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Thomas Blackwood
Willie is Thornhill and Sal's first baby. He's born in London about a year after they marry. After being relocated with his parents to New South Wales, Willie adjusts to his new life quickly, although he is the only Thornhill child to remember London. He begins working with Thornhill on the Hope when he's 11 and is a natural waterman. After the Thornhills move to the Hawkesbury, Willie begins to show that he listens to Smasher when Smasher calls: he often tells Thornhill to "show the natives the gun," and seems more prone to violence than peaceful coexistence.
Willie Quotes in The Secret River
The The Secret River quotes below are all either spoken by Willie or refer to Willie. 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
Thornhill saw that although this voyage, from Sydney to Thornhill's Point, had taken only a day, and the other voyage, from London to Sydney, had taken the best part of the year, this was the greater distance. From the perspective of this unpeopled riverbank...Sydney seemed a metropolis, different only in degree from London.
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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 5: Drawing a Line
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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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Willie Quotes in The Secret River
The The Secret River quotes below are all either spoken by Willie or refer to Willie. 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
Thornhill saw that although this voyage, from Sydney to Thornhill's Point, had taken only a day, and the other voyage, from London to Sydney, had taken the best part of the year, this was the greater distance. From the perspective of this unpeopled riverbank...Sydney seemed a metropolis, different only in degree from London.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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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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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