Essay of the Morals in Back to the Dreamtime Novel

Based on the Back to the Dreamtime short story, there are quite a few moral values which I found enthralling and riveting. The story unfolds beautifully and enchants with many poignant moral values. One of them which I am sure is the most compelling is that we must not forget our roots. Many Aborigines families did not want to send their children to school to protect their children from colonial minds back before the Second World War where the children will be forced to forgot their traditions; page 34, line 18. Richard also confessed in page 47, line 3, “I feel at home here on this land, among my people” which shows that he finally got back to his roots at the climax of the story. This indicates how important it was to preserve your culture for future generation.
Another value which I had found engaging is that we should help people in a way that we can. This can be seen as Tom and Bradley offered to accompany Richard to find his father’s burial ground knowing that they could both help him in their own ways. Tom was the first to offer Richard to accompany him in page 22, line 31, where he said “I was wondering whether you wanted me to come along with you”. While Bradley thought he could help them since he always considered himself an experienced outback camper; page 24, line 10. This shows how good friends always stick with each other even in hard times. Aranda also displays a helping value by offering Richard, Bradley and Tom to stay at his place for the night and his wife also made them dinner; page 27, line 12 and 16 even though the three of them try not to trouble Aranda and his wife.
The importance of honouring our promise and be responsible; is another value which I found captivating in this story. Richard’s father had told Joe and Sonya not to give the tjurunga to Richard until the time had come; page 13, line 3. When Richard accidently found the tjurunga in the attic, Joe and Sonya felt that they had failed to honour Richard’s father last wish; page 13, line 8. This shows how both of them took honouring promises seriously. While Richard on the other hand, felt that it was his duty to find his father’s burial ground and buried his father’s tjurunga once he found out about it; page 22, line 16 which shows the responsible values.
Equality is also another value that I found provocative enough in this story. Although Judy is a girl, whenever they played crickets together, the boys never gave her any special treatment which makes her very proud of her achievement; page 9, line 4. There are also times when Joe asked the children to tidy up the attic. He asked for three volunteers knowing that he had three children and not excluding Richard in anyway. He treated and loved all his children equally even though Richard is not really his real son; page 9, line 8.

In retrospect, I found that this story has many moral values which I found very intriguing to readers. The story itself has managed to make me wonder more about life as a whole. There are four values which I have chosen to write about in this journal. They are the values of protecting your heritage, helping others and standing by your friends even in hard times, honouring our promised and be responsible, and the importance equality. These values have been successfully dramatized in the story and without doubt will open peoples’ mind.