THE SECRET RIVER : COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS



THE SECRET RIVER : COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS ANSWERS

Key:

➢ Original questions are written in black and not bolded.

➢ Answers to original questions are in red.

➢ Extra information/useful quotes are in blue.

➢ Extra questions are in black and bolded.

Strangers

1) What year is it? (p.1)

2) What is the name of the man and where is he? (p.1)

3) Which city is he homesick for? (p.4)

4) Who does he meet? (p.5)

5) Describe his interaction with this man. (p.5-6)

Part One: London

1) What year and where is William Thornhill born? (p.11)

2) Why is life difficult for William and his family? (p. 11-15)

3) Who does he befriend? (p.16)

4) What happens to both his parents, when he is 13? (p.19-20)

5) Of which trade does William become an apprentice? For who and for how long? (p.25)

6) What three skills does Sal teach him? (p. 33-25)

7) At what age does he marry? Who does he marry? (p.37)

8) How does the death of Sal’s parents affect William and his young family? (p.43-45)

9) Who does William find work as a waterman for? (p.52)

10) Despite having a job William is still tempted to steal? Why? (p.54-55)

11) What does he get caught stealing? (p.58)

12) What is the initial punishment? (p.66)

13) What is it changed to and why? (p.70)

Part Two: Sydney

1) What year is it now? (p.75) 1806

2) Who is born on their journey to NSW? (p.77) Richard (baby)

3) Who does Thornhill now work for? (p.78) Sal who is his ‘master.’

Although on p. 82/83 we learn that Will works for many masters, and Mr Alexander King who imports alcohol (rum, brandy, gin). Thornhill siphons (steals) some of the alcohol.

4) What is his impression of Sydney? (p.80)

“… it had an odd unattached look, …, a broken-off chip of England resting on the surface of the place.”

“This place was like nothing he had ever seen.”

(the land) “It would go on sighing and breathing and being itself after he had gone.”

p. 81

“…a bird repeated a sad regretful cry… But it was the only sad thing in the whole world.”

p. 82 “Sydney looked foreign, but in the ways that mattered to the Thornhills it was the Thames all over again.”

4) When does he receive his ‘ticket of leave’? Explain what this is and how he acquires it. (p.84) 12 months. A ticket of leave was a “peculiarity of New South Wales.” “The authorities had realised that if the place was ever to sustain itself, it would be by free labour and not the reluctant time-serving of felons.” After 12 months, convicts could apply for their ticket… then they were as free as any “Legitimate.” But the condition was they couldn’t leave the colony. They could work or buy their own land and work for themselves.

Rum and working up the ladder

p. 85 –

“The place ran on rum the way a horse ran on oats. Rum was the currency of all exchanges, there being little coin. As well, rum promised consolation for the fact that everyone in the colony might as well be on the moon.”

“A man could hardly take a step in the settlement without coming to one of the open-sided shelters, nothing more than a roof of bark held up with a few lopped saplings driven into the dirt and a counter of wattle-lathes, where rum could be got at any hour.”

“It was Sal’s idea to make the hut into two rooms … to set up a grog-stall in one of them. She proved canny at the inn-keeping game, using the charm of her smile to jolly the customers along…”

p. 86-87 -

“Even men who had started out as felons could work their way through the system – from assignment to ticket of leave to pardon – within a few years. He saw them standing on the wharfs, looking about them as if they owned the place: men no better than he was, who had got their freedom and made their pile, and now could look anyone in the eye.”

QUESTIONS:

• Who is ‘He’ in this passage?

• Why has Grenville included this section?

• What theme does it relate to?

• What part does Sal play in furthering the Thornhill’s prospects in the settlement?

“…the Thornhills told themselves, they would have enough put aside to go back to London.”

“A little luck, a deal of hard work: with those, nothing could stop them.” (p.86)

Sal just wants to go home

p. 87-88 – “Out on the Sydney Cove pulling an oar, Thornhill could imagine himself back on the Thames, but Sal could never for a moment stop seeing the differences between that place and this.”

➢ The weather

➢ The animals

➢ The trees/forest

p. 88 “But there was one thing she had brought from London that became more dear to her than any of those other objects because it was the one that remained to her: a broken piece of clay roof-tile that she had found in the sand by Pickle Herring Stairs the morning of her last day in London.”

QUESTIONS:

p. 88

1. Why does Grenville describe how Sal sees differences between the weather, animals and trees in Sydney and London?

2. Why does Sal name the grog-shop the “Sign of the Pickle Herring”?

3. Why do you think Sal liked “best to be down at Sydney Cove” (p.89) and rarely ventured beyond the few streets of the township?

p. 90

• What metaphor is used to describe the ships anchored in the port of Sydney Cove?

• What effect does Grenville hope to achieve through the use of this metaphor?

5) Describe Thornhill’s response to meeting Scabby Hill. (p.90)

“The black natives of the place seemed to come in two sorts. The visible ones were those who lived in the settlement.”

