Wei-Lei and Me (Aditi Gouvernel)

Wei-Lei and Me (Aditi Gouvernel)

  1.  What word in the opening sentence means ‘short and flat’? Pug

  2.  What is so ‘Australian’ about Barry West? He has a red stained face which is because he has become so burnt from the Australian sun.

  3.  What is the opening interaction between the two characters about? They were playing tag and Barry did not want to be tipped by the author's 'dirty' hands.

  4.  What is the protagonist’s home country? India

  5.  What word means “noble and splendid”? (p75) Aristocrat

  6.  In what way is the protagonist’s home country “aristocratic”? 

  7.  Where did the protagonist’s father move his family to? Why? He moved his family to Canberra the ACT. So that their family could be added within history and the history of the new country Australia.

  8.  What is the protagonist’s attitude towards the citizenship ceremony? (pp75-6) She does not remember much which shows she did care much about being Australian unlike her parents who kept their citizenship awards locked in a vault with other precious and important items.

  9.  How is Barry West the antagonist? He bullies her a lot and is the main person within the story that she talks about the most who seems to be the 'bad guy' within the author's story.

  10.What is the irony of the comments made by Amy and Cris? (p76) Their last names suggest that they are also foreigners and it is ironic that they are bullying someone who is an immigrant but they are immigrants themselves.

  11.What is “you have to face the world” a metaphor for? (p76) It is a metaphor for suggesting to the author that she must go into the world and face any problems that are shown to her.

  12.What is the teacher’s hair compared to? Is this an example of a metaphor or simile? (p77) Her teacher's hair is compared to the warmth of the heaters because she has red hair which usually symbolises fire or heat. This is an example of a metaphor.

  13.How is the children’s cruel creativity put into action once Wei-Lei arrives? (p77) They change his last name from Lei which sounds like wee to piss which is another name for wee. They also start to tease him about his name, what he looks like and everything Asian about him.

  14. Explain the relevance of the ‘cat and toy’ metaphor. (p77) The relevance is that the cat are all of the school children who are bullying Wei-Lei and the toy is Wei-Lei who is being bullied and controlled by like a toy who is being played with by a cat.

  15.How does the children’s cruel creativity have a more sinister side? The children cruel creativity start to get Wei-Lei physically hurt by Barry West which started from just names and to physically bullying and cruelty.

  16.What does the protagonist mean by “the afternoon passed like a death sentence”? (p78) The afternoon passed as if the protagonist was being sentenced to death and the feeling that comes with that.

  17.Why does the protagonist see everything Indian “lit by a spotlight”? (p78) Because she has never had anyone come to her house before who wasn't Indian and so the culture that she lives would be completely different to someone else and she realises that when Wei-Lei arrives.

  18.How does the story build to a climax? (p79) The story builds to a climax as the author and Wei-Lei become best friends and try and avoid Barry West until they go on a school excursion which means that they may be separated and Barry West will be with one of them.

  19.What is the irony of Barry’s fate? (p80) It is ironic that Barry moves to Jakarta which is in Indonesia and is a completely foreign place which is exactly like when the author moved from her home country of India to a foreign place of Australia. This means that Barry will be the odd one out when he moves and may be bullied as the new and different kid just like the author and Wei-Lei was from Barry.

  20.Explain what the protagonist means by “as our faces changed, so did Canberra” (p81). The protagonist means that when she and Wei-Lei started to become happy and enjoying life more that Barry West had gone it was as if Canberra felt that Barry had gone and everything thing felt better and happier and filled with more joy then when he was in Canberra.

  21.What do you think the protagonists’ definition of being Australian would be? (p81) I think that the protagonist's definition of being Australian would be people who like to drink alcohol, go to university and talk to their friends about their longed for difference.