Komninos’ poem “Eat” explores the satirical nature on societies obsession with diets and physical

appearances but it also explores the poet’s personal experiences of entrapment between the two cultures
of coming from a European background but living in the Australian culture. Explored through “then I went
through a series of fashionable diets”, the poem satirises societies obsession with fad diets which are
considered fashionable impacting and shaping how one should be viewed. The fast pace in “the egg diet the
rice diet…the fill yourself up with fibre diet” created through cumulation is used to emphases Komninos’
obsession with losing weight and the ridiculousness of some diets in our society that many are able to be
fooled of.

The distinctive voices can be used to determine Komninos’ relationship with every voice through the poem.
In the first three stanzas’ the voices of Komninos’ family are conveyed through “eat so your body will
grow…a plump one has a warm robust glow”, “bread and oil is all I ate…so eat all the food on your plate”
and “ its wasteful to throw food away…that die from starvation each day” to show the pressure of his
family as they are saying that food should not be wasted and people in the world will think you are healthy
if they see the size of how you are. The repetition of the word “ate” is fast paced and listed as it is used to
engage the amount of eating that Komninos did and shows the authorial voice of the poet.

Beauty is shown to exist in every way, shape and form. Komninos tries to convey this important message to
shape the perspectives of the world and others that in society it is not all about needing to live up to
society’s standards. This is conveyed through “but beauty is only skin deep….improving with the advancing
years” as it is reflective and is said in a wise tone to show that Komninos has come to a realisation that
beauty and physical appearances will deteriorate. “the real person is within your skin…their thoughts and
their ideas” shows the tone of acceptance of Komninos’ maturity and that he is not vain and that through
this he does not value beauty over brains and uses this poem to send this message to the audience.

Komninos’ poem ‘Noura from Narooma’ is able to express many distinctive voices that can be able to shape
the relationships and perspectives of relationships in the world. The use of imagery in “at church we had to
be all happy, all laughing, and looking good, not wearing the same things two weeks in a row” suggest that
they are a perfect family however ironically, they are far from it. This is the poets central message that one
individual cannot judge others as they do not know want may be going through a person’s life. In “the pain,
the pain, was to great. not the pain of the beating, but the pain of what he’d actually done”, a clear voice of
a migrant women abused by her husband is symbolised through her helplessness through the use of
repetition of “the pain” evoking sympathy from the audience. A direct quote in “ “don’t go!”, I cried, “don’t
go my baby, come here to mama.” ” is used to show Noura’s fear and desperation to protect her children
representing the father in a negative light. This is further shown in “he started screaming, calling me names,
bashing on the door. He was screaming in Arabic, “mad woman, mad women, let me in” ” as it identifies
the background of the individual and gives the husband a voice based on what he says and how Noura
describes him throughout the poem.

The rhetorical question in “the social worker convinced me to leave, to go to a refuge in glebe…my
children, me, leave my children? what sort of mother would I be” portrays Noura’s confusion and struggle
in deciding what to do. It paints an image of a helpless women who is willing to sacrifice her happiness for
her children. Ironically, she is later labelled as an unfit mother through her lack of voice and her husband’s
manipulation. The repetition and cumulation in Noura’s tone shown though “he’ll never hurt me again I
said. he’ll never hurt me again I shouted. he’ll never hurt me again I screamed. he’ll never hurt me again.”
builds from “I said” to “I screamed” suggesting that she has regained her voice and courage to take control
of her own life. The burning of the house in “I spread kerosene all over the garage…I lit the match” is
symbolic and metaphorical as it marks the ending of her battle and destruction of the place which brings
back haunting memories as well as her revenge.

In “V for Vendetta” directed by James McTeigue, V has established his character for the first time of who or
what he is and what his motif is by being the man behind the mask. This is portrayed in ‘what I am is a man
in a mask’. The simple response gives away the ambiguity created in the beginning of the film. No longer is
the viewer asking who it is but the question instead becomes who is he by answering the question with
another question, shown through Evey asking “Who are you?” and the response of V “Who? Who is but the
form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask”. The use of sophisticated language
in the first sentence of V speaking expresses how he speaks in riddle establishing his mysterious and
intelligent voice with a dark humour.

The symbolism in V for Vendetta is the mask that V wears. This mask has become a symbol of anarchism
and revolution to show the disapproval of the government due to the historical illusion to Guy Fawkes. The
mask symbolises power as it is anonymous, portraying V’s dark side having lost his identity and that anyone
can wear the mask and embody the spirit of rebellion. V tries to convey to view him as a villain, establishing
a vision of V’s true self.

The revolutionary speech is spoken in a polite, formal and highly sophisticated tone to create a message
through the reference to Guy Fawkes Day and the historical illusion of the 5th of November. This pushes
the people as they see V’s voice as inspiring. The use of “Remember, Remember the 5th of November the
gunpowder, treason and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.”
portrays a historical reference to gunpowder plot. He is establishing his voice as not only a individual but he
sees his struggle as a metaphor for the eternal and universal struggle between individual freedom and the
power of tyrannical governments.

Red roses are a motif shown through the film to represent the death of someone and the colour red to
show the purity and colour of blood. As roses are generally used to symbolise beauty they are also
traditional to send to a funeral. In this case V uses the roses to symbolise what he has done by leaving a
marking of the rose for the people he has killed so people know it was V who did it. This therefore conveys
how the roses have become part of V’s distinctive voice.