Teachers' Notes for Refuge written by Helen Sykes Background Notes Published in March 1998, Libby Gleeson's novel Refuge is an important contribution to the still quite limited range of literature for young people that explores the nature of multicultural Australia. The novel is readily accessible and appealing to teenage readers and will be read especially by those who are approximately of the same age as its main character, fourteen-year-old Andrew. It is a companion rather than a sequel to the author's previous work, Love Me, Love Me Not, in which many of the characters of Refuge first appear - Andrew, his older sister Anna, their parents, and Kim, the girl at school he is attracted to. The other teenage characters of Love Me, Love Me Not - Cass, Thomas, Cathy and Rodney and so on - have bit parts to play in Refuge. Love Me, Love Me Not is a collection of closely related short stories, each short story focussing on a different character. Those characters are about a year older when we meet them in the novel Refuge. Andrew, the novel's main character, is caught up in the conflict between his parents - 'ancient hippies' (page 38) once politically active and adventurous but now reluctant to take risks - and his older sister Anna, who has become involved at university with a group that is proposing to set up safe houses for East Timorese political asylum-seekers who may be declared illegal immigrants. The novel has two main themes: the inevitability of conflict between generations as teenagers test their beliefs and values against those of their parents, and the nature of Australia as a place of refuge for the persecuted. The particular problem of East Timor is set in the context of Australia's tradition of accepting refugees, exemplified in the novel by old family friend and former Greek student dissident Tyr and by the Cambodian Kim and her family. An important sub-theme is the search for truth: the difficulty of being sure that you are interpreting the facts correctly. Andrew's interest in fossils is the key to this, but it is with people that he finds the search most difficult. Because of its accessibility and the relevance of its themes, Refuge is a very popular novel for use in classrooms. It is particularly appropriate for use in English courses for whole class study and it is also a welcome addition to those titles chosen to generate lively discussion in literature circles.   Suggestions for classroom activities based on Refuge Below are some suggestions for approaching the novel, with activities for both group and individual work. Before reading the novel 1. The cover (a) Ask students to look closely at the front cover - without turning the book over to look at the back and without opening the book to look inside. Have them jot down quickly, like a brainstorming session, their responses to the cover. What questions come to mind? How eager are they to find answers to the questions? How do they feel about the second figure - presumably Rosa - being out of focus? Are they tempted by the question on the front cover - 'Is there anywhere that Rosa can call home?' (b) Have students share their responses before asking them to turn to the back cover and its blurb. Does this give them any more clues as to what the book may be about? Do any students pick up the reference to 'Dili' or '...donesian troops'? Comments at this stage will give you an idea of how much background students will need later to fully understand the novel. It is probably better to delay any detailed discussion of East Timor until students are well into the reading of the text. 2. Generation conflict Ask students if it is usual for parents and teenagers to see things differently. Tell them that one of the main issues that the novel deals with is the difference in values and attitudes between parents and their teenage children. Ask them what sorts of things are most likely to be the cause of conflict. Draw up a checklist. Later, after reading the novel, come back and see how many of the items on the checklist are matters that cause conflict in the novel. While reading the novel 1. Many teachers will begin class study of a novel by a shared reading of the opening chapter or so of the book, to get students involved. A prepared reading by the teacher is usually much more involving than a hesitant reading-around-the-class activity. Read the opening pages of the novel aloud, to the end of the scene of conflict between Anna and her mother (page 5). Is this an example of the kind of generation conflict that the class was discussing earlier? Have students role-play the scene: first, using the author's dialogue as a basis and then improvising, basing the argument on some other issue that might cause conflict between mother and daughter. 2. While there are always some students who need extra support, such as those with limited English or those with reading difficulties, the majority of students can best access the novel by being given time to read silently for themselves. Encourage them during their reading to jot down points in their reading journal: questions they need answered later. Many of these questions are likely to refer to historical or political events of the kind that students might research in group work assignments. Students should also be given the photocopiable pages at this stage so that they are forewarned about issues they might need to address later. Wherever possible, provide support from the peer group for those who have difficulty with reading the text on their own. After reading the novel Deal first with any questions that students might have recorded in their reading journals. Most of these are likely to refer to political events and may need to be referred to group research. The photocopiable suggestions for group work focus particularly on one of the most difficult concepts for students: the fact that a novel is an artifact. This is what critical literacy is all about: helping students to understand that choices have been made in the presentation of the text, even in the most natural and inevitable of stories, and that those choices shape the reader's response. The activities also focus on the issue of Australia as a place of refuge. Students can research the history of refugees coming to Australia, with particular emphasis on the East Timorese situation. Students can also research their own backgrounds and those of their peers. This needs to be handled very sensitively as there are families who have chosen to forget painful memories and there may be some whose experiences are quite recent and traumatic. There may be family members or members of the community who are prepared to talk to students about their experiences. Personal journal writing can be an appropriate way for some students to explore their memories; such writing should be shared with others only if the student readily agrees.   Issue for discussion: The use of the present tense Ask students what is unusual about the way in which the story is told. Can they suggest reasons for using the present tense? Have them experiment with what happens if the text is changed into the more conventional past tense - for example, in the scene where Andrew and his mother are searching for Rosa (pages 124-5). You may need to introduce the term 'immediacy'.   