Conflict of Two Cultures in Kate Grenville´S the Secret River
Conflict of two cultures in Kate Grenville´s The Secret River
The aim of this essay is to analyze the conflict emerging after the arrival of British convicts to Australia, which is portrayed accurately in Kate Grenville´s The Secret River. “It explores the collision of cultures that occurred between these groups, raising questions of identity and belonging, and writing the violence back into the story of early frontier contact.” (Crawford 236) In this novel the idea of a conflict is observed from the point of view of cultural differences. The author shows that the conflict occurred because of inability and unwillingness of the characters to communicate – both verbally and also in terms of understanding each other´s different world views. The main reason of the disconnection between these two worlds is fear each one has of the other. The heightened emotions that result from this fear lead to behaviour that is impetuous and at the end of the novel even horrific. Through the novel Grenville suggests that it is impossible to judge who caused the conflict; there is not only one side to blame. She attempts to show that there are links and similarities between the characters that are transcending their cultural differences. There are no winners or losers; this conflict has negative consequences for all the participants in these dramatic events.
“The different approaches of the Aboriginal people and the colonists to the land ownership inevitably lead to misunderstanding and conflict, escalating to a massacre in which Thornhill is implicated.” (Crawford 236)
The sense of ownership appears in the novel in two dimensions. First there is Thornhill´s personal desire, a sudden urge of a man who owned only a coat during his lifetime, to own at least a small piece of land and when this opportunity comes, he does not let it go. However, his attitude toward the land he wants to own is quite ambiguous. He claims that the land does not belong to anyone while there
The aim of this essay is to analyze the conflict emerging after the arrival of British convicts to Australia, which is portrayed accurately in Kate Grenville´s The Secret River. “It explores the collision of cultures that occurred between these groups, raising questions of identity and belonging, and writing the violence back into the story of early frontier contact.” (Crawford 236) In this novel the idea of a conflict is observed from the point of view of cultural differences. The author shows that the conflict occurred because of inability and unwillingness of the characters to communicate – both verbally and also in terms of understanding each other´s different world views. The main reason of the disconnection between these two worlds is fear each one has of the other. The heightened emotions that result from this fear lead to behaviour that is impetuous and at the end of the novel even horrific. Through the novel Grenville suggests that it is impossible to judge who caused the conflict; there is not only one side to blame. She attempts to show that there are links and similarities between the characters that are transcending their cultural differences. There are no winners or losers; this conflict has negative consequences for all the participants in these dramatic events.
“The different approaches of the Aboriginal people and the colonists to the land ownership inevitably lead to misunderstanding and conflict, escalating to a massacre in which Thornhill is implicated.” (Crawford 236)
The sense of ownership appears in the novel in two dimensions. First there is Thornhill´s personal desire, a sudden urge of a man who owned only a coat during his lifetime, to own at least a small piece of land and when this opportunity comes, he does not let it go. However, his attitude toward the land he wants to own is quite ambiguous. He claims that the land does not belong to anyone while there