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My Question Regarding Section 3

One part of the third section I found interesting was how fast Thornhill was willing to turn on his childhood friend, Dan, in order to gain a higher social standing in the New South Wales social hierarchy. Will Thornhill also treat the Aborigine people who are on "his land" as though they are inferior? Will he begin to act hostile towards the Aborigines as other settlers did?

Comments

  1. Monique Cov.January 20, 2023 at 5:26 PM

    Hello James. Your prompt bring up a very important questions. Personally, if I were to predict, whether or not Will would act hostile towards the aboriginals I would in short say no. Unless somehow Sal or his children were severely threatened, I do not think that Will would begin to act hostile towards the aboriginals. Throughout novel so far, William Thornhill has seemed to act in a way where he seemed to find the idea of physical abuse towards the natives as unsettling. One such instance was when Smasher was showing Thornhill and Blackbeard what he did to the aboriginal who was caught stealing. In another excerpt, after hearing Smasher talk about the whip, Sal made Will promise that he would never use a whip and completely abuse the aboriginals or anyone. It is from these examples where I believe that William won't act hostile towards the Aboriginals unless he is seriously provoked into doing so.

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  2. Noah English 11H BlogJanuary 22, 2023 at 8:26 PM

    Your prompt draws into question how far Will's moral degradation has gone. In London, he was the victim of a dominant society because he was considered less than and had no mobility to change that. Now, he when he is the one with power we see him push the power dynamic decidedly towards him: Dan must call WIll "Mr. Thornhill" and is treated as less than Will, despite their similar upbringing. I don't think Will could go as far as to kill an Aboriginal, however, he will continue to push the boundaries of taking everything he can from them.

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  3. Andrew BautistaJanuary 23, 2023 at 10:28 PM

    I'm definitely thinking that Will is going to treat the aboriginals poorly. He quickly ignored their demand to keep off the land, and his previous interactions show that he doesn't think highly of them. Combine this with the fact that living there is his lifelong dream, I'm certain that if Will wasn't scared for his safety, at this point he would force them off and likely be hostile.

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