Issue for discussion: The setting As is the case with many novels where there is a strong sense of place, readers' responses differ depending on their familiarity with the setting. While the inner city suburban setting is sharply evoked, it has a special poignancy for those who recognise the scenes being described. Have students find extracts from the novel which contribute to the evocation of place. Can they identify those stylistic features the author uses to make these brief descriptions so vivid? Extracts to look at include the railway station on page 1, the sounds of the city on page 9, the bus trip along Parramatta Road on page 91, the description of King Street Newtown on page 102. Have students notice especially the use of truncated sentences and the accumulation of sharply observed detail. Use these extracts as models for students' own writing about places with which they are familiar.   Issue for discussion: The generation conflict Teenagers are likely to see the parents' opposition to Anna's plans as quite hypocritical, given their own history of political activism. They keep trying to explain. Have students collect their explanations (or excuses?) - for example, page 7 'It was different then', page 52 'when you get to our age you see the world a bit differently', page 60 'we never dragged our parents into it'. Can students see the parents' point of view at all?   A Study Guide Suggestions for Group Work 1. When reading a novel - especially a realistic novel like Refuge - it is easy to forget that you are reading something made up, something constructed by the author. The story and the characters seem so real and natural that we forget that every detail has been chosen by the author and that she could have chosen quite differently - with very different effects. In your group, consider each of the points below and work out why the author chose the way she did. Have one member of your group record the group's view in point form. Share your views later with other groups. (a) Anna and Andrew's parents Not all parents marched in Vietnam War moratorium marches, wore hippie clothes or were conscientious resisters. Would the novel have been different if the author had given Anna and Andrew's parents a different kind of background? Consider, for example, how the novel might be different if the parents had always been a very conservative couple, not involved in political activism. Did the author choose the parents' backgrounds in order to show that all parents are hypocrites or did she want us to think about something more complex about the differences between parents and teenagers? (b) The characters of Tyr and Kim What if Tyr, the old family friend, was someone who had always lived across the road in the house where he had been born - an old Australian who had never been anywhere else? What if his blind eye had been the result of a childhood accident? Would the overall impact of the novel have been different if Tyr had been a different kind of character with a different background? Does the fact that Kim is from a Cambodian refugee family help first Andrew - and then the reader - understand a little more about Rosa? Remember that the author is in charge: she could have chosen any of the girls at the school - Cass, Rebecca and so on - as the one Andrew is interested in. Why did she choose Kim? (c) Andrew the amateur palaeontologist Andrew's fascination with fossils is a detail that the author has chosen. He could have been a fanatical golfer, the class clown or the next Bill Gates. Libby Gleeson chose to develop a character who finds in the world of fossils a sense of certainty that he can't find in the much more difficult world of people. What would the book lose if the details about Andrew and his fossils weren't there? What is the significance of the banner Andrew has over his desk: IN THE ROCKS IS A STORY WE CAN READ. NOT FICTION BUT TRUE (page 33 - see too pages 79, 87 and 94). (d) The use of symbolism Read the last page of the novel. What if it ended with Andrew and Kim standing at the traffic lights stamping their feet in frustration as they are confronted by a great red DON¹T WALK sign. Would the feeling of the last paragraph be any different? What kind of feelings are suggested or symbolised by the last paragraph? Compare the scene on page 67. Look as well at pages 15 and 90: Andrew's splinter and the torn hand. Are these details that could have been left out because they don¹t really add anything to the story? Or do they help us to understand how Andrew is feeling? 2. In groups, research and report to the class on one of the following issues: Australian draft dodgers during the Vietnam War Australia and East Timor during World War II East Timor's history, especially its relationship with Portugal and Indonesia's 'forceful incorporation of East Timor' (page 88) the Dili massacre Jose Ramos-Horta and the Nobel Peace Prize (page 45) the situation of East Timorese asylum-seekers in Australia today Australia as a place of refuge: when and from where have the largest groups of refugees come to Australia? 3. Collect newspaper cuttings about Australia as a place of refuge. The collection will no doubt focus on East Timor but collect anything relevant - articles about former refugees who arrived in Australia with nothing and have become successful in their new lives; articles about boat people in northern Australia; protests and legal action involving asylum-seekers. Make a large wall display of your cuttings in the classroom or library. 4. Imagine that you have been asked to write an essay titled: 'Australia: the Compassionate Country'. In groups discuss how you would plan such an essay. Make a list of points that you could use to prove that Australia is compassionate; then a list of points that cast doubt on the compassion of Australians. As a group, draft the concluding paragraph of the essay.   A Study Guide, continued Suggestions for Individual Work 1. Use one of the following sentences as the beginning sentence - or topic - of a paragraph of writing. Refer specifically to incidents from the novel to support your view. Anna and Andrew's parents are the most hypocritical parents. At first, Anna and Andrew's parents seem to be the most hypocritical parents. Andrew is the most awful nerd. At first, Andrew seems to be the most awful nerd. Anna is motivated by entirely selfish reasons. At first, Anna is motivated by entirely selfish reasons. 2. Libby Gleeson uses flashback as a quick way of supplying the reader with information about the characters' background - see pages 21 and 77, noticing how the flashback has been indented to set it apart from the text. Write another flashback scene that gives further insight into the characters of Andrew and Anna and their relationship. You can use one of Andrew's memories from page 27 as the basis of your scene or you might make up a totally new incident, keeping it in character. The emphasis should be on trying to show the pattern in the relationship of brother and sister. 3. 'I love this octopus, but it isn't my octopus. I cannot now remember exactly what my octopus was like, but it wasn¹t quite this. And a bitter irony is that if I went back, I would probably miss this octopus too!' (pages 117-118) Think about what Tyr means. Perhaps you have experienced this kind of homesickness; if not, try to imagine what it must be like to leave everything you have known and loved and to start a totally new life in a country that seems quite alien at first. Write in the first person an account of someone experiencing this kind of homesickness. It can be any kind of form you like: perhaps an extract from a personal memoir, a letter home, a story, a poem. 4. Andrew finds Rosa's notebook and wonders what she has written about them (page 108), but he can't read it because it is in another language. What do you think Rosa might have written? Write some extracts from Rosa's notebook.