How Is Sal Portrayed In Grenville?

William Thornhill grew up in the extreme poverty of South London. After getting caught stealing wood to feed his family, he is sentenced to hang. Sal, his wife, saves him by getting him expatriated to Australia. When Thornhill arrives in New South Wales, he works his way into buying his freedom and claims a piece of land up the Hawkesbury river. It is later brought to light that the land he “owns” does not in fact belong to him completely, as it is already inhabited by an Aboriginal tribe. Grenville portrays Will and Sal as innocent people who do not see an alternative to pushing the Natives out of their homes, but they may have lost that innocence to fear and prejudice. Will and Sal are influenced by two opposite characters, Smasher Sullivan and Thomas Blackwood. Smasher believes that the Aboriginals are lesser beings, second class citizens whose lives are worthless compared to the colonists. He believes that “they ain’t nothing but thieves” and proceeds to ‘punish’ them by performing different methods of
After the arrival of the couple to the clearing in the forest, Sal feels the need to create an area of civilisation around her. “Sal made a place she called the yard, a patch of earth that she scraped and swept until it was smooth. Within its boundary she made something domestic: the fireplace, ringed with stones ... the water barrel filled from the rivulet, a slab of log laid on a couple of stones that did duty as a table.” This shows that what scares her is the wilderness of her surroundings. Another thing to take into consideration is the Thornhills reaction to the Aboriginal ceremony. Although they are reassuring the children, they are deep down terrified of being attacked “They had their meal early that night, there was a feeling of needing to be ready.” Will and Sals prejudice is what might have driven them to act the way they did towards the