Culture Clash
In Kate Grenville’s novel, The Secret River, there is a clash of cultures described throughout the novel. Grenville describes the two different cultures at certain points and sometimes compares or contrasts them. One particular part where this happens is when Grenville writes about the different concepts of land ownership in Aboriginal culture versus in the culture of the colonizers. On page 93, Grenville writes, “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” (Grenville 93). I think that with this quote, it shows that colonizers like Will had the view that putting something on the land indicated ownership, and so Will immediately wanted to plant something on the land in order to signify that he owned it. Therefore, I think that the Aboriginal people and the colonizers had different views on what ownership meant.
Additionally, there was another scene that compared how the natives got their food versus how the colonizers did. Will worked all day to get food and still only had a little bit while the natives went into the forest and easily got food “hanging from their belts” (Grenville 202). I think this shows the difference in culture between these two peoples because the Aboriginals know how to live in the forest while Will is adjusting. Therefore, using the concept of obtaining food, Grenville is able to show another difference between these two cultures.
Will also sees himself as superior to the Aboriginal people and calls them savages...
I also noticed the difference in how both cultures value land.
ReplyDeleteOwnership was a word and theme that I kept noticing throughout the book. I think this stark difference in the two cultures' views on ownership is meant to critique the capitalist London society.
ReplyDeleteownership is present a lot among colonizers because for them ownership=wealthy=superior
DeleteI agree 100% Calvin, and we can see how Will's confusion exemplifies the difference in mindset completely
DeleteOne of the biggest differences between colonizers and Indigenous people (anywhere) is the concept of the ownership of land. They don't "claim" land in the same way that imperialists countries do, which is how we end up with terms like "terra nullius" or empty land.
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoyed reading the direction you took my groups blog post, the use of land in your blog post was really well done!
ReplyDeleteI think the concept of land ownership also invokes a discussion of how social dynamics and familial structure differed for Aboriginals and colonizers. Aboriginal life appears more community-based with multiple families all close together, while white colonizers lived (for the most part) alone with their individual families.
ReplyDelete