Mind Of A Thief Analysis

‘Our identity is unavoidably rooted in our connection to family and in the places from which we come’
The families we are born into be does not only rely on our families but also where we are born and the circumstances we are born into. The connections that we are born with have a close connection to the life we are meant to live and effect a person learn who they are and in them becoming their own person. With the ancestry also comes customs, beliefs and a certain way that one is brought up. The culture of a family includes a way of life different to all others, respecting the land and elders may be upheld to the highest importance in some but other may not think twice about the concept. The novel Mind of a thief highlights what your ancestry
Miller feels as though she does not deserve to live in Australia since it is stolen land and is guilty, so to rid her of that guilt or lessen it she studies the ancestry of Wiradjuri to find some connection to the land. She wants to have a connection to the land she was born in and she finds out that her great-great-grandmother was rumoured to be a member of the Wiradjuri tribe. With this revelation Miller feels some of the guilt she carries lighten but it is not completely gone. Miller’s identity and personality is largely dictated by her reliance on her past one she had no idea about and had no interest until she needed it to ease her conscious. While Patti is living away from her home town she one day loses meaning to all she once loved and enjoyed and dreams that she has to go back home. Patti asked ‘How do you belong to a stolen land?’ an open ended question that she tries to answer throughout the novel. And gives a vague response but not a solid answer saying that claims, history or ethnic background can’t dictate your sense of belonging to what you consider your home. No matter who lives there or ‘owns’ it the land can’t be taken from