Scabby Bill:

“… so black his skin swallowed the sunlight.”

“…: a piece of the darkness moving as if the night itself was standing up to take hold of him.”

“In that moment he was not just Scabby Bill who whined all day for a bit of bread. Thornhill felt a quick pulse of fright, then the man turned away and was gone.”

Scabby Bill’s ceremonial scars are compared with those left on convicts from flogging punishments.

p. 91

Sal was embarrassed and confused at first by Scabby Bill’s nakedness: he was a “shameless black man.”

“She did not seem to fear him: he was the same as the ants or the flies, a hazard of the place that had to be dealt with.”

p. 91-92

Scabby Bill: “Liquor seemed to act on him with astonishing power.”

“It turned out that Scabby Bill was good for business, because for the promise of rum he could be got to dance. Everyone like to watch him gather the sticks of his limbs together … Men came from all the streets around, cheered to watch this black insect of a man capering before them, a person lower in the order of things even than they were.”

The ‘other’ sort of native

p. 92

“The other sort of native was the kind that Thornhill had met on that first night, when they been on the very edge of civilisation… Even in the few months Thornhill had seen the settlement grow, he had watched how those hidden ones retreated with each new patch of cleared land.”

• Dwellings

• Silhouettes

• Canoes

• Blue smoke

• Campfires

p. 93

➢ “There were no signs that the blacks felt the place belonged to them.”

➢ “Whatever he said to Sal, he was glad to spend his days out on the water. On land he was always within range of a spear.”

QUESTIONS:

1. Explain how the theme of conflict is introduced on page 93.

2. Explain how interpersonal conflict and racial conflict is developed on this page.

3. What are the causes of this conflict?

Thomas Blackwood

p. 94

• Will meets Thomas Blackwood in Sydney Cove (he had known Blackwood on the Thames)

• “He had a kind of rough dignity about him, a close-in quality, like a bag drawn up tight around its contents.”

• “Blackwood did not have the appearance of a man bowed down by his fate.”

The Secret River

p. 95

• “Everyone in the colony knew that the Hawkesbury was the place to make your pile – either by farming its fertile land or by trading the grain of those who did – but not everyone had what it took.”

• “… making money out of the Hawkesbury took a man with a taste for danger, because it was there that the blacks were most numerous and most warlike.”

• “The Gazette had a handy expression that covered all the things did, and suggested others: outrages and depredations.”

QUESTION:

1. What ‘outrages’ did the Gazette mention?

2. What is the significance of the fact that Blackwood says nothing when Thornhill tells him about the ‘outrages’ reported in the Gazette?

3. What is Grenville’s aim by including this information on page 95?

6) Describe Thornhill’s emotional response to his introduction to the Hawkesbury River. (p. 101)

“This was a place out of a dream, a fierce landscape of chasms and glowering cliffs and a vast unpredictable sky. Everywhere was the same but everywhere was different. Thornhill felt his eyes wide open, straining to find something they could understand. It seemed the emptiest place in the world, too wild for any man to have made it his home.”

“Thornhill glanced around. The breeze made leaves shiver and catch the light, casting shadows that shifted and speckled differently every moment.”

“Where are they, then, he asked. Blackwood took his time answering. Every-bloody-where, mate…”

QUESTIONS:

1. What emotions are conveyed through Grenville’s choice of words in these quotes?

2. Who is referred to by the word ‘they’?

3. How does this scene help to develop the two characters of Thornhill and Blackwood?

Smasher Sullivan

p. 102

o Smasher Sullivan is introduced.

o “Look what I done, he called. Thornhill thought for a moment it was fish he had caught and was showing them, or was it a pair of gloves? Then he saw that they were hands cut off at the wrist. The skin was black against the white of the bone. Last time that bugger thieves from me, Smasher called, and gave a harsh high-pitched snigger. There was something horrible about the red skin of his forehead, his naked face.”

o Blackwood’s reaction is angry… “the anger rumbling away down the mournful reach of the water.”

QUESTIONS:

1. Why do you think Smasher makes such an effort to come and show off his deed to Blackwood?

2. What is Grenville’s aim in including this scene?

3. What role does Thornhill play in this scene?

4. What attitudes does each character show in this scene towards the Aboriginal people?

p. 104

o “The burden hanging there was not a scarecrow or a hog, but the body of a black man.”

o “When Blackwood spoke, his voice was raspy with a press of feeling. Ain’t nothing in this world just for the taking, he said. … A man got to pay a fair price for taking, he said. Matter of give a little, take a little.”

QUESTIONS:

1. How did you feel when you read this section?

2. Who did you identify with? Blackwood, Smasher, Thornhill or the Aboriginal people?

7) Who inspires Thornhill to move there? What does he say in particular? (p.105)

8) Why is this such a significant ambition for Thornhill? (p.106)

9) What is Sal’s response to Thornhill’s decision? How does this create conflict between the two of them? (p.123)

Part Three: A Clearing in the Forest

1) Find the two quotations that best illustrate Thornhill and Sal’s opposing views regarding their settlement on the banks of the Hawkesbury River. (p.130)

2) In what way is the land described as harsh and uninviting? (p.138) Which type of conflict is being established here?

