h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Year 11 English oral
Term 4- Analytical Oral

Marginalisation has existed in all societies since the beginning of time. We not only see this Marginalisation in real life situations but also reflected in the media and in literature. The two texts studied this year- Blackrock and To Kill a Mockingbird- are great examples of how strong marginalisation is in society and the terrible effects it can have on people. There are many characters in the two texts that were marginalized. In To Kill a Mockingbird Bob Ewell was marginalized and in Blackrock, Brett Ricketson or as he was well known by his friends as Ricko was marginalized.

Bob Ewell is your classic poor drunkard, with plenty of children and no wife. Bob Ewell can be seen as a foul brute of a thing, and because of the way that he lives and acts he is marginalized from the rest of his community. As it says in To Kill A Mocking-Bird, and I quote from page 30 “Ain’t got no mother,’ was the answer, ‘and their paw’s right contentious” as stated by a student in Miss Caroline’s class. It is not only people from the older generations that marginalize the Ewells’ but also the children, as the quote explained.

Bob Ewell does nothing to give his children a plentiful life, let alone to teach them good decent morals or even the advantages of good hygiene. He is cruel hearted and would rather protect himself rather than his family. When his daughter Mayella is brought to court to testify against Tom Robinson-yet another character who is marginalized in the book-her father makes her lie to the judge In order to protect himself and doesn’t care for the fact that because of his lie, an innocent man goes to prison and subsequently dies.

In the play Blackrock society on a whole is marginalized. They are marginalized for the fact that a girl has been raped and murdered in their small industrial community. But there is one character who is marginalized the most. His name is Ricko. Ricko is a classic surfy guy. He is his own person and does his own thing. He is somewhat of a rebel and a manipulator. He has many friends and through his use of manipulation he can have anyone he wants wrapped around his little finger. He can talk anyone of his friends into telling a lie for him, to protect him. He is alike Bob Ewell with this. All that matters to him is protecting himself. He is a catalyst. Speeding up reactions in the town when he comes home. And this causes a huge impact on the small town. Ricko is the cause of a great deal of hurt, and is marginalized for this.

Marginalisation can be seen in modern society everyday. You can see it in schools, work places and in the media. People are marginalized every day for being of a different race or religion.
Australia on a whole has recently been greatly marginalized by the Muslim community, but mainly by Australia’s Muslim leader, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, who is entitled to his own beliefs, yet blaintly, told the media that Australian women want to be raped because of the way we dress. According to him it is inviting males to rape us by wearing short shorts or skirts and little tops. He has a solution to this problem as well…we should just dress the way his culture does. But we are all entitled to our own beliefs and in our culture it is just normal to dress that way. We are by no means asking guys to rape us.

Nobody deserves to be marginalized but in some cases it is just inevitable. There is always going to be someone in the media or in modern day literature that is going to be marginalized, I just cannot be helped.