Dick's Representation

Dick represents, to me, how racism is taught not an innate belief. Dick’s friendliness with the Natives despite the differences between how they live and how he lives shows how racism is caused by society, not by an innate belief. He grows up in Will’s new land and even Sal says how the forest near the land to Dick is like the streets of London to Sal and Will. Dick is said to run off somewhere every day and we eventually find out that is to be with the Aboriginals. Dick learns from them and treats them kindly. Even when he is beaten by Will for being with them, he still goes to meet them for the next day. The reader can tell that Dick genuinely cares and likes the Aboriginals. He is never really scared of them, even when they start to gather together he tells Will that Will doesn't need to take a gun out because they are just gathering together to party.


Dick provides a new perspective to the story as someone who did not grow up in London and move, as well as spent their childhood with the Aboriginals. The Aboriginals never treated him badly, but instead taught him things such as making a fire with sticks. This new perspective that is added through Dick about the natives truly shows how the racism of Will and Sal was built up over time by the stories told by people around them such as Smasher. I cannot really point to a bad experience that was not caused by Will that the family had with the Aboriginals. Because there was none and Dick did not listen to the stories, he likes the Aboriginals and has no negative bias towards them.


Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2023 at 9:13 PM

    I really appreciate your thoughts Paulos, I completely agree that Dick represents the generational divide between the original characters of the story and those born in New South Wales. I hadn't thought about Dick as much as he pertains to racism, but your idea that he represents the way others learned racism and how humans do not innately have racist bias seems spot on to me.

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