Secret River

Shaira Sanchez 05/09/12 Shaira Sanchez 05/09/12 The enigmatical River by Kate Grenville Essay Explain the way that tale devices beat been diligent by an author to construct a pretendation of people or places in at least peerless text that you have studied. You moldiness make specific reference to The privy River. One of Australias finest writers Kate Grenville wrote The Secret River which ch all(prenominal)(prenominal)enges traditional gender roles of women in the early ordinal light speed capital of the United Kingdom and Australia.The original has challenged the female stereo figure in a patriarchal club d mavin the strong female section of Sal Thornhill. Sal has been the brains of her family th nettlesome their tough times in capital of the United Kingdom and their settlement in Sydney. Sal is the wife of William Thornhill, a convict. The retention of how the gentry treated Thornhill pushed him to work himself up into the contrary land of Australia to hold up li ke that gentleman he had served once back in London, in the water of Thamesthe one with the power and the one who looked down on him who represents the working(a) sort.His determination to set off a space for himself in the foreign land accompanimentually placed him and some of the settlers in direct ambition to the Aboriginal people by their desire to finally have go for on their own lives. The use of a wide range of narrative devices in The Secret River has vividly taken the readers back to the nineteenth century where power and wealth determines a mans position in the society. Sal Thornhill has been constructed in The Secret River as a strong female pillow slip who challenges traditional gender roles in the early nineteenth century principally when women were biologi shrieky, socially and intellectually inferior.Although Sal was raised in a quite halcyon lifestyle, she restrained has managed to cope with the tragic events in her life as a m otherwise and as a wife. We see finished Thornhills peculiar(a) wise draw of view that Sal would have to brighten herself up because they twain knew that Sal would have to offer her service in the cold streets of London to stand up her familys financial needs, while Thornhill was convicted for theft. Sals staggering sacrifices did non proficient end in London.Her character even became stronger when they settled in a place that nothing Thornhill had ever seenwhere trees were tortured formless things that looked half unwarranted and when Christmas was during the hot days of summer. Women in that time were normally perceived as housekeepers and child-be bers. However, Sal did not just take care of her family emotionally and physically, however financially as well At the end of each week Sal would think up the takings, from Thornhills work on the water and from her own change liquor, and hide them onward in a box. which is evident through the descriptive language used.As a migrant myself, I understood S als bearing towards the new environment that she was in. It wasnt a part of her plan, notwithstanding she evaluate the circumstances and lived with it half-heartedly. Although her heart was eer reminding her of Home, her mind and body static endured the harsh conditions, all for her family. It wasnt the usual approach of women back in the nineteenth century to stand up for her family instead of the husband. However, Sals character was constructed to challenge the representation of women during that time by being the provider and the child-bearer all at once.Sal, her family, and the other settlers encountered the otherness once they arrived in Sydneywhich had two several(predicate) representations as a race in The Secret River. Australia was not an eject land when the Thornhills and the white settlers arrived. They were not expecting people living in that type of place for thousands of years. These people were as strange as the place through the settlers perception. in that r espect was one who hung about the Thornhills hut and entertained them, dressed all with a faded-pink bonnet on his head in trade for fare and a sip of rum.They called him Scabby Bill who represents the visible natives. His drunkenness and his appearing symbolises the detrimental impact of colonialism to the Aboriginals. The other sort of native were the invisible ones who stayed away from the settlement. They were represented through Long Jacks strong character. The settlers did not initially affect them, but they saw them as snakes or the spiders, not something that could be guarded against which symbolises as a threat to their dreams. The blackamoors, on the other hand had a different view of what the settlers referred to as stealing.Their effect is that nobody owns the land, not them, not the settlers. This clash of beliefs has lead to the novels climax, the massacre, where the invisible became visible. The way Thornhill addresses the natives and were given English names sym bolises Thornhills attitude being Eurocentric. Thornhill did not want to be engaged to the natives, but he himself implanted the European traditions on them. The settlers did not have the corresponding beliefs towards the blacks, just like the natives were to them which also lead to two different representationsone that respects the otherness and one that doesnt.A huge severalize in the characters was do in the novel between Blackwood and ten-strike. Blackwood was described as a huge deep and silent man who had a rough dignity about him. He believed in the concept of give a little, take a little in terms of dealing with the blacks. time kicks appearance was constructed as a naked-looking face without eyebrows and always craves for attention that is evident through his dialogue that he had not seen the event (rage) per word of honorally but spreads the story anyway. He believed in the concept of whips and biters. There was no single respect that was given to the blacks from Sma sher.Of all the characters, Blackwood has the greatest knowledge and appreciation of the Aboriginals and even lived with an Aboriginal woman and had a child. Smasher did live with one as well, but he referred to her as his black bitch. Although the settlers had the same hopes of finding a better life in Australia, they still ended up on two different paths due to the contrast on their attitude towards the Aboriginals. William Thornhills character was not constructed consistently in The Secret River as his attitudes and determine towards Australia and the Aboriginals changed throughout the novel.Through Thornhills limited omniscient point of view, we sympathise with him by the way the gentry treated him as a waterman in the lower class. He had worked hard but his efforts were not appreciated, thus, pushed him to steal that lead him in his deportation to Australia. Thornhill and the majority of the convicts tack together a hope for a better life in Australia. It was what they have a lways longed forto own a land, to finally have something they can call their own. Thornhills change n values was revealed through his dialogue, Forgetting your manners are you, Dan sr.field he said to an old friend who he chose as one his servants. He became hungry for power and authority when he had a appreciation on what it was like to be on outperform of the others on top of his fellow settlers, on top of the Aboriginals.Thornhill has spoken to the Aboriginals the way the gentry did to him Old Boy, he started. He fancied the sound of that. Thornhill and some of settlers saw the blacks as a hindrance to their one last chance to achieve their supreme dream, like when Sagitty suggested to get them before they get us. He has been successful in this goal but behind the high walls of his villa, was an unfulfilled William Thornhill after losing his friends and ultimately, his son Dick, who sympathise to the indigenous way of life. He became like the gentry, but not quite. He posses sed the land, the house, the servants, but not the respect. The scars of his past were embedded on his nameWilliam Thornhill, who was once a waterman, illiterate and an ex-convict. The Secret River has diverse representations of gender, class and race that have been successfully constructed in each character through the use of narrative devices.Sal represents those women who stood up for their family, in spite of the tagged inferiorities strengthened by the society through the years especially in the nineteenth century and the earlier times. Scabby Bill and Long Jack represent the two different approach of their race on colonisation of the Europeans. Their values differ, just as the settlers views had towards them. Blackwood amongst all the others respects the Aboriginals, while Smasher had no heart for these people and treated them like animals.William Thornhill as the novels protagonist did not have a certain representation. His social unit character was constructed based on his life back in London that resulted in a change of values as he run aground himself flourishing in his new Home. This novel lets the readers engage themselves in each of the representations effectively through Thornhills limited omniscient point of view. We tend to judge the differences in gender, in every class and in every race through what the society has already built on people as time goes by.However, Kate Grenville gave us a wider view of how each of these people ended up the way they were before, and the way they are in present time. As a migrant myself, I can equation myself with Sal, above all the characters. Migration wasnt a part of our plan, but if that leads us to a better life, why not endure the circumstances? At the end of the day, every sacrifice and effort will be cost it. However, I believe that I will never end up the way Thornhill had a wealthy man with a villa, without a public security of mind.