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  • Essay / The Role of Foreshadowing in Remembering Babylon

    The first chapter of Remembering Babylon contains the introduction of the young boy, Gemmy, and his first encounter with the white settlers of Australia. The exposition foreshadows the characters' actions and potential conflicts, establishing the novel's later events and Gemmy's eventual rejection from society. As Gemmy discovers, violence and conflict are conditions of life - or at least of one's life - that prove almost inevitable. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In Remembering Babylon's exposition, future conflicts are foreshadowed through the characters' initial reactions to Gemmy's entry into their society. As soon as Gemmy enters the company, Lachlan's first reaction is: "A black man! That's what the boys thought first. We are being attacked by black people. After so many false alarms, it had happened " (2). This first reaction characterizes the conventional societal vision of indigenous peoples in the eyes of white settlers. By revealing that the setters viewed the attack as inevitable, this characterizes a negative, distrustful, and violent relationship at the beginning of the text. Establishing the context for a later conflict between cultures and Gemmy's eventual rejection from society, which Gemmy then leaves to return to the natives. The way the people view Gemmy as not fully assimilated into their culture at the later town meeting as they "confronted the black and white man" (10) also foreshadows the conflict and rejection of differences in the Company. The town cannot ignore the fact that the boy was raised in a different culture and therefore view him as something completely different. This foreshadows Gemmy's later return to "black" society, as he cannot return to white society and is openly rejected. All the conflict foreshadowed in the exhibition, the hostility between the whites and the indigenous people of Australia, ultimately leads to the conclusion of the story, in which Gemmy is massacred along with some aborigines in "an affair too light to be called massacre” (189). The banal violence in society, established in the exhibition, foreshadows the inevitable violence and death of the indigenous characters and, by extension, Gemmy. The exposition also establishes Gemmy's character and role in society, with the introduction alluding to how he sees himself in society. and how it will be treated. Gemmy's first words are "Don't shoot. I'm a Bb-British object!" (3) as he runs towards the McIvor house. While this can be seen simply as a matter of Gemmy's limited vocabulary having been separated from society for so long, it also establishes her possible role within white society. He is treated as an object to be traded by white people, without caring about his opinion and his own status as a human. He even sees himself as an object to be used as he continually tries to please everyone in the hopes of some recognition of his worth and humanity. In the exhibition, Gemmy is also described as looking as if wondering “how he got there or where he was” (8). This establishes Gemmy's confusion with the new society and her attempts to assimilate despite her confusion, a situation that can only result in failure as the novel progresses. Gemmy's initial reaction to society in the exhibition establishes him as a confused, eager-to-please boy. , rejected and ostracized by white society. The exhibition also presents the papers as objects that have great meaning for Gemmy because it.