Bruce_Dawe's_Poem_-_Essay

Bruce Dawe - Essay Bruce Dawe, one of the finest literary poets, embraces his renowned criticism of Australia’s increasingly consumer-driven society and values. His poems, “Americanized” and “Enter Without So Much as Knocking” are prime examples of this and they are both greatly satirical of consumerism and Australian consumerist society. “Americanized” is a darkly satirical reflection on the forceful control of America’s consumerist society and values over younger, developing nations. This poem is written in a predominantly bitter and ironic tone. The title, itself, is ironic in the way that Americanised is spelt the American way; with a z (Americanized). In this poem, Bruce Daw uses an extended metaphor of a ‘mother’ as America and the ‘child’ being the young, developing nations which immediately portrays the maternal relationship America holds with other nations unable to “deny the beneficence of that motherhood.” He mothers actions reflect the values of modern society, and how she is trying to maintain an illusion of perfection, smothers and cushions the child from the reality of “the streets… full of nasty cars and men”, as a materialist values may cushion one from realities of the larger world, and by denying the human instinct, he is trained to “be a good boy”. Bruce Daw mocks America’s belief that their economic aid to these nations is an act of generosity as the mother goes off to “nurse an invalid called the world”. Her materialistic value is reflected and proves to lack longevity and is readily disposed of ‘into a corner’, as is a characteristic of consumerist society. Also, the ‘treasures’ of “mummy’s world” are all imitations of the original products – “Pepsi cola” of cola coal and “spam” of ham, which suggests the life that she leads, is an imitation of the ‘real thing’. Through the use of Parody of the French philosopher Descartes’ belief that our ability to reason is what makes us human “I think young, think big, therefore I am”, the capitalist ideas of modern society are suggested, and also our obsession with appearing younger and thinking bigger to increase our own power and dominance. This idea is linked with America, from listing the stereotypical American products of “chewing gun, hot dogs, electronic brains”. One would believe that a child wished for the love and support, however we see the child receiving none of this from the mother and she conceives this replacement of love with material items. Bruce Daw portrays this perspective as to be frightening and disturbing through the suggestion of the rhetorical question “what child of simple origins could want more'” Form the ninth stanza, the mood of the poem dramatically changes as Bruce Daw paints a scene as “darkness” descends on the child playing alone with the approaching of “those formidable footsteps” an air of suspension created as “ the door-knob turns… her figure looms…her large hands hold him fast”. Having America taking control, the developing nations find themselves ironically trapped in a “velvet room” of protection. It is at this point repetition and dramatically cynical punch-lines are used to conclude the poem as the young nations realises that “she loves him… and the frightening fact sinks in”. Also, the fact that the “motherhood” had once promised ‘beneficence’ now holds them powerless and unable to achieve the freedom and emotional fulfilment that they strived for, and successfully installing in the reader, a sense of fear in regards to the power consumerism, and its biggest support, America, holds. “Enter Without So Much as Knocking” provides us with an insight into Australian consumer society, a nation that was ‘mothered’ by America, much like the child of “Americanized”. The newborn is welcomed to the world, even before the voice of his own mother is heard, the voice of superficiality in the form of ‘Bobby Dazzler’, “hello, hello, hello all you lucky people”. After this, an immediate change in tone by the narrator is followed, as to how lucky the boy really is, as “it didn't mean a thing to him then”. From that point on, the child has “a year or two to… get acquainted with the set-up” which features typical stereotypes of Australia, such as “one economy-size Mum” and a list of other advertising slogans, as if life has become a product “straight off the Junior Department rack” waiting to be sold. In the fourth stanza, the pace of the poem drops with the use of ‘however’ and the first display of emotion is “enjoyed” being able to see “a pure unadulterated fringe of sky”. The child is proved innocent, as he sees the “beyond the fifty-foot screen where giant faces forever snarled screamed or make incomprehensible and monstrous love” which is symbolic of the shallow face of society, and the child finds joy in the simplicity of the sky, “littered with stars no-one had got around to fixing up yet” despite the fact that society’s attempt to destroy this trait, proposing it is human nature to find joy in simplistic happenings over material items. The pace is again fastened in stanza five with “Anyway”, and his innocence had hurriedly sold himself into the society, “it’s Number One every time for this chicken.” The lack of punctuation and with the cut out dialogue, it creates a rushed, condensed feel to show just how busy and hectic this child’s life has become and how fast it continues to pass him by, leaving him “feel a little soiled”. In this poem, the reading is much more dominant for his innocent childhood, and where he sees beauty in the simplicity of the stars, his life is compressed into a stanza where he is portrayed as selfish and false, as if once he submitted to the ideals of consumer society, his life becomes meaningless and insignificant, a monotony of lies and “back-stabbing”. The man’s life comes to an unexpected car crash involving him and his wife, who is not mentioned previously as if romance was an unimportant part of his life. Even the morticians “Probity & Sons” uphold the appearance of probity in death, doing a really “first-class job on his face” making “everyone… very pleased”, suggesting that his appearance was more important than the actual death. Bruce Daw mocks consumer society’s depreciation for the value of life, and how unemotional his loved one’ responded to his death, treating it like the end of a “show” and being completely ignored, uninterested once they’re “six feet down”. “Back for keeps the old automatic smile with nothing behind it” suggests one of the strongest ideas of the poem, suggesting that the materialistic and rushed life he had taken was equivalent to being dead and that the car crash was only about his physical death, and his spiritual self had gone a long time ago. The man returns to the “silence” he was born from, passing through life in the blink of an eye, being reinforced by the repetition of “Blink, blink”. The idea of the last stanza is perhaps the strongest as they leave the reader reflecting on the fact of their mortality and whether people would still be “interested” when they’re “six feet down”. The two poems “Americanized” and “Enter Without So Much as Knocking” are two composed poems that mock and parody the consumerist society and its values and beliefs. Bruce Dawe make his poems incredibly powerful as he causes his audiences to truly reflect upon their values, rather than forcing his own ideals, proving to be a strong poet.