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Settler Colonialism

 I regained a lot of historical knowledge regarding settler colonialism that I lost over the winter break slide. In both the settler colonialism displayed in Orange's There There and Grenville's The Secret River, we see a common theme of claims of ownership and displacement of groups as a result. In both stories, Natives of the land are displaced because of newcomers who claim ownership of their land. One difference between the two novels is that There There is from the perspective of modern-day Native Americans and how the actions of people from a few hundred years before affected their livelihoods. On the other hand, The Secret River is told from the perspective of Thornhill, one of many Europeans who claimed ownership of the lands that first belonged to the Natives. The difference in time periods is key. Orange wishes to portray the ways of life for modern-day Natives rather than tell outdated stories about modern Natives' ancestors. In contrast, Grenville describes how the colonizers formed stereotypes about the Aborigines and how those stereotypes would create tensions in the future. This comparison is interesting as the time periods described show a clear cause-and-effect. The characters in There There have been largely affected by the actions of colonizers like Thornhill from hundreds of years prior.

Comments

  1. Noah English 11H BlogJanuary 22, 2023 at 8:29 PM

    I appreciate your cause-and-effect analysis because it shows a new side to our analysis of There There. Orange offered the reader the end result of settler colonialism on the Native American people. Grenville shows us what conditions led up to those outcomes from the colonizers perspective. We see the stereotypes and degradation that the founded generations of discrimination.

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