Aboriginal Literature

Archie Weller, “Going Home”
   The protaganist: Billy Woodward. What’s his occupation? Attitude towards his home (the camp)? What about his attitude towards his new life—that of the white people?
   In some ways, it seems that in his new surroundings, he’s not treated with any disrespect whatsoever. How is this possible? What does the part-Aboriginal opponent represent to him and to the story? What does the Uncle and the Aunt represent to him and to the story?
   What is some of the imagery that accompanies the solitary Billy on his drive to the camp? What do the trees represent?
   When Billy returns to the camp, there seem to be more reminders of why he separated himself from the place than of why he returned. Why then, do you imagine that he returned? (2, or 3 reasons? The primary?) Are there other aspects of the culture that, like the underground culture of Alexie’s Jackson Jackson, have a value that would not be perceived in the realm of logic?
   How does Billy highlight his difference of experience for the last 5 years? With what attitude is he met by those to whom he presents this difference?
In the end, Billy seems to have been done in, perhaps irrevocably. How intentional do you believe this was on the part of brother Carlton? Notice the title and the kind of odd way to express what we would usually describe as coming home.

“We are Going”
   What is being described here? Possible to make a comparison to something else we have read. What about “Nutting”? Both involve the desecration of a natural scene by a force that exists outside of that culture. Here, however, the Aboriginals are as much a part of nature as the land itself—so their culture’s destruction is akin to the destruction of the land.

Aboriginal Literature
   A situation that is in some ways akin to that of the native Americans—the original inhabitants of the land and now they are relegated to reservations and ghettos, impoverished and with little opportunity. Also akin to the situation of American blacks, with a prejudice against them based on identifiable racial characteristics. Their civil rights movement as well—and look at figures like Kath Walker as akin to the African American writers we all know by now.