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Chapter 5
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Remembering Babylon, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism and Xenophobia
Gender and Power
Community and Insularity
Coming of Age
Colonialism and Property
Summary
Analysis
Some settlers, like Ned Corcoran, think they should go raiding and simply kill all the Aboriginal Australians they can find. Others favor a more compassionate approach, imagining that someday, when a town can be established, the native people might even join them as laborers or house-servants. These settlers also fear the reprisals that such violence as Ned Corcoran hopes for would inevitably bring. Both types of settlers want information from Gemmy, often sidling up to him and attempting to wheedle information out of him.
Ned Corcoran is a shallow character, existing primarily to embody the worst impulses of the white settlers. The fact that even those who are more “compassionate” towards the Aboriginal Australians still only envision them as laborers, servants, or slaves, demonstrates just how deeply ingrained their notions of racial superiority truly are.
Themes
The settlers who favor violence are easy to deal with and predictably friendly to Gemmy to draw information from him. When they try to ask how many Aboriginal Australians there are and where they live, Gemmy—feeling a “heavy responsibility” to protect his friends—delays as long as he can and then, finally, says there are more of them than there really are and declares that they live much farther to the north than they actually do.
But those who favor “the soft way” give him far more trouble, angrily shouting at Gemmy for not telling them what they want to hear, which is usually where and how the Aboriginal people live. Part of why Gemmy is reluctant is the fact that English is not an adequate language to describe the spirit world by which the Aboriginal Australians navigate and survive. When Gemmy tries to teach them a “native word,” they become angry, “as of the mere existence of a language they did not know was a provocation.”
The narrative following Gemmy occasionally alludes to the spirit world of Aboriginal Australians and indicates that Gemmy uses it to interpret his inner turmoil. Though the novel never thoroughly delves into this spirit world, it does provide a small clue into how differently the Aboriginal Australians perceive the world from the white settlers. Once again, the settlers’ fear of an unknown language illustrates their xenophobic fear of things or people they do not understand.
Themes
However, Gemmy finds a friend in Mr. Frazer, who seems to more easily understand his still-limited English and who does not press for information Gemmy would rather not share. Although a minister, Mr. Frazer is also a botanist and often walks with Gemmy into the surrounding bush to learn from his knowledge of the roots, fruits, and herbs. Gemmy locates a source of food or useful plant, teaches Mr. Frazer how to pick and eat it, and Frazer makes painstaking notes and detailed sketches in his notebook, writing down his best interpretation of the native word that Gemmy supplies him with. All of this delights Gemmy.
Although Mr. Frazer is technically a minister, his primary role in the story is as a botanist eager to learn from Gemmy’s knowledge. Mr. Frazer’s interest in what Gemmy has to teach him without any ulterior motive sets him apart as the single settler outside of the McIvor family who appreciates Gemmy as a person, rather than a device to achieve some self-motivated aim, and respects his right to privacy and secrecy.
Themes
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Sometimes Mr. Frazer incorrectly repeats the name to comedic or even “blasphemous” effect, accidentally speaking spiritual words that ought never be uttered. Gemmy is sensitive to such occasions, especially since by teaching Frazer about the plants, he is giving the man a small glimpse into the spirit world that he himself sees wherever they go, as it was taught to him by the Aboriginal Australians. As they travel, Gemmy occasionally spots other Aboriginal Australians in the brush, observing them, though Mr. Frazer never sees. Gemmy secretly signals his acknowledgement and they are allowed to pass.
Although the settlers rarely see Aboriginal Australians, the fact that Gemmy often spots them gives some merit to the the settlers’ fears and feelings of exposure. However, the fact that the Aboriginal Australians are constantly present and yet do not interfere with the lives of the settlers suggests that they are primarily peaceful, rather than savage or violent as the racist settlers imagine them to be.
Themes
