators social demise and the transience of sexual preferment from beginning to be considered attractive to the opposite sex to it being the joke of the school yard.
2009 Q2
Analyse how symbols have been used to develop your understanding of people OR ideas in at least TWO short written texts that you have studied.
In the short written text "The Paper Parcel" by Owen Marshall, the symbol which I thought developed my understanding of the ideas in the text was the narrators costume the parcel. The parcel is a symbol which is used to show the transience of a number of things in the narrators life. The transfer of his boyhood into adolescence, the transfer of his both social and sexual status from being cool and attractive to being socially inadequate.
The narrator has his first encounter with the laws of sexual attraction when Fiona McCartney passed a message that she wanted to see him by the canteen at playtime. She told him that she wouldn't be going with him. She went on to say that he wouldn't have any trouble finding someone to go with. This made him more anxious about getting a partner, until a girl named Kelly Howick saved him from his own anxiety by asking him instead.
The paper parcel was a costume which the narrators mother made for him at the last second. The narrator found out that he would be going too the dance as a paper parcel when he asked his mother what he was going to the dance as. His mother remembered a new years party where she saw a person dressed as a parcel, apparently he was a big hit. This goes to show how little adult customs apply to the world of a younger generation.
In the real world, a parcel is used as item for transporting something from one place to another. The narrators parcel costume symbolizes this fully, as his mother is sending him from home which is an adult world where adult customs apply and mummy always knows best, to the dance which is a childes world with child rules, where the narrator has to make his own decisions. When he arrives at the dance things seem to get worse for the narrator. He feels though the parcel doesn't make him seem the way he wants to be portrayed. The parcel symbolizes the narrators social demise as the night goes on. As his sexual and social status falls apart, so does the parcel, with his stickers and stamps falling off, and then the parcels paper begins to crinkle. The narrators naivety shows at this point as he believes that "The power of sexual preferment was enough to transform me;" it's not. I felt sympathetic towards the narrator because his mum had pretty much poorly rapped him in a parcel and sent him on his way. You would think that the parcel would be a symbol of a progression in the narrators life. The important stepping stone from being child to being an adolescent. But it's not, because he really doesn't learn anything from his experience. He is still just as naive as he was before. He believes that the next year will be different, and Fiona McCartney was going to be his partner etc. So the parcel represents the narrators life in transit, and his social life falling to pieces.
The narrators mother thought the parcel would be a good idea because at an ADULT party where adult convention applies a man came dressed as a parcel. She didn't realise that the style at a childrens dance is not the same as at an adult party. The costume designs aren't witty or funny, they're supposed to be cool or a reflection of yourself in a sense (e.g. Dusty went as Captain Marvel who is an heroic character). The narrators mum doesn't really take the dance seriously, she thinks that it's just a little kiddies party, underestimating its importance to her son. The narrator thought that the parcel costume was a terrible idea, the author uses profanity and repetition to get the narrators emotions across. "A parcel; Jesus." that line was repeated to emphasize the narrators blatant disappointment. The parcel represents the important things in the narrators life being misunderstood by his parents.
The narrator obviously blames his parents for the disaster that occurred on that fateful night in his life. The parcel represents the narrators social demise and the transience of sexual preferment from beginning to be considered attractive to the opposite sex to it being the joke of the school yard.
