Created by
Students also viewed
Terms in this set (18)
Context/Setting:
- Early chapters are set in industrial England, and the later chapters are set in an early colonial settlement of NSW from 1806 onwards.
- The land represents money and a future for the characters of English descent which contrasts sharply with its meaning for the Indigenous Australian characters.
- For the Indigenous Australians the land represents their capacity to survive in the present, their future and their past.
- In the later chapters there is much conflict between the Indigenous Australians and the white characters.
- It is in this colonial setting of NSW that we see William Thornhill's inner conflict through the complexities and challenges he faces and the extent to which conflict is all consuming.
- The land represents money and a future for the characters of English descent which contrasts sharply with its meaning for the Indigenous Australian characters.
- For the Indigenous Australians the land represents their capacity to survive in the present, their future and their past.
- In the later chapters there is much conflict between the Indigenous Australians and the white characters.
- It is in this colonial setting of NSW that we see William Thornhill's inner conflict through the complexities and challenges he faces and the extent to which conflict is all consuming.
Techniques/Conventions:
- Contrast of Aboriginal people & Europeans (values, connection to land, sense of belonging, ect).
- Contrast of people (Smasher & Blackwood, Dick & Willie, ect).
- Contrast of people (Smasher & Blackwood, Dick & Willie, ect).
William Thornhill Notes
- He is obsessed with ownership and status.
- He is often morally conflicted throughout the text, as he must balance his morals with his ambitions.
- He is often morally conflicted throughout the text, as he must balance his morals with his ambitions.
William Thornhill Quotes:
- "The thought of his place seemed to have allowed him to forget Smasher".
- "It was a piercing hunger in his guts: to own it".
- "But Jack for short, you got such a bleeding mouthful of a monicker".
- "They're savages, Dick. We're civilised folk, we don't go round naked".
- "It was a piercing hunger in his guts: to own it".
- "But Jack for short, you got such a bleeding mouthful of a monicker".
- "They're savages, Dick. We're civilised folk, we don't go round naked".
Sal Thornhill Notes
- Sal is used to represent the people who ignored or overlooked what happened in Australia.
- Like many people, she chooses to ignore what happens, and does not embrace Australia and Aboriginal culture.
- Like many people, she chooses to ignore what happens, and does not embrace Australia and Aboriginal culture.
Sal Thornhill Quotes
- Sal "we give them the victuals and that, they leave us alone".
- "Nor would she eat anything except what they had brought with them".
- Sal "even got a broom to keep it clean, Will. Just like I got myself".
- "Her family was a notch up from the Thornhills".
- "Nor would she eat anything except what they had brought with them".
- Sal "even got a broom to keep it clean, Will. Just like I got myself".
- "Her family was a notch up from the Thornhills".
Willie vs Dick Thornhill Notes
- These two brothers represent two different perspectives, and are used as a contrast.
- While Dick is open to and curious about Aboriginal culture, Willie is fearful and resistant.
- While Dick is open to and curious about Aboriginal culture, Willie is fearful and resistant.
Dick Thornhill vs Willie Thornhill Quotes
- "He ran and called and laughed with them, and he could have been their pale cousin".
- "Dick was watching the spot where the two sticks met. His whole being was fixed on that spot".
- Dick "ain't no call for the gun" "they just having a get together".
- Willie "we best show them good and proper".
- "Dick was watching the spot where the two sticks met. His whole being was fixed on that spot".
- Dick "ain't no call for the gun" "they just having a get together".
- Willie "we best show them good and proper".
Blackwood vs Smasher Notes
- Blackwood is a flawed character.
- Although he steals the land from the Aboriginal people, and is also obsessed with ownership, he is compassionate towards the Aboriginal people.
- He does not see himself, or the European people as superior to the Aboriginal people, and he also understands that the land is not entirely theirs to take.
- Smasher on the other hand, represents the colonialist perspective.
- He is also obsessed with ownership and status, and he believes he is superior to the Aboriginal people.
- He did many horrible things, such as enslave Aboriginal women, kill Aboriginal men and incite a massacre.
- Although he steals the land from the Aboriginal people, and is also obsessed with ownership, he is compassionate towards the Aboriginal people.
- He does not see himself, or the European people as superior to the Aboriginal people, and he also understands that the land is not entirely theirs to take.
- Smasher on the other hand, represents the colonialist perspective.
- He is also obsessed with ownership and status, and he believes he is superior to the Aboriginal people.
- He did many horrible things, such as enslave Aboriginal women, kill Aboriginal men and incite a massacre.
