The Sorry Movement (1967-2008), represented a period in Australia issued official apologies for addressing past offenses. This movement marked an end-point to a history of wrongdoing towards the Aboriginal people and allowed political and social relations to start anew, promoting unity, justice, equality and respect between Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders and non-Indigenous Australians. This postcolonial apology and political movement has enacted texts and novels throughout the late ninety’s and 2000 and became the Sorry Movement’s peak manifestation by evoking a feeling of pity or compassion towards the Aboriginal community. Kate Grenville’s novel, The Secret River, utilize the element of pathos and themes of aboriginal presentation, alternative paths of development and clash of civilizations to evoke compassion towards the aboriginal culture influencing the Sorry Movement. For this particular essay, I will discuss how The Secret River evokes present day feelings of remorse when Australians are confronted with their past actions towards the Aboriginal community (Merlan, 20; Graham, 2014).
Grenville’s 2002 novel is set in the penal colony of New South Wales, Australia in the 1800’s. The main character, William Thornhill is exiled from England with his wife, Sal and baby, Willie to serve a life sentence for stealing wood. This book correlates to the current global conflict by bringing to focus the questions of country, citizenship and the effects on colonization on the Aboriginal community utilizing a plethora of pathos appeals to the readers.
The first element that really evokes the sense of personal responsibility for a reconciliation movement is the writing of the novel and the various literary techniques Grenville use...
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... She attempts to show that there are links and similarities between the characters that are transcending their cultural differences. There are no winners or losers; this conflict has negative consequences for all the participants in these dramatic events.
“The different approaches of the Aboriginal people and the colonists to the land ownership inevitably lead to misunderstanding and conflict, escalating to a massacre in which Thornhill is implicated.” (Crawford 236) The sense of ownership appears in the novel in two dimensions. First there is Thornhill´s personal desire, a sudden urge of a man who owned only a coat during his lifetime, to own at least a small piece of land and when this opportunity comes, he does not let it go. However, his attitude toward the land he wants to own is quite ambiguous. He claims that the land does not belong to anyone while there...
Eddie Mabo is widely known for his plight to regain land rights for both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In 1982, along with four other Meriam people from Murray Island, he initiated legal proceedings in the Queensland Supreme Court claiming customary ownership of their lands on Murray Island. This original claim was rejected by the Supreme Court, but rather than backing down Mabo chose to present his case to the High Court of Australia. The basis of his case explores how “’Australia’ is morally illegitimate to the extent that it is founded on European denial of the continent’s prior ownership by indigenous people…” (Rowse, 1994)
Her realization that she is not alone in her oppression brings her a sense of freedom. It validates her emerging thoughts of wanting to rise up and shine a light on injustice. Her worries about not wanting to grow up because of the harsh life that awaits her is a common thought among others besides the people in her community. As she makes friends with other Indians in other communities she realizes the common bonds they share, even down to the most basic such as what they eat, which comforts her and allows her to empathize with them.
“a verse for the cheated” discusses the effects of colonialism in Australia. The poem suggests the the European invaders or “tourists” arrive and are ignorant in respect to the Indigenous Australians.
“We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians. We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country. For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry. To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.”
English literature have been used to express the experiences and history of Australia. In Dorothy Mackellar’s “My Australia” poem, signifies the beauties and the terrors of the luck country. However, Migrants experience a different terror, as conveyed by Ania Walwicz as the “big, ugly” side of Australians - facing the cruel racism of the White Australian Policy. In Australia’s history, Migrants have been treated with alienation and physical discrimination which distant them from Australia’s community. Migrants not only faces the terrors of the land but also the racism enforced by Australia’s laws.
Indigenous People. In evaluating the Legal System’s response to Indigenous People and it’s achieving of justice, an outline of the history of Indigenous Australians - before and during settlement - as well as their status in Australian society today must be made. The dispossession of their land and culture has deprived Indigenous People of economic revenue that the land would have provided if not colonised, as well as their ... ... middle of paper ... ...
In Jasper Jones, racial power has been reflected through the representation of certain groups and individuals of the 1960s and the conflicts that occurred. At the time in which the text was set being the 1960s, racial prejudice was evident in Australia, especially in rural areas that maintained a parochial and xenophobic society. Aboriginal people were not recognised as citizens of Australia and in some cases, not even as people. They were mistreated and typically seen as uneducated drunkards and criminals. Offspring of white colonists and Aboriginal people were regarded as ‘half-caste’ and were also not acknowledged as Australians. In the same context, there was a growing hatred and resentment towards Vietnamese immigrants due to the impac...
A political debate derived from 1990’s that held the British colonists culpable for the beginning of the ‘history wars’ that many protagonists became involved in. ‘History wars’ is divided into two views, one being a conservative view that considered the European settlement to be an achievement of taming hostile land. The progressive view on the other hand, perceives the history to be a reminder of the invasion of their land, frontier violence and dispossession of Indigenous owners. John Howard who represented the liberal party was one of the main protagonists within this controversy, representing the conservative view. Paul Keating, the labor party representative became a legacy, a Keating legacy that began reconciliation evolving in practical and symbolic ways (Ke...
Major settlements occurred after the nineteenth century. The British had quickly out-numbered the Aboriginal community, leaving them powerless to the changes or the invasion. The belief systems of the Europeans overpowered the aboriginal’s way of life, pressuring them to conform to the...
The Stolen Generation has had a profound impact on every aspect of the lives of Indigenous communities. It has jeopardised their very survival. It has impoverished their capacity to control and direct their future development. The Stolen Generation has corrupted, devastated and destroyed the souls, hopes and beliefs of many Australian lives through damaging assimilation policies established in an attempt to make a ‘White Australia’ possible. Discrimination, racism and prejudice are some of the many permanent scars upon Indigenous life that will never be repaired. However, recently Rudd and the Australian public have sincerely apologised for the detrimental effects the Stolen Generation had caused. The Stolen Generation has dramatically shaped Australian history and culture.
“Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human History. We reflect on their past mistreatment. We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations—this blemished chapter in our nation’s history. The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future. We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians” (apology by Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, 16th November 2009, Parliament House, Canberra.)
It is clear that many steps were taken to achieve the same rights and freedoms as the rest of Australia for the Aborigines especially since 1945. Major steps forward and setbacks included the Day of Mourning, the Aboriginal Protection Act, the Child Welfare Act, the ‘Freedom Ride’, the 1962 Electoral Act and the 1967 Referendum, the tent ‘Aboriginal Embassy’, the protest at Wave Hill, Frank Hardy’s project to find the ‘real Australia’, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam giving back 300 000 square kilometers of land, the Mabo decision in 1982, the Native Title Act, John Howard’s plan in 1996, and Kevin Rudd’s apology speech. Overall, there has been a long struggle for reconciliation. Indigenous Australians now have the same rights as other Australians, but social and economic equality are still to be improved.
The novel was written at a time where Australia was embracing different cultures and the Australian government were recognizing migrants for their contribution to society.
...allowed to reach her American Dream without being frowned upon by others. Materialism, and the fears of judgment, are restrictions for these characters that keep them from reaching their true happiness and American Dreams.
How does Kate Grenville express the theme of conflict in her novel ‘The Secret River’?