Blackwood
When Blackwood was first introduced in the book I saw him as an extremely complex character. He acted as a sort of mentor towards Thornhill, but remained cold and curt. Now that he has developed more as a character and we have seen an entirely new side of him, I recognize how important he truly is to the story. Blackwood becomes romantically involved with an Aboriginal woman and even has a child with her. He speaks on behalf on preserving the Aboriginals and blatantly goes against Smasher Sullivan. It is obvious how well-respected and powerful he is within their community, as when he speaks everyone seems to listen and sometimes even fear him.
Blackwood seems to be a foil character for Smasher Sullivan. I think Grenville developed his character to be one that readers would like as he respects the Aboriginals and tries to fit into their world instead of the other way around. He has grown to become one of my favorite characters, although he is still as complex to me as he was at the beginning. I hope he is in the last section of the book because I want to hear more of his story and how it ends.
Hey Eloise, I really like your take on Blackwood. I agree with you that Grenville added him as a character in order to show how it is possible to accept other cultures rather than tear them down. Blackwood shows great poise by being with an Aboriginal woman and accepting her culture while also garnering the respect of colonial settlers who loathe the Aboriginal people. I'd also like to hear more about his backstory and understand how he managed to bridge the gap between the two parties.
ReplyDeleteHi Eloise, I liked hearing your analysis on Blackwood and how you see him as a foil to Smasher. That's similar to how I see Blackwood, especially since their interactions with the aboriginal peoples are in very different and opposite tones. I think Blackwood serves to show more of the optimism (if that can even be applied here) in engaging with the aboriginals in comparison to Smasher who views them all as "evil".
ReplyDeleteHey Eloise, I liked hearing your take on Blackwood. I agree about him becoming one of my favorite characters. He even offered some level of comfort when being bombarded with the acts of violence from Smasher, it was a relief to read about a character that seemed understanding, caring, and empathetic. I do, however, wonder what Grenville's purpose for including him was.
ReplyDeleteHi Eloise, I think that Blackwood was used as representation. Although colonizers who respected the natives and their communities were rare, they did exist, and Blackwood represented them. It was kind of interesting to see how someone as respected by the colonizers who hated the Aboriginals as Blackwood would end up being friendly with the Natives. I'm also a bit surprised how Blackwood did not change anyone's mind about the Natives as he was so respected.
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