Blackwood vs Smasher Quotes
- Blackwood to Smasher "one of them blacks is worth ten of a little brainless maggot like you"
- Blackwood "ain't nothing in this world just for the taking".
- Blackwood "A man got to pay a fair price for taking".
- Smasher cut the hands of an Aboriginal "last time that bugger thieves from me".
- "Thieving blacks".
- Blackwood "ain't nothing in this world just for the taking".
- Blackwood "A man got to pay a fair price for taking".
- Smasher cut the hands of an Aboriginal "last time that bugger thieves from me".
- "Thieving blacks".
Ownership Notes
- What defines ownership is a major theme in this novel.
- It is actually the question of ownership that lies at the bottom of the conflict between the settlers and the Australian natives.
- The English believed that by "marking" a piece of property with a crop they made it theirs.
- The natives, on the other hand, had free rein of the land for thousands of years before Australia was claimed for England.
- They saw the settlers as taking over land that had been theirs for centuries.
- It is actually the question of ownership that lies at the bottom of the conflict between the settlers and the Australian natives.
- The English believed that by "marking" a piece of property with a crop they made it theirs.
- The natives, on the other hand, had free rein of the land for thousands of years before Australia was claimed for England.
- They saw the settlers as taking over land that had been theirs for centuries.
Ownership Quotes
- "There were no signs that the blacks felt the place belonged to them".
- "The thought of his place seemed to have allowed him to forget Smasher".
- "It was a piercing hunger in his guts: to own it".
- "To say mine in a way he had never been able to say mine of anything at all".
- "The thought of his place seemed to have allowed him to forget Smasher".
- "It was a piercing hunger in his guts: to own it".
- "To say mine in a way he had never been able to say mine of anything at all".
Clash of Cultures Notes
- Throughout the novel, Grenville juxtaposes British and Aboriginal understandings of several important social concepts: personal property, clothing, hunting and farming, family relationships, and relationship to the natural environment.
- The incomprehension with which each culture regards the other leads to the majority of conflicts in the novel.
- The British concepts of private property and settlement, backed up by the guns and might of the Empire, eventually win the battle between the two civilisations.
- The incomprehension with which each culture regards the other leads to the majority of conflicts in the novel.
- The British concepts of private property and settlement, backed up by the guns and might of the Empire, eventually win the battle between the two civilisations.
Clash of Cultures Quotes
- "He was the same as the ants or the flies, a hazard of the place that had to be dealt with".
- "The two streams of words rushed together like a sea meeting a river, pouring over each other hard and muddled".
- "The blacks were frequently committing their outrages and depredations".
- "They're savages, Dick. We're civilised folk, we don't go round naked".
- The Aboriginal singing "was not a tune, nothing cheerful that you might listen to like Oranges and Lemons".
- "To the man listening behind the tree, there was no more sense to the sound than there was to an insect's drone".
- "The two streams of words rushed together like a sea meeting a river, pouring over each other hard and muddled".
- "The blacks were frequently committing their outrages and depredations".
- "They're savages, Dick. We're civilised folk, we don't go round naked".
- The Aboriginal singing "was not a tune, nothing cheerful that you might listen to like Oranges and Lemons".
- "To the man listening behind the tree, there was no more sense to the sound than there was to an insect's drone".
Social Hierarchy Notes
- The theme of social hierarchy and its levels of power runs throughout the novel.
- Beginning with William's first visit to Christ Church through to the placement of the stone lions on the gateposts of Thorhnhill's Point, Grenville explores the impact of social ranking on individual development.
- The humiliation that William experiences as a waterman in London marks his character for life and informs the choices he makes throughout the novel.
- He craves the thrill of wielding power over another person.
- For William and the other settlers (the majority of whom are convicts), their status as white men gives them permission to look down on other human beings (the Aborigines), for the first time in their lives.
- Their treatment of the Aborigines is informed by their understanding of how one should treat a racial and social inferior.
- Beginning with William's first visit to Christ Church through to the placement of the stone lions on the gateposts of Thorhnhill's Point, Grenville explores the impact of social ranking on individual development.
- The humiliation that William experiences as a waterman in London marks his character for life and informs the choices he makes throughout the novel.
- He craves the thrill of wielding power over another person.
- For William and the other settlers (the majority of whom are convicts), their status as white men gives them permission to look down on other human beings (the Aborigines), for the first time in their lives.
- Their treatment of the Aborigines is informed by their understanding of how one should treat a racial and social inferior.