3) Which crop does Thornhill attempt to plant? What is meant when Grenville states; ‘It was not so much a crop he was aiming for, as a message. Like hoisting a flag on a pole.’ (p.142)?

4) In your own words, describe Thornhill’s first encounter with the Aboriginees. (p.142-147). How does Thornhill attempt to assert his authority? In what ways does the author make it clear that the Aboriginees are at one with the land (unlike Thornhill)?

5) What does Sal do each day? What does this signify? (p.150)

6) What are some of the stories that Smasher Sullivan (p.157) and Sagitty (p.162) enjoy telling Sal? What does this suggest about the settlers’ feelings regarding Indigenous Australians?

7) Although Thornhill is now a freeman and a landowner, who is quick to harshly remind him of his former life? How does this make Thornhill feel? (p.172-173)

8) Describe Thornhill’s treatment of his two slaves; Dan and Ned. (p.175-180). Why does he treat them in that manner?

9) When Thornhill lies in bed at night listening to the Dan and Ned muttering, what does he mean by his comment that he recognises ‘the sound of two men below … on life’s ladder.’? (p.181)

10) What is your response to Thornhill’s belief that on this part of the Hawkesbury River ‘… a man did not have to drag his stinking past around behind him like a dead dog.’? (p.176)

Part Four: A Thousand Acres

1) By now Thornhill has finished the hut. List some of its features. What does this suggest about the type of accommodation the family has been used to? (p.190)

2) What does the governor do in an attempt to reduce the conflict between settlers and the Aboriginees? (p.190)

3) In your own words describe Sal’s interaction with the Aboriginal women. (p.192)

4) Why does Blackwood swear Thornhill to secrecy with regard to his relationship with an Aboriginal woman? (p.210)

5) Why does Thornhill reprimand his son Dick for playing with the Aboriginal children? (p.215)

6) Why is Sal singing English nursery rhymes to her children? Why is this a source of conflict for Thornhill? (p.220)

7) How does the author make clear that his son Dick admires the Aboriginees? (p.??)

8) What does Thornhill witness when he visits Smasher? (p. 232-234)

9) What causes conflict between Smasher and Thornhill in this meeting? (p. 232-234)

10) What also causes a level of internal (emotional) conflict for Thornhill? (p. 232-234)

Part Five: Drawing a Line

1) What is Thornhill’s response to witnessing the Aborginees’ corroboree? In what way does his perception change of the Aboriginees, especially Whisker Harry? With which type of conflict is he now confronted? (243-244)

2) What does Sal offer to given the Aboriginal community in the hope that they will leave? What does this gesture say about Sal’s understanding ( or lack of) of the Aboriginal people? (p.245)

3) Who is kept against her will be Smasher Sullivan? For what purpose? What does this suggest about Smasher’s opinion of Aboriginal people? What is Thornhill’s response to this? (p.251)

4) What does the government implement in order to remove the Aboriginal people? What does this suggest about their attitude to Aboriginal people? (p.267)

Part Six: The Secret River

1) Describe what Thornhill sees when he goes to Darkey Creek? Why do you think he attempts to help the young Aboriginal boy? (p.276)

2) What causes Thornhill to physically bully his wife? What are they still in conflict over? (p.290)

3) Describe Thornhill’s role in the massacre at the Blackwood camp site? Is he a completely willing participant? Is there any evidence of an internal conflict occurring within Thornhill?

Thornhill’s Place

1) How many years have passed since the massacre? (p.313)

2) Describe Thornhill’s house and wealth. What is his new position in society? (p. 315-316)

3) In what ways does Sal still show her desire to return ‘home’ to London? (p.314-316)?

4) How does the Sydney Gazette present the massacre at Blackwood Camp? With whom do they lay the blame? (p.322)

5) Find the quote that shows that Thornhill has never told his wife about what he took part in at Blackwood Camp AND the quote which shows that this is a source silent conflict within their marriage. (p. 324)

6) What has happened between Thornhill and his son Dick? What do you think were Dick’s motivation for this? (p.326)

6) Why do you think Long Jack does not accept the offers of food, clothes and shelter from the Thornhills? (p. 329)

7) Find the phrases that show that Long Jack feels the land is his home, and that Thornhill does not have those same feelings? (p.329)

8) Although Thornhill is a wealthy established landowner, free from any ‘trouble from the blacks’ why do you think it does ‘not feel like a triumph’ for him? (p.334)

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Social Context – Are Aboriginal people more susceptible to alcoholism?

Link: Aboriginal people and alcohol: Not a genetic predisposition

Social Context – Contact between Aboriginal people and whites.

Link: Explorers, Invasion and Racial Clash

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