Grenville Exile

Even though there are many articles show us much information at these times, the details may be so different from each other that the Colonial Era is still in mystery for most of us today. For instance, some of us may know the Native Americans as brutal and cruel people without understanding deeply about their life. Baily describes their life before the arrivals of the Europeans as a peaceful life and rich culture. He tells us that they have their own civilization from the organization of family and the country 1. The author also explores the foundation of new societies as bloody and costly ways when the Europeans from many countries came to Indian land. The evidence is that there are many terrifying encounter among these countries because of the conflict in building their own society

The main ideas of chapter one was the conquest and exploration of the early America’s by the spaniards. Throughout the chapter, it explains the difficulties that the spanish explorers faced when attempting to conquer new lands. The primary problem the explorers faced was with the current inhabitants of the lands they wanted to conquer, especially with the cultural differences between populations. On article that exemplifies the cultural differences between the Native Americans and the Spanish Explorers is the third-person biographical narrative called “The Collision of Cultures.” The narrative gives the reader insight on what the indians and the explorers pre-judgement of one another, based off of what the parties believed with their religion and moral. This article’s reader would be

The settler colonialism is perceived from two different perspectives, one is positive and the other one is negative. It is also related to the genocide of the natives and indigenous people. The positive side of the settler colonialism is related to the building of a new colonial system that might offer more benefit as compared to the existing systems of colonies. However, the major negative impact of settler colonialism is about the elimination of the natives. It does not justify the settler colonialism because it is more about the occupation of the land and nothing about the colonialism. It clearly indicates that it is about the access to land and nothing to do with the natives but to eliminate them from the land.

Australia is filled with many different aspects in which makes it the country it is today. I believe it is important to study texts that explore aspects of Australia by studying texts such as ‘The Club’, by David Williamson, a play written in 1977 about an Australian football club and movies such as “The Castle”, directed by Rob Stitch in 1997, about the daily life of an Australian family when their happiness is threatened when developers attempt to buy their house to expand the neighboring airport. Both these texts show us what Australian life was like in the past. By us looking at themes such as language, tradition and the mateship shown we are able to explore different aspects of Australia that make it what it is today.

In contemporary society, interpretation is an institutional practice with readers consequently sharing assumptions; highlighting the concept of interpretive communities. Audiences often respond to ideas based on dominant contextual norms and ideologies. The biased recount of Australia's sullen and discriminatory past has led to a collective ignorance; with awareness and redemption of the true atrocities committed by British Settlers being a new concept. Kate Grenville's raw and accosting novel the Secret River confronts readers, positioning them to challenge the socio-historical doctrines of the 21st Century society. Analytical readers can respond actively to issues of racism by acknowledging the intertextuality of the text and contemporary actions, and by recognising and contrasting prevailing attitudes. This process evokes an emotive response to uncomfortable notions and influences a remorseful reaction towards the Aboriginal community and their hardship.

The Secret River by Kate Grenville focuses on the characterisation of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians and social expectations each may have in the 19th Century. Throughout the entirety of the novel Grenville discusses characters and how each adjust to their new environments whether it be the Aborigines or the non–Aboriginal Australians.

The Pilgrims brushed their lips against the land of Cape Cod and thanked their Lord when the furious storm released them from its’ fury. The sea troubles left them far from home with no warm welcomes. After scrutinizing the bare land they had located barbarian-like aliens. They formed their judgments and ideas about their companions on Cape Cod. Seeking gold and silver the Spaniards explored unfamiliar territory. Although, they did not discover their hidden treasures they did stumble upon unfamiliar Native American cultures they did not understand. Their misunderstandings led to the formation of judgements towards the Native Americans.   Although both “Plymouth Plantation” by William Bradford and “La Relacion” by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca discuss early settlers and attitudes toward native peoples.  Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca’s attitude toward Native Americans reveals a sense of relief to discover friendship among an island. While, William Bradford displays a fearful and belittling tone.

