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Dick in Secret River

Dick represents the first Thornhill to interact with the Aboriginals with no major predisposition to view them negatively. Sal and Will are the most inherently biased because they grew up and lived in London, i.e., a society that actively divides itself into classes, with race and wealth being two major factors. The Aboriginals and their way of life are the antitheses of what European society would consider successful, upper-class, or respectable. And as much as Will and Sal began to meaningfully interact with the Aboriginals, that bias and discrimination usually overpower any humanity they see in the Aboriginals. Willie acts as a middle ground: he carries with him many of the same biases as his parents, just to a less overt extent. However, Dick is the first of Thornhill not to have grown up in London, his life and sense of community have had the Aboriginals in it for a while. To Dick, the Aboriginals are not an outside group or any less human (as Will and Sal see them) instead, they are just another part of his life—akin to the other colonists settled on the river.

It is interesting to see how internalized Sal and Will's discrimination is. Because even with a negative influence from his parents, Dick still communicates, interacts, and even learns from the Aboriginals. He clearly exerts a much greater level of respect for the differing culture. Grenville points out how society directly and complexly influences our values, morals, and treatment of others. Dick largely escaped that societal influence.

Comments

  1. Catalina DegnanJanuary 30, 2023 at 12:06 AM

    Hi Noah! I love how you chose to focus on Dick for the purpose of this blog post. I find his character fascinating and to be completely honest, he seems to be the most endearing and personable of the Thornhill kids. I think Dick growing up in Australia and having no previous experience in a world of predominately white people is a key factor to his unique approach with the aboriginals. While Will and Sal carry inherent racism with them, Dick's environment makes him less likely to be similar to his parents in this respect.

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  2. Gema Sanchez GamezJanuary 31, 2023 at 12:25 AM

    Hi Noah, I think that in many ways, Greenville is showing the value of being exposed to different cultures at a young age. Since Dick grew up around the Aboriginal people, he was able to develop with a less rigid culture than is parents did. He doesn't understand the social hierarchy of London at the time, so his life is not defined by wealth and "ladder climbing" like his parents.

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