Questions on Donkey Devil By Paddy Roe

This story is an example of autobiography. However it is completely unlike conventional autobiography.

Q 1. What is distinctive about this text? It will help to compare it to prose (specifically autobiographical prose) you have already read.

Consider: language-use (grammar, key word: vernacular), the flow of narrative, voice, the arrangement of the text, use of sound effects, etc.

As we have already discussed, the term literature carries with it presuppositions (hidden assumptions, ideas, opinions that provide a growing-place for conceptual thought)

When it comes to the discussion of Indigenous literature, what holds true for the English-speaking literary heritage might not hold true for the Indigenous heritage.

Q 2. Would it be appropriate to class this as literature in the traditional sense? Why / Why not?

Q 3. How is memory related in the text? Are thoughts edited and ordered as they are in conventional autobiographies?

Q 4. What can this text tell us about place?

Q 5. What is the narrators relationship to the mythical?

As creative personalities, as students of style, it is important to weigh the benefits and limitations of a style. It is also important to experiment as widely as possible, to read as widely as possible, in order to grow the funnels through which our soul can stream.

Q 5. What are the benefits of writing in this style? What are the limitations?

Activity 1. Recall an interesting experience. Just like in Donkey Devil write using colloquial, informal speech. Write with the expectation that the story will be spoken.