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Chapter 8
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
After Gemmy has lived in the settlement for nearly a year, he is approached by two Aboriginal Australians who emerge from the brush while he is mending a shed. He acknowledges them and the three sit cross-legged on ground to speak. One of Barney’s workers, Andy McKillop, is constructing a fence on a ridge 100 yards away, and he spies the men approaching Gemmy. Andy begins following them and though he tries to remain hidden, they look straight at him, obviously seeing him, but turn their backs and continue on their way to speak with Gemmy, which they do for a brief time. Their nonchalance enrages Andy, who eagerly anticipates telling what he has seen to Barney, and he rehearses his story to himself as he walks.
The general disregard that the Aboriginal Australians have for Andy, even though they are knowingly trespassing on a white settler’s land, suggests that they give no regard whatsoever to the white people’s claim of exclusive property rights. This disregard for the settlers’ authority challenges the notion of colonialism altogether. Why, the scene implicitly asks, should the Aboriginal Australians who have walked that same land for countless years give any heed to white settlers who have only been there a handful of years?
Themes
Andy has worked for Barney for two years but has yet to earn his trust, even though Andy has as much animosity towards the indigenous Australians as Barney does. Ever since his wife ran off with another man in Brisbane years before, Andy has been a heavy drinker. In a fiery rage, and confident that this witness of treachery will bring him into Barney’s good graces, Andy accosts Gemmy. But Gemmy simply ignores Andy, pretending he is not there, and continues mending the shed.
Andy’s belief that mutual hatred of people who are different will earn him the trust and respect of his employer demonstrates a grotesque social element to racism and xenophobia, one that seems particularly strong in a small, insular, homogenous community such as the settlement. The animosity towards the Aboriginal Australians seems to be a unifying element within their community.
Themes
Andy is convinced that Gemmy is pretending that his visitors are merely a fancy of Andy’s imagination, cooked by the sun or his drinking habit. Andy’s fury increases and he now feels the need to “justify himself,” and by the time he finds Barney he is so worked up he can barely speak. Andy screams to Barney about the Aboriginal men he has seen, but Barney is hesitant to take him at his word, particularly because he has no trust in or love for Andy. Gemmy himself has been less bothersome in the past weeks as it is. Although news of Aboriginal people near the settlement is disturbing, Andy’s unhinged behavior seems even more troublesome.
Andy represents the worst example of male insecurity in the story, providing an example of how toxic such a need for recognition and power can be if stretched to its limits. Andy feels powerless and disrespected, but his own solution for his low standing is to direct vehement racial animosity towards other people. This is ultimately self-defeating, as the other settlers respect Andy even less, but he still serves as a dire warning against an unrestrained male ego.
Themes
Jim Sweetman happens to come wandering up the hill and over to Barney and Andy, and Andy immediately starts yelling and cursing about the invading indigeneous people. Jim is annoyed by Andy’s foul language, but Barney slowly begins to share Andy’s distress. Although Jim’s own property is the most isolated, he has “no quarrel” with the Aboriginal people, and he trusts Andy, who is “always half off his head,” even less than he trusts the native people. However, Jim still fears for his granddaughter’s safety, and when Andy claims that the Aboriginal Australians gave something to Gemmy, his curiosity is finally piqued.
Although Jim Sweetman represents the best of the settlers—in the same way that Ned Corcoran represents the worst—his understandable fear for his granddaughter causes him to consider Andy’s outrage. That even Jim Sweetman should be pulled in suggests that although fear is the basis of racism, often that fear is understandable, if not based on fact. Jim’s reaction here adds nuance to the novel’s depiction of the settlers’ xenophobia.
Themes
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Andy says that they gave Gemmy a mystical-looking stone, wrapped in bark, though he knows this is a blatant lie and instantly regrets it, cursing himself for letting his mouth get away from him. Even so, Andy doubles down on the image of the stone, hoping—though not convinced—that the settlers will trust him over “this blackfeller.” Rumor spreads quickly about the visit and the stone, and Andy finds himself wishing he had never made up the stone in the first place.
The stone functions as a brief but noteworthy symbol of the settlers’ fear—as initiated by Andy—and its ability to cause harm. A stone can be harmless lying on the ground or cause great injury if thrown at another person. In the same way, the settlers’ fear could be dealt with appropriately, and hurt no one, or it can be weaponized to disastrous effect.
Themes
