Preview

MLA Bibliography: The Secret River

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1051 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
MLA Bibliography: The Secret River
MLA Citation
"Blackwood And Dick In "The Secret River" Ri". Anti Essays. 7 Mar. 2012
<http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/100987.html>
APA Citation
Blackwood And Dick In "The Secret River" Ri. Anti Essays. Retrieved March 7, 2012, from the World Wide Web: http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/100987.html

Thomas Blackwood and Dick Thornhill are two minor characters in Kate Grenville’s novel, The Secret River, albeit very important characters in terms of significance. They represent a notion of integration with the native people, and demonstrate Kate Grenville’s modern view on the issue. We have a lot to learn from both of the two characters, who eventually form a lasting relationship.

Thomas Blackwood is an emancipist and an
…show more content…
Blackwood is tolerant of Thornhill but not of Sagitty or Smasher. At the peak of his suppressed anger towards Smasher’s treatment of the Aborigines, he eventually attacks Smasher. Blackwood says to Smasher, “By Christ Jesus, one of them Blacks is worth ten of a little brainless maggot like you.” The phrase shows how people such as Smasher, who think the natives of a lower class than they, are in fact in Blackwood’s eyes worth …show more content…
This rapport also carries other connotations: that if the settlers were more willing to make peace, and if there were to be less violence, the colonists could actually have learnt and benefited from the Aborigines’ knowledge. The communication difficulties could potentially have been overcome and the bloodshed avoided. “Dick did not move. He’s showing us how you make fire, Da, he called back. No flint of nothing. Thornhill had heard about this business of making fire by rubbing two sticks together…he went over, prepared to enjoy this bit of tomfoolery.” From this, we can learn how Thornhill is not willing to learn from the Aborigines’ connection with the land, while Dick is more

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In chapters XXVI and XXVII of the novel “Ragged Dick,” Horatio Alger describes how the a brave heart of a young man named Richard Hunter, got him a good paying job and opened new opportunities for his future. Richard Hunter, also known as Dick, and his roommate Henry Fosdick, one day go on an excursion in a ferry boat to Brooklyn to look for new job opportunities. Once on the ferry, Dick witnessed a six year old boy fall from the ferry into the water. Then with immense eagerness, Dick dove into the water to save the child. As Dick grabbed on hold to the boy, he found himself relived when he saw a row boat approach. When they finally got the wharf, Dick was thanked by the boy’s father who quickly planned for him to be taken to a friend’s house in order to…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Also, Indians gave them trouble time to time. What Captain Christopher Newport did as soon as he landed was building a fort and trying to make friends with Indians. Yet, when he came back, he found that two hundred of Powhatan’s warriors had attacked the fort. Even afterward, uneasiness with Indians continues throughout. Nonetheless, important thing to notice is that many mistakes of settlers are offspring of the poor organization and direction of the colony. The way leaders were picked didn’t help the colony, not to mention that the council members spent most of their time bickering and intriguing against one another. Later, John Smith came to rescue by putting people to work, but that changed again when the Virginia Company came to take over. Smith’s confidence in him self and his willingness to act while other talked over came most of the handicaps imposed by the feeble frame of government. It was smith who kept the colony going those years. But in doing so he dealt more decisively with the Indians than with his own quarreling countrymen, and he gave Initial turn to the colony’s Indian relations that was not quite what the company had…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    equal give and take from two parties. That was not the mentality of either group. The Natives…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Dark Water Rising is a book filled with suspense, fine works of literature and of course, lots of historical accuracy. When you take this book below the surface, there are so many examples of very strong literary context. Here are some examples of text in this book that can be taken below the surface. One example of something that can be taken below the surface is whether the title is appropriate for this book. The title is one of the most important things of the book as it lures the reader to read the book.…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    To ‘encounter’ means to come upon or meet with, especially unexpectedly. It may refer to a chance meeting, or it may mean a meeting between adversaries. It does not only refer to meetings between people, but also covers meeting ideas, as in ‘he encountered that attitude for the first time’. Many forms of encounter occur in The Secret River, from those at the personal level such as meetings between the white settlers and Indigenous inhabitants of NSW, and William’s encounters with the legal system, to the clash of ideas. Sal and William, with their expectations of life in the colony as an extension of their life in England, abruptly encounter the reality of an alien landscape and their status as outsiders.…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Thomas King’s Borders, is a first person narrative designed to represent the continuing loss of identity experienced by the native population in contemporary North America. Borders tells the story of a native family living on a reservation located close to the Albertan-Montanan boarder in Western Canada. The protagonist of Borders is the unnamed mother of the family, who by refusing to properly state her nationality, is not allowed to cross the border with her young son. When asked to state her nationality by the border authorities, the mother answers “Blackfoot.” This confuses the border guards,…

