“Cronulla Beach”

by: Jose Wendell P. Capilli

https://youtu.be/
6lERYloaMaU
(video related to the topic)

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◈ In Sydney's Cronulla Beach, more than 5,000 white Australians
descended on the sands, attacking anybody who 'looked Middle Eastern
or Asian. Revenge followed: Men of color rampaged through Cronulla
with baseball bats, smashing storefronts, windshields.

                 

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Introduction
◈ The poem "Cronulla Beach" of Jose Wendell Capili talks about the
turbulance happened in Cronulla Beach in Australia that led the
generations wanting to stay pure and sterile. What do you think is the
reason behind?  
◈               Racism is shown in "Cronulla Beach", a poem written by a
writer and academic from Philippines. Jose Wendell Capili. The poem
was published under the book, "The second Genesis: An Anthology of
Contemporary World Poetry" in 2014.
          

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What is the poem all about?
Cronulla Beach
Cronulla derived from an Aboriginal word kurranulla meaning 'place of pink seashells. That is located in
Sydney,Australia. The poem talk’s about the riot in Cronulla beach, Sydney, Australia It talk’s about the
racism between white people and black people. The white people discriminate the colored people. Based
on the poem the white and colored people are fighting their spot in the cronulla beach. The irony in the
poem is they don’t have to fight. Because they have different features, different skin color but they are
both Australians , so the beach owned by all of them. This poem is very meaningful it talk’s about the
racism that is very usual nowadays. The poem is very important to wake up the people from reality that
we have to stand up to fight over our rights.

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HELLO!
I am Jose Wendell P. Capilli

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 Background
Jose Wendell Capili

Born:                 Manila,Philippines

Pen Name:        Jose Wendell Capili
Occupation:      Professor, Poet, Author
Education  :      University of Santo Tomas
                         University of the Philippines Diliman
University of Cambridge
Australian National University

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◈ Jose Wendell Capili is a Filipino academic and writer.He earned
degrees from the University of Santo Tomas, University of the
Philippines Diliman, University of Tokyo, University of
Cambridge and Australian National University. He is professor
of creative writing and comparative literature at the College of
Arts and Letters, University of Philippines. His creative and
scholarly works were published in Asia, Europe, North America
and Australia.

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◈ Al Camus Palomar of the University of Oklohoma says that Edith L. Tiempo, Rene Amper, Peter
Bacho, Jose Capili, Maria Carino, and the incomparable Fatima Lim - Wilson are incluided to
remind us all of what reading good poetry, feels like. And read Luis Cabalquinto, Jose Capili, and
Richardo de Ungria carefully. You will be immensely rewarded if you do. A.R.D.S. Bordado said
that Capili's " The Great Australian Landscape" and "Gorilla Bay" show the Filipino sensibility
imbibing foreign geography. The latter poem describes the beauty of the bay: "Gastropods on a
drift conceive enclosures of bubbles shimmering forth, polished and white among rocks,
splashing as spring time turns supremely aqua marine, even less torrential." Of "Baguio: The
Demise", critic Ralph Semino Galan writes how Capili utilizers the aftermath of another disaster,
the gutted down remains of the Pines Hotel that burned down in 1984, as one of the objective
correlatives to express the emotional vacuity the personae oin his elegiac poem are experiencing
years after their major romantic breakup. For Galan, Capili is able to obfoscate the obvious
intensity of the emotions that are being stirred by the reunion, for he makes the ex - lovers focus
on the physical landscape, rather than the inner turmoil they are feeling in each other's formerly
familiar presence: "the rustle of leaves behaving like music." "The landscape of cones falling on
mountain sleeves." " Pure hemp and other bell - shaped things awakening from a sudden gush of
the wind".
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Literary Genre
The literary genre of “Cronulla Beach” is poetry. Poetry is a literature
that evoke concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or a specific
emotional response through language chosen and arranged for its meaning,
sound, and rhythm. The Cronulla Beach is a poetry, because it showcases
imaginative awareness, expressed through language, a proof of this is the
line “white Australians descended on the sands, attacking anybody who
looked Middle Eastern or Asian which conveys a message of awareness that
racism could result to the worst things or event.

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Purpose of the poem

◈ The purpose of the poem is to inform the readers. So with that, the
readers will be aware on what happened in Cronulla Beach where the
riots occurred between white men and colored men. The author also
wants to change the perpective of the readers about the Australian.

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Theme

◈ The theme of the poem “Cronulla Beach” is racism between white

men and colored men. One of the darkest days is believed to have
arrived. The Australians are only allowed to protest at the end of the
day, and the others are not. 

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Contextual Analysis

◈ The setting used in the poem “Cronulla Beach” is the Cronulla Beach of
Sydney, Australia, and the poem is about racism, especially for the
Asians. We have researched the author’s background information, and
found out that he studied in Australia. Therefore, it can be concluded that
the author has written the poem based on his own experiences when he
was studying in Australia.

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Summary of the poem

        The text “Cronulla Beach” of Jose Wendell Capili is all about the
turbulence between the white people and colored people that had happened in
Sydney’s Cronulla Beach Blood surges along the beach Men of color with bats
who are smashing storefronts and windshield are all mad. The tents, parasols,
and sun blinds spread all over. The people’s leader is not present. Thugs and
their hand maids constrict equisite shades perplexed condition to keep the
generations pure and sterile. The spaces beneath the vestiges of small villages
have become driftwood, shells, annual melting pots, and succession. They
swayed brilliant light in a hot weather

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 Guide Questions
1. what is the importance of the setting?

2. Why is it ironic that the beach used to be an “aboriginal landscape?”

3. What does it mean that there are generations who want to keep themselves “pure
and sterile”? What does this say about immigration issues in australia?

4. Why did the white men rampage against colored people? How do you feel about
this?

5. Why did the colored people take their revenge? How do you feel about this?

6. In this discussion about immigration and race, where does the filipino come in?
Why is this an important concern for Filipinos? 15
7. The pink seashells in the story gradually turned into sand. What could this be a
symbol of? Explain.

8. There is juxtaposition of the image of the riots with postcards. Why was this
done?

9. Dis this poem change the way you look at living or working abroad? Did it
change the way you view Australia? Why or Why not?

10. The last line says, “So racializing, this soap”. What does it mean?

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THANK
S!
Group 10
John Lemuel Tornos
Cruz Jeanette M.