Two Gifts for Annie single work   short story  
Issue Details: First known date: 1998... 1998 Two Gifts for Annie
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Annie is a deaf girl in a small town who enjoys going to school. An inspector has come to see how she and her teacher, Mr Fletcher, manage in the class. The inspector wants to put her in an institution or a special school, questions why she hasn't been given a hearing aid, and pushes for segregated white and Aboriginal people seating in the school. Mr Fletcher defends against all these demands, insisting that Annie is content with where she is.

After the inspector leaves, Annie writes a poem about her resilience in class, comparing herself to a weed; Mr Fletcher notices and has her stay after class. They discuss her domestic abuse situation and her intelligence. Mr Fletcher gifts her a dictionary that belonged to his dead son, and the grocer Annie's family sells eggs to gifts her broken biscuits on her way home.

Affiliation Notes

  • Writing Disability in Australia:

    Type of disability Deafness from birth, mutism.
    Type of character Primary.
    Point of view First person.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Westerly vol. 43 no. 1 Autumn 1998 Z596295 1998 periodical issue 1998 pg. 28-36
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Diamonds in the Mud and Other Stories Joy Dettman , Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2006 Z1328674 2006 selected work short story Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2006 pg. 201-209
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Related Works

One Small Potato Joy Dettman , 1994 single work short story
— Appears in: Tart and Juicy : Food Stories from Australian and New Zealand Writers 1994; (p. 57-66) Diamonds in the Mud and Other Stories 2006; (p. 23-32)

Malcolm Fletcher is a disenchanted school teacher, struggling to keep to his doctor's prescribed diet for his weight. On the last day of school, he finds that Ben Burton, a fifth grader, has brought his deaf and mute sister Annie to class.

Fletcher initially mocks Ben and wishes Annie weren't in his class, but he soon discovers after setting the class a poetry writing task that Annie is literate. Fletcher interrogates Ben on Annie's intelligence, growing disgusted at his own neglect, and declares Annie will begin to come to school. He leaves the school with renewed cheer at the thought of a child needing him as a teacher.
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (1)
Last amended 12 Mar 2018 10:34:04
Subjects:
  • Country towns,
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