The Secret River Flashcards
(44 cards)
Aboriginal people’s attitude to ownership differs from white settlers as…
“There were no signs that the blacks felt the place belonged to them. They had no fences that said this is mine. No house that said, this is our home.”
Why were the blacks called savages?
“Like children, [the Aboriginal community] did not plant today so that they could eat tomorrow. It was why they were called savages.”
What shows the settlers lack an intrinsic connection to the land?
“There was an emptiness as he watched Jack’s hand caressing the dirt. This was something he did not have: a place that was part of his flesh and spirit.”
What does renaming of the places suggest?
Highlights dispossession and extending reach of the colonisers
Thorn hill misses the opportunity to interact with the blacks when…
Whisker Harry tries to show him aboriginal food (culture)– Thornhill can only insult him. ‘We’ll stick to our victuals, you stick to yours.’
How does Thornhill show misplaced cultural superiority?
Thornhill trades flour for meat but feels ripped off and is scornful of the ‘savages [who] had no better way of dealing with meat than bury it with a few hot embers’
Thornhill realises the blacks are clever farmers and like gentry as they are
sitting by their fires talking and laughing and stroking the chubby limbs of their babies’ – this whole section highlights the civilised nature of aboriginal society and reflects badly on Thornhill, who, despite his understanding, is unable to make strong moral choices around dealing with the aborigines – ‘In the world of these naked savages, it seemed everyone was gentry.’ Shows there is an inherent egalitarianism in their society.
What does Smasher removing the oysters suggest?
Smasher removes the oysters from the river, showing white superiority in asserting his dominance over the land. Shows complete apathy when an Aboriginal man tries to communicate with him on this.
How did Thornhill’s name show the importance of identity to him?
“From the time he knew his own name, William Thornhill, it seemed that the world was crowded with other William Thornhills.”
How does Thornhill talk to the Aboriginal man?
- “Old boy, he started. He fancied the sound of that. He had never called anyone old boy the way the toffs did.”
- “It was the way the gentry had spoken to him
Thornhill perceives himself to be stained by his former position as a convict because
“No matter how shabby Suckling became, no matter how far gone in drink, he would always be able to hold his head up high, a man who had never worn the stripes.” Ironic as Thornhill creates a more sinister criminal stain later when he participates in the massacre.
How is NSW described
“[New South Wales] was a machine in which some men would be crushed up and spat out, and others would rise to heights they would not have dreamed of before.”
How do Ned and Dan perceive their power over the Aboriginal boy when they scold him?
Ned and Dan feel a sense of dominance in being able to confront the Aboriginal boy: ‘His voice was rich with the pleasure of being able to shout at another person.’ Shows a cycle of power relations, Dan was depraved of feeling superior under Thornhill’s command, scolding the boy reasserted his control – similar to Thornhill as a convict
Thornholl realises just how similar he is to the Aboriginal people when he says
“It is like mine, he surprised himself thinking. Just the same colour as my own.”
What suggests the nature of the land has a sense of permanency?
“Ten years made no impression on the shape of the river”
How does blackwood show racial harmony between two cultures?
‘‘I find them quiet and peacable folk … which a man cannot say about many of his neighbours’
Blackwood addresses the fact that Smasher isn’t innately superior on account of his race when he says
he too is held accountable for his morally questionable actions: ‘By Christ … One of them blacks is worth ten of a little brainless maggot like you.’
What shows the lack of language
“The morning was spiraling away into panic. There were too many people here, and too little language to go around.”
How did Thornhill anglicise the Aboriginal men
“[Thornhill] began to give the men names: humble sorts of names that made their difference less potent.” (p.198) Anglicised names shows imperiousness of the colonisers.
What does watching the corroboree suggest?
cultural ignorance – due to fear he can only read it as a war dance. Misinterprets pyro-cultivation of the land.
What moment in Sal and Will’s relationship shows the drift between them
“[Thornhill’s] arm moved up and his hand opened itself out, almost of its own accord, to strike [Sal].”
and
“He saw that she did not recognise him. Some violent man was pulling at her, shouting at her, the stranger within the heart of her husband.”
Why does thorn hill beat dick?
- Thornhill misses the opportunity to interact with the blacks. Contrasted with Dick’s fascination with this new culture, showing humans are not inherently prejudiced.
- Thornhill beats Dick after Dick compares him unfavourably with the blacks: ‘They don’t need no flint or nothing, like you do …And no damned weeding the corn all day.’
Thorn hill’s upbringing was encompassed in poverty as
“He had eaten the bedbugs more than once.”
How is London characterised?
- “Thornhill grew up a fighter.” London is characterised as unforgiving, and overcrowded where Thornhill is never able to emulate a sense of self worth and ownership. Inability to forge an identity for himself brings about a sense of disconnectedness which contributes to his desire to stay in Australia
- Contrasted with Sal’s experience, grew up in a loving family with a deep sense of homeliness. Contributes to her wanting to return to London