After this time, many atrocities occurred, such as the fact that Aboriginals were often killed for sport, and massacres such as Myall Creek were occurring, where 28 Aboriginal men, women and children were murdered near Myall Creek Station in 1838. There was also the problem of the Stolen Generation, when Aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their homes to be raised as though they were white. It was only recently in 2008, that Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister of Australia at the time, apologised for the actions that the government had undertaken. In another apologetic move, Prime Minister Paul Keating delivered a powerful speech regarding the fact that Aboriginal Communities were still segregated despite the fact that laws had been changed a number of years ago. This shows that the idea of atonement by Australia is quite a new topic. Does this prove the challenges that Aboriginal’s faced nearly 200 years ago are still present in today’s society? It was enough to force the Aboriginal men, women and children to begin act in support of their rights.

Settlers move to innocence to demonstrate the consequences of the “metaphorization” of decolonization used by white settlers. The authors wrote,”

In Kate Grenville’s bildungsroman, “The Lieutenant”, Grenville uses figurative language to convey various ideas through the landscapes and character behaviours. One such idea presented is the evident secrets and distrust among characters in the novel. Grenville further presents the isolation that people who were suspected to in the late 1700s to early 1800s as well as the issues in the colonisation and slavery of the British Empire.

‘Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s apology to Australia’s Indigenous people ‘is in its own essence addressed in a spoken form but has been transcribed into a written text. The speech was delivered at the Parliament of Australia, House of Representatives by Kevin Rudd with the intentions to make an apology to ‘Indigenous Australians’ in particular of the dreadful past of the ‘Stolen Generations’. It was delivered to both a live audience as well as broadcast via the channel of television and radio to a wider Australian audience, especially to the Aboriginal audience. He adopts an appropriate and respectful tenor which in turns fosters a formal register to accommodate the solemnity of the topic. Accordingly, it softens Rudd’s relative social status to further give him creditability of his humble tone.

Throughout Australian literary history there have been many recognised authors. Banjo Patterson, Patrick White, Kath Walker, Charles Harpur and Kate Grenville are accepted literary writers. ‘The Secret River’ by Kate Grenville follows a family from England as they travel to Australian on the first fleet. The story contains many emotional attachments, relatable themes and allows the reader to take away values from the story.

After listening to lectures, reading articles and communicate on the forum with other students, I had a better understanding of Reconciliation. As I learned that Aboriginal people are the first people on this land, however they were excluded, ignored and spurned in Australian written history for the first 190 years. After the Federation in 1901, Aboriginal people had become victims of colonizer’s indulgence with racial purity. Having been intruded, colonized, quashed, enthralled and animalized, Aboriginal people became an inconvenient evidence of the crucial eviction. (mentioned in my week 4 journal)

The negative consequences of colonialism continue to be evident in the works of various authors who address the issues that continue to plague the “post”-colonial world. While the consequences of colonialism vary throughout geographical regions and colonizers’ value systems, the social constructs that were imposed upon the native people are quite similar. In particular, the effects of racial classification continue to have internal and external consequences in a “post”-colonial world. In A Small Place, by Jamaica Kincaid and Chronicle of a Death Foretold, by Gabriel García Márquez, the authors describes the adverse effects that stem from the social construct of race imposed upon the natives by colonizers as a classificatory tool, which

The untouched land of the West is a hard place to live. The settlers have to build their lives from scratch, often with minimal help. In addition, danger is abundant, whether it be wild animals, Indians, or greedy hired-hands. These brave settlers are quite ridiculous to walk away from their lives of luxury for lives of hard-earned opportunity. Both Little House on the Prairie and Oklahoma!, give the audience a look into the mindset of a settler. However, this insight is different than what the audience sees in more traditional texts from the Western genre. These two texts not only show the difficulties of settlers, but how they choose to overcome them with the right attitude. Every settler who travels to the West needs to pack their optimism into their covered wagon as an essential.