Representing aboriginality : how the aboriginal figure is depicted in a selection of Australian novels

Abstract

This dissertation analyses how the representation of the Aboriginal figure occurs in three Australian novels, published in the last thirty years of the Twentieth Century by well-known authors: Thomas Keneally’s The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972), David Malouf’s Remembering Babylon (1993), Doris Pilkington/Nugi Garimara’s Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence (1996). The introduction establishes a context for the discussion, by delving into the general background of the Australian colonial period which gave rise to the first documentations of Australia and its natives, as well as to the way Aboriginality was featured. This is followed by an outline of the dissertation’s trajectory. The three chapters which follow delve into how the Aboriginal protagonists of the novels chosen are represented, with each chapter discussing each text individually, in order of their publication date. The novels show a variety of elements, including the inner conflict in the Aborigine, the imposed view of the coloniser on the colonised, and hybridity which proves to be central to each novel in distinctive ways. The concluding chapter brings the dissertation to a close by presenting the reception of the novels. The strategies adopted by the authors also shows how the Aborigine’s representation developed over a thirty-year period, highlighting how and why hybridity has affected Australia’s population, and why this is the way forward in order to achieve reconciliation within the country.