|
Plot
In the beginning of the book, three children find a white man, who looks like an Aborigine. They take him to their village and the settlers become very interested in the stranger, who can only remember a few words of English and acts in a strange kind of way. After they find out that his name is Gemmy and that he was thrown off a ship and found by an Aboriginal tribe. He had followed them everywhere, learned their language and became a member of the tribe. Gemmy\'s former life is written down and he stays at the McIvors place, the place where the children who had found him lived. He hangs around with the children feeling saver and understood by them. His relationship to the white community is complicated for he is considered a \"parody of a white man\" by some of them. Gemmy has to face hate and self-loathing. Gemmy is also seen as an opportunity to learn all about the blacks, the so called enemies of the settlers, but he gives false information in order to protect his people. Some of the settlers are afraid of the half-white man and he is suspected of having had visits from his old friends. Some time later Gemmy is really visited by the aborigines and the meeting is witnessed. Gemmy\'s new family, the McIvors start noticing a distance growing between them and their neighbours, but they start realising the effect Gemmy and the nature have had on them. The other settlers start to attack the McIvors and Gemmy feels like being the reason for the troubles the McIvors have to go through. Finally Gemmy is even close to being killed, but Jock McIvor arrives just in time to save him. Gemmy thinks about his belonging to nature and not to the white community. Gemmy starts helping Mrs. Huchence caring for her bees and is given a room in her house outside the settlement. Finally Gemmy disappears after wanting to have the papers concerning his life back, which he doesn\'t get.
Characters
Gemmy: He had lived with an Aboriginal tribe and has learned to live with nature since he was small. Wanting to find out more about his past he contacts the settlers, who don\'t really understand him. Gemmy starts to remember a few facts about his past and tries to built up a relationship to his new people. Noticing the hatred he doesn\'t feel at home and starts missing the aborigines, he wants to return to the wilderness.
Interpretation
The book shows how people react to the unknown. At first they are interested to find out something about the stranger visiting them, but when having an opinion, they don\'t want to chance it and become afraid of the new way of living and acting. Its hard for the settlers to accept that their way doesn\'t have to be the only right way to handle things.
Most settlers were afraid of the Aborigines. They have been told about the Aboriginal people having killed unprepared settlers and burned down their homes. That was one reason, why the white settlers had so much prejudices against this people and wanted to get rid of everything which could have affected their normal life. They also were scared of the Aborigines because they didn\'t know much about their lifestyle and a lot of quite influencing whites spread rumours about Aborigines eating humans and sacrificing babies. The scared settlers were too afraid to find out about the Aboriginal customs themselves and so believed everything they were told.
When Gemmy turns up in the settler\'s village they all find him childish and uneducated. They think they know a lot more about everything and they feel superior. When they notice all the differences in his behaviour they are unwilling to accept these. They are so full of prejudices, that they don\'t even want to learn more about the Aboriginal culture, and so tease and scare Gemmy long enough to get rid of him as well as the thought of one of their own \"tribe\" being a friend of the enemy.
|
