Embers Essay

In the play â€Å"Embers† Campion Decent gives the audience the opportunity to simultaneously react to the plays events intellectually, and to experience the characters emotional connection between themselves and the community. â€Å"Embersâ€Å" demonstrates how a community can support each other in the aftermath of a natural disaster. This is clearly shown through verbatim stories of different characters such as Keith, the RC ladies and at the end different characters coming together as one and retelling their stories. To a large extent the representation of community is shown through a range of techniques used throughout the play. In addition it’s supported by quotes directly from audio recordings of Campion Decent himself. In the play the importance of community involvement is demonstrated when Keith breaks down under the pressure of fighting fires. Keith reacts by being stubborn about the situation when a young CFA worker lost his cool during the fires. The use of idiom â€Å"lost it† and the imperative form repetition of â€Å"hose the prick down† (page 77-78) is used as Keith gives a sense of authority and urgency in a brutal and direct order giving the kid no concessions because he is young. Keith is adamant that he will not go home as he repeats â€Å"I won’t leave because it my area, it’s my fire and I won’t leave† and the repetition of personal pronouns reinforces that he is in charge when he says â€Å"That’s my area. They vote me in as captain. My responsibility to stay†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This shows that he is captain and under the pressure of controlling the fires in his area. The strong connection between the community and individuals is reinforced when Keith shows that he doesn’t want to let him community down, yet it is his community members can see that he has ‘lost it’ and needs a rest. The irony is that he cannot see that the members of the community are trying to help him by sending a priest and counsellor. This emphasises that belonging to a community provides him support, solace and assistance in times of hardship. In the audio recordings of Campion Decent, it mentions that Campion interviewed a volunteer fire fighter of about forty years experience. Decent states that â€Å"†¦tears began to roll down his face (referring to the experienced fire fighter)†¦ he had been quite jovial†¦ the tears began†¦Ã¢â‚¬  That interview, as well as Keith’s story reinforces that the community is connected by individuals who sacrificed so much to preserve the community’s existence. Throughout the play an importance is placed on how great it is to be Australian and how Australians come together in times of need. In the last scene people talk about their impressions and experiences, of what they saw, felt and how they dealt with the fire as a community. Noel Hodda in the ABC interview states â€Å"what it does this play†¦ it draws all the strings of different lives and community together and it shows how we as Australians in a large community and a small community are always ready to step up and give each other a hand†. This imagery reinforces the positives about being an Australian, which means being there for someone in need and coming together as one and helping each other, further showing the connection between individual and community. A technique used in this scene is when the D/farmer uses the idiom â€Å"light at the end of the tunnel†. This symbolism is used to show that when they went through the difficult stage of dealing with the fire that there is sign of hope in the future. Graham also states that at the end of the day â€Å"you can be knocked down, kicked around, and everything run over the top of ya†. This supports the idea that there is always someone there that will give you a hand, which reinforces the importance of the interconnection between individuals and their community. Another representation of community is shown through the individuality of the RC ladies who come together as one and help assist the community by providing meals for the workers. This is seen in the quote â€Å"RC Lady 1 â€Å"And we were told to feed CFA but –â€Å" RC Lady 2 â€Å"We fed ‘em all† †¦ RC Lady 3 â€Å"We were told by them they were professionals† †. The short sentence dialogue, spoken by the RC ladies, reinforces that there is a lot of individual opinions in the group. However they all have the one idea and come together as a community in supporting and assisting everyone who needs help. This is further reinforced by the repetition of the reference to the community group as â€Å"we†. The sense of irony in the quote â€Å"and we had complaints that they were putting on weight† brings in a sense of humour and shows how well the RC ladies have banded together to fed the workers. Campion Decent states in the recordings â€Å"For me it’s about the human experience and how people navigate themselves through an event of such extreme nature†. This reinforces to the audience that through the hard times every person experienced the extreme nature of the fires together as a community and survived. Throughout the play, â€Å"Embers†, a powerful connection between the community and its individuals is successfully conveyed. This is shown through an exploration of how belonging to a community provides support, solace and assistance in times of hardship, how Australian individuals come together to assist others in times of need. This supported through the use of various techniques throughout the play also by the quotes directly from audio recordings of Campion Decent.