After reading Part 3 of The Secret River, something that stuck out to me was the foreshadowing of Thornhill and Sal's dispute over going back to London after five years. In this section, we see hesitations from Will and excitement from Sal regarding going back to London. So, I'm curious: Do you think that Thornhill and his family will go back to London after 5 years? Why or why not?
Hey Audrey, I think that if it were between Sal and Will, the decision would be a lot more split. However, the older their children get, the more connection their family has to Australia. After all, "these children of his had no notion of any place that was not Thornhills Point" (226). Growing up on Thornhill's Point, it seems the children will have a hard time leaving it. They have a connection to the land as many of their core memories have been shaped there. It also seems that in the latest part, Grenville might be suggesting that London is losing importance in their minds: "London, that place of hard stone and cobbles, was becoming just another story, its exact shape gone fluid" (228). London is fading away. It no longer holds the same reality in their minds, rather it's becoming a whisper of a thought. So, I think going back to London is becoming increasingly unlikely.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they will go back to London. The way that I see it is that Thornhill will never be happy in London and will convince Sal that they will never make a lives for themselves there as he could never obtain the social status to do so. He would be forced to go back to stealing or picking up after dogs. I think that in the end, Sal will be bulldozed by Thornhill's big dreams and she will live her life unhappily in New South Wales as Thornhill becomes more and more blind to her sadness as his estate grows bigger and bigger.
ReplyDeleteHi Audrey! I also have been thinking about this question a lot! Personally, I think that they will not return to London in 5 years. The promise of a new life and a new financial reality is too enticing for Will to ever go back to the social hierarchy of London. Although Sal has happy memories of London and believes that it's her true home, Will doesn't have that comfort to go back too. He's attracted to the new frontier and the promise of being someone important in society way more than he is returning to the place that he associates with his most shameful years. I'm sure that staying in New South Wales will negatively impact their relationship because Sal will feel as though she sacrificed everything for Will's ambitions.
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