How do the authors of Black Diggers and The Longest Memory explore the idea that once you experience change you cannot go back?

Once you have a taste of freedom it is impossible to fall back into the cage of unreasonable confinement. This is expressed by characters in the novel ‘The Longest Memory’ and play ‘Black Diggers’. In both texts characters’ experience a sense of freedom outside of the racism they have endured their entire lives. This liberty results in characters being unable to live in their original circumstances. The novel ‘The Longest Memory’ depicts a young slave who learnt to read and write and as a result was provided with a sense of freedom that changed his life forever. However, this forbidden liberty eventually resulted …show more content…
Chapel, a young slave portrayed in ‘The Longest Memory’ serves as an imperative example to the idea that, once you experience change you cannot go back. Chapel gained a forbidden awareness of freedom, through learning to read and write taught by Lydia, the daughter of the plantation owner’, who states ‘a law which says a slave should not read and right is unjust’. The simple yet essential skill of reading and writing changed Chapels life, as it allowed for him to experience a sense of equality. As a result, chapel was unable to settle for his existing way of life and was forever desiring a life of equality. Ern, an indigenous character in the play ‘Black Diggers’ main objective to enlist in the army was to see change in the treatment of indigenous individuals within the Australian society. During his time serving in the army, Ern was treated as an equal by fellow soldiers. Ern conveys that he ‘hopes things are different when he returns home, otherwise their scarifies would be for nothing’. However, upon returning to Australia Ern is only further scrutinized, this has a dramatic impact on Ern and he is unable to function as a citizen in the society due to the unconscionable levels of racism he endures following his