    • 1359 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The quality of individuality and the vital role it plays in a human life is a theme often explored in literature. It is difficult to argue against the importance of being true to oneself and maintaining a strong, independent character. However, many times the miscalculation of the identity of another is equally as damaging as losing individual identity. In A Separate Peace, John Knowles highlights the consequences of both actions, while the narrative in The Poison Tree underlines these consequences where it differs. The parallels drawn between A Poison Tree and A Separate Peace illuminate the threat posed by a lack of distinction between identities and the clouding of character by envious emotions.…

    • 1926 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    I Heard an Owl Call My Name

    • 3063 Words
    • 13 Pages

    We are introduced to the characters of the novel: Chief Eddy – the elected chief of the tribe; T.P. Wallace – an elder, the orator of the tribe, grandfather of Gordon and great uncle of Jim; Marta Stephens – one of the grandmothers of the tribe; Mrs…

    • 3063 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The texts being connected are William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, published in 1930 , and Hugh Garner’s “One, Two, Three Little Indians”, published in 1963. Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is of an elderly lady named Emily that lives a life where her childhood had been controlled by her after, leaving him to be the only male figure in her life. Garner’s “One, Two, Three Little Indians”is of a middle aged mine worker known as Big Tom who now lives as an attraction with his Native- American wife at a campground/ trailer park to feed and nurture their sick baby. Strong connections are presented between Emily, in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and Big Tom from Garner’s “One, Two, Three Little Indians”, for both exhibit multiple Psychoanalytic Defences, which ultimately result in tragedy.…

    • 663 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While “At The Pitt Rivers” may center around the development and progress of a couple, it also speaks to the influence that couple had on the narrator.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kevin Kenny and Cynthia J. Van Zandt debated “Was Conflict Between Europeans and Native Americans Inevitable?” Kevin Kenny argued that yes, conflict between Europeans and Native Americans was inevitable. He built his case by highlighting the clashing definitions of land ownership between English colonists and Native Americans. He recounted the founding of Pennsylvania, the peaceful intentions of the colonists, and yet the inevitable conflict that occurred as a result of the clashing views of land ownership. Cynthia J. Van Zandt argued that conflict between Europeans and Native Americans was not inevitable. She argued her point by recounting successful trade alliances between the Native Americans and English colonists. Zandt argued that the…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hollitz Chapter 1

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Although often viewed as inferior, savage and helpless, many historians are starting to discover the intelligence and wisdom the Indians had and shared with the colonists that came to America so long ago. As the settlers slowly began to create a new world on the already inhabited North America, they were plagued with starvation due to a severe drought in the area. Due to the dry lands and the settlers expectations to “rely on Indians for food and tribute,” (Norton 17) they were disappointed to find that the Indians were not so keen to handing out food and help to the strangers that have just come onto their land and begun to settle in such a time of severe weather and starvation. As time goes on, both the Indians and the Englishmen realize they both have what the other needs; tools from the white men and crops, land and knowledge from the Indians. As a result, the chief of Tsenacomoco, Powhatan, and colonist, Captain John Smith on an ideally peaceful, mutualistic relationship to ensure the survival of both civilizations. This agreement will leave the groups in cahoots for 100 of years leading to some disastrous scenarios and betrayals.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Joyce Carol Oates has been a literary genius, which is one of the many reasons I decided to go to her event at Clowes Auditorium. I have also recently read her book, Black Water, which was an interesting read. It was a fictional telling of the Chappaquiddick Scandal that had happened several years before I was born. One the aspects of Black Water I particularly appreciated was that she took a real life event and created a fictional story around it. At this reading, on September 28 2015, she read from her new book, entitled The Lost Landscape. This entire book is written about Oates’s growing up and becoming the writer she is today. This book contains interesting third person point of view authors telling the childhood of Joyce Carol Oates.…

    • 2081 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Meanings of the Raven

    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe 's "The Raven" employs a raven itself as a symbol of the torture, mainly the self-inflicted torture, of the narrator over his lost love, Lenore.…

    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Marlow's Tale

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Arriving at the mouth of the Congo River, Marlow boards another steamship where he meets and converses with a young Swede. While traveling down the river, he observes the company’s old, rotting machinery. He also notices a group of black prisoners being guarded by another black man who claims he is familiar with devils of different evils. Marlow then encounters a group of cadaverous looking locals being forced to work for…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays