This is the text of my son's oral presentation for Year 12 English. They were given the topic of identity. Who am I? where am i from? Where am I going? What’s my purpose? Where do i belong? All his life Fabian had been asking himself these questions. From the moment he woke up to the moment he went to bed these questions would permeate his mind. But the problem was each time he tried to resolve these riddles, the best answer he could come up with was “I dunno. quack” One day Fabian asked his parents “mum, dad, who am i” “don’t be silly...” Said his father “You know who you are, your my cute little Fabian” Fabian was frustrated by this answer “you don’t understand me, i know who I am, but who am iiiiii” Fabian’s mother became very concerned, “Fabian? Have you been taking drugs?” she asked Fabian began to feel his parents just didn’t get him “Jeez mom, i wasn’t expecting this kind of Spanish inquisition” Suddenly a band of men in red robes and giant crosses around their necks barged through their door. “NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!" They cried. It then occurred to Fabian his family really needed to install better security, this was the second time that week a medieval group intruded into their house, just the other day, it didn’t take long after Fabians father was praising Pope john paul the 2nd before Martin Luther entered through the chimney and began lecturing on the Churches hypocrisy. It also occurred to Fabian that if he wanted any meaningful answers about who he was, he wouldn’t be able to find them at home. Fabian told his parents that he loved them very much, but it was time for him to leave and find himself. “You do what you want son, as long as you remember to marry a duckish girl” said his father. before Fabian could get out the door his mother pleaded “Take some cake before you go, your so skinny, your feet look like bird legs” As Fabian wandered on his journey, he began to ponder, “Who can show me the way? Who can direct me to the answers I seek?” Fabian was then hit with a great idea " I shall ask Zandar, the wise duck elder, HE KNOWS EVERYTHING! So Fabian went on his way to Zandars temple, when Fabian arrived he saw the wise Zander sitting in a meditation position, repeating a mystical mantra over and over again in a trance like state "quack.....quack...quack" "what brings you to me, my child" asked Zandar, "sorry for disturbing you master Zander, can you tell me who i am, im trying to find my identity" Zander closed his eyes and thought deeply for a few minutes and then opened his eyes again. "my child, in order for you to understand who you are i must tell you a story, there ws once a group of ducks who had been imprisoned inside a cave. they were chained so that they could not turn around and see the entrance of the cave, therefore all they could see was passing shadows of there bodies as the shun shone on their backs. They thought that was all there was as they never saw anything different. One of the ducks finaly managed to escapes, he exited the cave and entered the real world for the first time and realized that all this time what he taken for reality until now was just shadows on the wall." Fabian was more confused then when he entered Zandars temple. "I don't get it." he said "My child, your a shadow, your identity has no meaning as you are not even real What is real is not the million different ducks out there with their own personal identity, but the one idea, the one concept of the duck. we are all just shadows of the idea of the duck, that is who we are, that is our identity. As Fabian tried to follow Zandars answer, he became very sure that Zander had cought the bird flu and had gone crazy. Fabian thanked Zandar for his help and tried to hide his disatisfaction with Zandar's answer, it made no sense to him at all. Fabian felt he would never find his identity and decided to head back home. When he got home he spoke little to his parents and locked himself in his bedroom. With nothing else to do Fabion decided to check his facebook. he saw he had 1 group invitation. fabian became overwelmed, the group he was invited to was for ducks who were trying to find there identity, It turned out Fabian wasn't the only duck that felt lost, there were hundreds of other ducks just like him who had joined the group. Finally Fabian had found himself, he finally found something to identify with and for the first time ever he truly felt like he belonged. |