Doestheintro: includetitlesandauthorsnames grabattentioninaninterestingway listtechniquesthatwillbeexploredthroughouttheessay doesitgivebackgroundtothechosenstory doesitexplaintheparticularpurposeoftheauthor Analysehowthewriterusestechniquesforaparticularpurposeinanonfictiontext Dad was my Secret Weapon and The Nucleus Holding

the Universe together,twometaphors that summarise excellently the stories for which they name. The authors of the two pieces, Murray Ball and Greg Newbold respectively, wrote these pieces as part of a bookSons of the fathers, a collection of prominent New Zealand men writing about the relationships between them and theirfathers,andthe effect this relationship had on the authors lives overall. I will be addressing theuseoftechniquesthroughoutthesetwopieces,andhowitisthattheyportraythe authors purpose. The techniques I specifically will be looking at initially are the use of emotive language in the pieces, followed by the effect of titling thepieces as metaphors, then finally by theuseofcolloquiallanguage. Metaphor is used in bothpieces, to actively affect the readers views towards the fathers being talked about. A metaphor makes a direct comparison to enforce a point, in the case of Greg Newbold, thismetaphorwasTheNucleusholdingthe Universetogether.Anucleusisthecentre of a cell, responsible for all theworkings (growthdevelopmentofthecelletc)performedtherein. In thesameway,Gregfelthisfatherwasresponsibleforhisowngrowthanddevelopment.From this we can see that inourrelationshipswemaynotalwaysshowourgratitude,justasGregdid not truly realise what his father had done for him and his family untilmuch late on in life. Dad was my secret weapon, a metaphor suggesting that his father gave Murrayan advantage not available to others,just as a secret weapon would. From this though, we cansee the extent of Gregs gratitude or thanks towards his father, as he attributes (At least in part) much of his successtowhathisfatherdidforhim.. A topic that thetwoauthorsalsoaddress,isthatofthedisciplinetheyreceivedwhilegrowingup. This was primarily achieved throughthe use of anecdotal passages.In the case ofMurrayBall, he told of how as a child, him and hisbrotherwere beatenbytheirfatherwhentheyactedout of turn. Alternatively, for Greg Newbold, his father never physically hit or hurt his children in any way. Greg shared how rather than physically punishing his children, he did something a little different. A greatexample of this is the story of the boys in the washhouse. Thegeneralplotof this story, was that Greg and his brother Rod, were sent by their father to go and clean the washhouse. Toavoidthis,Greghidinatree.Hisfather, whenherealisedthis,didnotchooseto punish his children inthe obvious sense of the word, but ratherbyallowingittohappenandjust expressing disappointment,itbroughtguilttoGreg,forhavinggoneagainsthisfatherswishes,a man whom he respected greatly. The purpose, I believe, of the two authors sharing about this aspect of their upbringing, was to express their agreement towards the various methods of

punishment used. Murray said how [He] always invariably deserved it, and Greg,through the rest of his piece, spoke about his father in a way that showedheclearlywasappreciativeofhis father for this. This concept can also be used to show that whether a child is punished by someone else, or by having been made to feel guilt, both are viable ways to lead the child in questiontoreformtheirways. A theme present throughout the upbringingofthetwoboys,andonethattheauthorsveryclearly touch upon, is the stark contrast on the views of various things between themselves and their fathers. More specifically, that the sons are in many respects far more liberal in their opinions than that of their fathers, who the sons see as being conservative incomparison. Murray Ball illustrates this by talkingabouthisandhisfathersdifferingviewsontheSpringboktour,whereas Murray is liberal in his views (hebelievesthatif sport is the onlywaytoprotestapoint,thenitis acceptable), Nelson believed that sport and politics should never affect one another. Greg also showed how he had very different views to his father, most specifically throughout his teenage years, and then into early adulthood. As a teenager, Greg was rebellious, even to the point of intentionally going against the principles his father so stronglyadheredto.Gregwenttocourtfor shooting holes in some no shooting signs at Piha Beach. When his father found this out, he said to Greg Dont you realise what youve done? Youve broken the law of the land, son!, to which Greg replied I dont give ashit about the law of the land. Throughthispassagealonewe are able to see how different the two were in their views at the time. The purpose of the two authors in sharing about the conflicting views between them and their fathers, is to show that regardless of how different to two were from each other, the father in each relationship never gave uponhisson,andthisinthecaseof GregNewboldespecially,isoneofthemainsreasons whyhehadsomuchsuccesslaterinlife. In conclusion, the authors of these pieces used the techniques of metaphor, anecdotal sequences, and thestark contrast between thepersonalitiesandviewsofthesonswithrespect towards their fathers. Throughthe use of these various techniques, thethemeisportrayed,that being to show the relationship between father and son and the effect that had on the authors lives.