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Discuss how Jackie French's novel Nanberry explores the themes of race…
Discuss how Jackie French's novel Nanberry explores the themes of race, gender, and social class through the characters
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Mistreatment of women
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"You've got a colony of men here. Soon as I get out of hospital I'll be fair game." (p.116) - This quote shows how convict women had no protection from abuse
"I need a servant. My present girl is getting married." (p.119) - This quote shows how convict women had no protection from abuse
"Instead he was in a house of crumbling convicts' bricks; his son's mother was a convicted felon, still serving a sentence for theft." (p.195)
"For the first time, rage filled her. He was taking an o'possum, but not her! You could boast of a pet o'possum, but not of a convict wife. He was leaving her, imprisoned... There was no escape, not even when she'd served her sentence." (p.204)
"There was no protection for a woman in New South Wales, not from convicts or soldiers of the Rum Corps." (p.217)
"The courts were run by the Rum Corps too. Impossible to expect justice there, especially for a woman." (p.221)
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"The Rum Corps officers had first pick, of course, inspecting the women as they lined up on deck, taking the youngest and plumpest and prettiest. The officers' friends could choose next, also paying nothing for the privilege. The other women were auctioned to whoever would pay the highest price." (p.218)
"Had heard no news at all, now the Surgeon had gone. The French might be invading and who would think to tell the woman who had once been housekeeper to the Surgeon?" (p.225)
"A woman can't own land, not without the Governor's special permit. And we don't have a Governor." (p.226)
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Social hierarchy
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Aboriginal culture
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European settlers did not follow dreamtime beliefs or laws leading to poor land ownership and management
Eurocentrism
Eurocentrism is when people think European culture is the most important and disregards contributions and experiences of other cultures
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Racism
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Self-determination
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Examples
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"It was strange to stand naked in the night air. I am not Nanberry White, he thought. I am ... who am I? Nanberry Buckenau Balloonderry. My brother's brother." (p.169)
Stolen Generation
Period in Australia's history where Aboriginal people were removed from their families due to government policies
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Examples
But, he's a native, sir!" (p.55)
"There were nearly 600 male convicts here, and close to 250 marines, and only 200 girls and women. Sydney Cove weren't a place for a child, or for a woman neither..." (p.20)
"Maria stared. The little savage had said thank you clear as a bell. ... But who knew what trouble he'd get into." (p.56)
"They were bound by ropes, tight around their hands and legs and bodies." (p.87)
"He'd thought he understood the English world. But once he again he had been made to realise that he could see only the edges." (p.209)
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Assimilation
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"I will be English, he thought. I will forget the ghosts of Cadigal." (p.85)
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"Guards stepped forward to grab the two dark-skinned men. They were bound by ropes, tight around their hands and legs and bodies." (p.87)
Loss and displacement
"Guards stepped forward to grab the two dark-skinned men. They were bound by ropes, tight around their hands and legs and bodies." (p.87)
How is it that my own uncle doesn't know me? I am becoming English, thought Nanberry. I do not feast on whale blubber on the beach. I wear clothes. I eat my meals at tables." (p.133)
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Diseases
Smallpox
First Nations immune systems could not handle smallpox very well but Europeans developed a little immunity due to prior epidemics
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Traditional knowledge, languages and cultural practices were lost
Death of elders and people in Indigenous hierarchy disrupted Indigenous societies and societal hierarchies
"Pustules covered their bodies, crusted black with dried blood and still oozing yellow pus." (p.29)
"... sick and dying natives: hundreds of bodies, some in every cove around the Harbour." (p.42)
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A child's body lay nearby, so covered in sand and sores it was impossible to tell at first she was a baby girl... dead." (p.31)
Typhus
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Typhus was transmitted from every ship. This meant that typhus continuously posed a threat on Europeans as each new ship came in to the harbour
"Typhus came with each convict ship, blazing its way through the colony, then dying out until the next ship arrived. Typhus killed more than half the adults who caught it and nearly every child." (p.254)
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