The fictional novel ‘Dougy’ by James Moloney deals with a range of issues that are faced in the Aboriginal community. These themes correspond with the main theme of crossing boundaries. Boundaries such as physical, mental and racial are shown throughout the book with many heroic qualities shown by the characters. This book also demonstrates the good and the bad qualities of the indigenous and the non-indigenous people. As well as the impact that the aboriginal people’s culture and behaviour has to the way others approach them.
An important theme of ‘Dougy’ that corresponds with crossing barriers is crossing physical boundaries. Crossing physical boundary is impossible unless you have the talent, skill and courage to accomplish this very hard task. An example of this taking place in the book, is when Gracey went to Brisbane for a very important race but then ‘she found out at the last minute that she wasn’t allowed to wear her usual running shoes for the race, so she ran in her bare feet’.
Against everyone’s belief in her skill and all the negativity given to her by the ‘whitefellas’ in her region, (except for her coach, Mr Jenkins and her only white friend Brett) she attempted to take the title and “she won, Gracey had won the state championships! ” Gracey had crossed physical boundaries by her determination and will power to accomplish this difficult goal. Due to her victory ‘Gracey became the most important person in the whole town. People who usually never looked at her said hello….
The Essay on Theme And Its Importance
Theme is the principal phrase or idea behind a story. It plays an important role in the notable accomplishment of Shirley Jacksons The Lottery, The Open Boat written by Stephen Crane, and Battle Royal by Ralph Ellison. Each of these stories portray an important and powerful theme which is a valuable contribution to the success of each work. The Lottery is a story about human sacrifice and ...
She kept the medal in her pocket so she could show other people and they were all so impressed of her’. This would startle the reader to think more deeply about how people’s mind could be manipulated and change so dramatically. Before the race, no non-indigenous people believed in Gracey and thought she was an evil person that gets things for free, to knowing that she was a caring young girl who deserved it. Another important theme that was shown in this event was the amount of heroism that Gracey had exhibited to win the race with her own bare feet, against everyone else’s spiked shoes.
Another event that physical boundaries are crossed is the incident where Brett and Gracey attempt to save Tiny’s life from the crossfire of the war between the indigenous and the white. Tiny did not know about the war so Brett manoeuvred his body in position to save Tiny’s life by stepping out of the safety of the showground and risking his own life. Then out of nowhere, Gracey screamed out “Brett stop! “You’ll die” and ‘In that moment, when Brett looked back, Gracey flashed past him and ran into the streets… The tyre of the bike that Tiny was riding got punctured by a bullet shot.
Gracey stepped in front of Tiny, putting her body between Tiny and the house that the bullet had come from. ’ The text demonstrates that Gracey had ignorantly but heroically jumped into the middle of the war and saved Tiny’s life and possibly Brett’s as well, because these houses contained indigenous people inside them and they did not fire because Gracey was in the way(or maybe they ran out of ammo).
This is truly crossing physical boundaries as she puts her body on the line to saves someone else’s.
While crossing physical boundaries were very important, an even more important boundary with the aspects of your mind is mental boundaries. Another important theme of ‘Dougy’ that corresponds with crossing barriers is crossing mental boundaries. Mental boundaries took a great deal of impact in the mind of Dougy as he had to face the spirit of the ‘Muddagudda’ in order to save his family from the uprising river. “Come on Dougy, there is no such thing, there is no such thing…. It was all in my head. I had to do it…. I lowered myself down and my legs entered the water. ’ Dougy had crossed a mental boundary by facing his fear of the river spirit, ‘Muddagudda’. In this section, Moloney had used a lot of descriptive words in order for the audience to clearly picture Dougy lowering down and make the audience feel like they were right next to Dougy. As much as crossing mental boundaries was important racial boundaries is also very important. The final important theme of ‘Dougy’ that corresponds with crossing barriers is crossing racial boundaries. There were many key parts in ‘Dougy’ about racism and violence between the ‘blacks’ and ‘whites’.
The Essay on Why A Planner Is Important
To: City Council of Town, State Re: Adding a Town Planner to Your Staff Planning in any town is an important part of the growth, development and sustainability of the citizens and businesses in that town. I believe that your town council could greatly benefit from adding a planner to your staff. Planning suggests a systematic attempt to shape the future. It attempts to link scientific and ...
One of the most important parts of the book that had crossed racial boundaries was when the racer Tanya went up to Gracey after getting beaten by her in the race and said smiling ‘guess it’s my fate, trained all year and got beaten by a natural from the bush who chases goannas for lunch. ’ Tanya had crossed racial boundaries by implying that Gracey was black so she ‘chases goannas for lunch’ which is a stereotype because most kids think that’s what indigenous people do. Moloney also cleverly talks about Gracey’s feelings to his comment in such a manner which makes the reader think twice about the daily life as an indigenous person and the racial discrimination that they receive from other races just because of their skin colour and race. Hence, the fictional novel ‘Dougy’ by James Moloney deals with a range of issues that corresponds with the main theme of crossing boundaries. The three main themes are crossing physical boundaries, mental boundaries and racial boundaries. I believe that the most affective part in the book was crossing physical boundaries. Word count: 929 words
