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Willie
Dick is Thornhill and Sal's second child, born at Cape Town during their voyage to New South Wales. As a boy he's dreamy and solemn, and Thornhill doesn't recognize himself at all in Dick. After the family moves to Thornhill Point, Dick regularly disappears to spend time playing with the native children. He learns to throw a spear and make fire, though Thornhill and Sal try to forbid him from wandering off after Bub tattles on him. After Thornhill participates in the massacre and begins constructing Cobham Hall, Dick stops speaking to his father and moves down the river to live with Thomas Blackwood. Thornhill realizes he's lost his son when he hears people speak about Dick as though he's Blackwood's son.
Dick Quotes in The Secret River
The The Secret River quotes below are all either spoken by Dick or refer to Dick. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Part 3: A Clearing in the Forest
Quotes
Dick would be right, he thought, except that everyone knew the blacks did not plant things. They wandered about, taking food as it came under their hand...But, like children, they did not plant today so that they could eat tomorrow.
It was why they were called savages.
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Part 4: A Hundred Acres
Quotes
He could hear the great machinery of London, the wheel of justice chewing up felons and spitting them out here, boatload after boatload, spreading out from the Government Wharf in Sydney, acre by acre, slowed but not stopped by rivers, mountains, swamps.
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Part 5: Drawing a Line
Quotes
He knew, as perhaps they did not, how pointless a thing it was. He could go through the rigmarole of loading it up and squinting along its barrel and firing. But after that, what?
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Dick Quotes in The Secret River
The The Secret River quotes below are all either spoken by Dick or refer to Dick. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 3: A Clearing in the Forest
Quotes
Dick would be right, he thought, except that everyone knew the blacks did not plant things. They wandered about, taking food as it came under their hand...But, like children, they did not plant today so that they could eat tomorrow.
It was why they were called savages.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4: A Hundred Acres
Quotes
He could hear the great machinery of London, the wheel of justice chewing up felons and spitting them out here, boatload after boatload, spreading out from the Government Wharf in Sydney, acre by acre, slowed but not stopped by rivers, mountains, swamps.
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Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 5: Drawing a Line
Quotes
He knew, as perhaps they did not, how pointless a thing it was. He could go through the rigmarole of loading it up and squinting along its barrel and firing. But after that, what?
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