Q) Explain how grace represents the old man’s reflection of the past and the present.
A) Patricia Grace’s “Journey” is a story about a man who contemplates the past and present on his trip to the government official. Grace uses the old man’s journey as a means for him to reminisce about the past, highlighting the disparity between the past and the present and depicting the condemnation of the man towards the contemporary world where he is impotent against the prejudiced government.
The description of the man’s train ride is replete with references to the changes made to the city. Grace mentions how “in the old days all you needed to do to get on the station was to step over the train tracks”, whereas in the present the old man has to pass through subways where people urinate blatantly. Then she describes how the government has made changes to various terrains to accommodate for urbanisation— there have been artificial landmasses laid down near the edge of the sea where the old man used to get the native seafood pipis from and they demolished a Maori graveyard to build a motorway. Furthermore there are references to relentless deforestation by the government to make space for houses when the writer says “couldn’t give life, only death” after saying “couldn’t give the trees or hills a name and make them feel special and leave them”. This multitude of instances where Grace makes the present an antithesis of the past helps portray the old man’s plaintive remembrance of the past.
Patricia Grace uses these juxtaposed reflections of the past and the present to depict the old man’s disapprobation towards these changes. This disapproval is hinted when the old man makes repeated use of the phrase “funny people” following every comparison to address the white folk, suggesting that he finds their acts rather hysterical. Moreover, Grace makes use of anaphora when she says “same old” in numerous instances to represent how the old man is reluctant to change. The repetition of “same old” in his descriptions of his own neighbourhood indicates that he associates uniformity with positivity, for he does not disapprobate the butcher, post office, shop or taxi being the same as before. Hence the contrast created between his own neighbourhood, where things are left untouched and unchanged by the government, and the transmuted city significantly emphasizes on the essence of nostalgia in the story.
The old man’s condemnation of the present-day society is accentuated through his meeting with the government official. His patent vexation after his ideas were rejected by the government official is depicted through “[he] wanted to swing a heavy punch” and “he kicked the desk”. Additionally, he demands being cremated instead of buried, signifying his cynicism and distrust towards the government. This censure is integral in augmenting the sense of anamnesis as his disapprobation stems from the fact that matters were substantially divergent in the past; the government was not prejudiced and the Maoris had a voice, which was not suppressed by the avaricious government.
Hence, grace institutes reflection of the past and present as a crucial component of the story.
prepIGCSE 