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Family being a source for cultural identity

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Family being a source for cultural identity

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Characters cultural identities root from their families, in the Dear family, Nan is deeply rooted in Indigenous culture. This is seen when she:
- Resent the monarchy and Glady's support
- Mentions she would rather suffer in the flats where they can live the Aboriginal way of life
Nan Dear's role as the matriarch in the family supports this contention.
-"One loyal subject in the family is enough" (Referring to herself)
Through Nan, Aboriginal cultures and traditions are passed down. This is seen through:
- Family tree (not marrying cousins)
- Their tactics of keeping clothes clean (debatable)
These cultures and traditions are seen to be passed down when:
- She shares dreamtime stories
- Family histories
- Aboriginal songs

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Love and sacrifice shows the importance of family

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Love and sacrifice shows the importance of family

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Throughout the play, there are multiple instances where family members are seen to make sacrifices for the greater good of their family members. This is seen when:
- Nan Dear keeps Glady's forced conception a secret
- Glady's sacrifices vital money to buy Dolly the encyclopeids
- Dolly stays at home with Nan to take care of her instead of going to a event
By making these sacrifices characters show the depth of their love for one another, these sacrifices prompt characters to keep driving forward

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Ones hope can be altered through a loss of belonging

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Ones hope can be altered through a loss of belonging

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Nan's depiction as a realist within their household demonstrates how those forcefully separated from home often seek no change due to a fear of the repercussions.
- Nan wanting to safeguard Dolly from the outside world ("She doesn't need to know anymore than she does")
- Her beliefs that Dolly will never be given a job ("They're never going to give her that job")
- Nan Dear believes that the acceptance of aboriginals will not happen for the remainder of her life ("Just not gonna happen. Not in my lifetime."
All of these notions derive from the sorrow of her past and the loss of her home ("They forced us to leave. Our home")
- Nan's fear towards:
*The white hierarchy ("No one breathin' down our necks")
* Health care system ("Hospitals are where they take our babies away")

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Family is seen as one of the key driving forces for the main protagonists of the play, they maintain deep connections with one another and share the sorrows of living as an Aboriginal person. Characters are seen to motivate each other for change when:
- Gladys purchases the encyclopedias for Dolly, she is motivating Dolly through the purchase to continue to study to achieve her dream of being a nurse

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Social inequalities and their influence on the housing discrimination

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Social inequalities and their influence on the housing discrimination

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Throughout the novel, discrimination and injustices of various forms are demonstrated. The racist and oprresive views towards Aboriginals gives life to the housing issue where the desires of the Aboriginal people and those of the oprresive authorities leads to clashes . Aboriginal desires for housing are seen when:
- Nan Dear expresses her desire to return to the Murray River where she was prior to being pushed away, this links to the Aboriginal culture and their connections to land.
->"Born there... Im gunna go back and die there."
Whereas the white authorities completley ignore Aboriginal customs and force them to assimilate to western culture. This is seen when:
- The sanitation officer comes to the flats and deems the humpies as unsatisfactory despite Aboriginal people willingly living there:
-> “As a result of my report, things will change, Mrs Banks. ”
This further outlines the injustices the Aboriginal people face as they are so oppressed they are not allowed to choose where they wish to live and are forced to ditch their way of life for the western "better" way.

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Those with power display ignorance to those disadvantaged by the colonial values.

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Those with power display ignorance to those disadvantaged by the colonial values.

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The influence of colonization encourages white society to actively demerit the lives of indigenous. The ignorance to their racism highlights how the discrimination is at a systemic level and how it is deeply rooted into society, unbeknownst to many.
- Their ignorance over the concrete housing ("The most vigorous attempt to solve aboriginal housing" is "concrete small, white and featureless. Anything but loveable")
- Society's craze for the color white emphasizing how they see the indigenous as impure and seek to replace their identity with their own ("Mad about whiteness": "White gloves" "White powder" "White shoes")
- Constant ignorance to the Glady's level of education by explaining the meaning of words
- Unaware of the significance of assimilation which acts to abolish aboriginal culture ("The aborigine need to be absorbed into the community")
- Errol's reference to Dolly's family as "you people" demonstrating the influence of discrimination on the younger generation which seeks to exclude the indigenous from society
- While the white people have greater education they are ignorant to the ways of the indigenous and ironically must be educated in such. ("White people need to be educated")

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Forced assimilation and its various impacts

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Forced assimilation and its various impacts

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Colonisation prompted all the detrimental consequences the Aboriginal people would have to face. This leads to racism and segregation which in turn prompts the dominant culture to instill forced assimilation towards the Aboriginal people. Characters within the text are forced to navigate assimilation whilst also trying to secure permanent housing. They are forced to deal with the pressures of being forced to conform to the western culture whilst also trying to maintain their Aboriginal heritage. This leads to the complex issue of housing within the play.

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White society displays racism through actively dehumanizing those without power

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White society displays racism through actively dehumanizing those without power

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Through both a verbal and physics manner society represent the discrimination faced by indigenous due to a false ideology of justice. This is portrayed as means of establishing the power dynamic between the white hierarchy and the powerless indigenous.
-Bank manager not offering a drink to Glady as a display of his authority
- Gladys being labeled as an "interloper" for the land that her people own
- Gladys' comparison of the power dynamic of society to that of parent and child ("we're watched over like a bunch of cheeky kids")
-  Dolly being physically harassed both verbally and physically ("gets stones thrown at her" "gets snide remarks")
- The treatment of indigenous is unjustifiable as society believes they have a moral obligation to avoid them "Avoided us like we're lepers")
- Prioritizing only the health of white society ("the lack of sanitization provides a serious risk to the good people of our town")

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Throughout the novel, education and knowledge are seen as powerful tools for characters. Through, Dolly, this is seen as she is constantly pushed by Gladys to keep doing well in school. This is evident when:
- Gladys purchases the encyclopedia for her
- “you think that books and school, are the answer to everything.”
This is based of the preconception that education is the key to everything and will lift characters to a higher position. However, this notion that education is the path of progress is highlighted in the scene with the bank manager where the bank manager appears to consider Dolly due to “her [completing her] Leaving Certificate—the first in the family—with real good grades… ’N’ top of her class in algebra…”

The same is seen in Gladys where she learns to read and write, these leads to her feeling empowered. Highlighting the transforming nature of education, this prompts Gladys to continue to fight for Aboriginal conditions and ends with her reading the speech all by herself. These are seen when:
- “ If you want me to read any part to you… I can.”
-> Gladys pauses before mentioning i can, this is a self reflection to herself about the journey she has made to where she stands. She is proud of her achievement as well as feeling even more empowered.

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Hope for change being used to challenge discrimination

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Hope for change being used to challenge discrimination

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Harrison depicts how ones ambitions/dreams fuel a sense of justice that allows individuals to overcome oppression. Ones hope can be encouraged by their sense of belonging which encapsulates both family and culture.
- Dolly challenging the ideals of Errol who contrasts her life to a proper life. Once recognizing the beliefs of her culture and the abstract notion of home she counter his ignorance. ("I'm offering you a better life. A real home") - ("Our life isn't perfect but its ours"  "A real home is where there are people looking out for each other")
- When faced with the cruel nature of the concrete housing Gladys channels her cultural pride and challenges white society. ("We demand to be heard")
- When faced with authority Gladys demonstrates self empowerment through her desire for change as she must "fight to be heard over the roars of the councilors"

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Racism and its affects on Education / Jobs

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Racism and its affects on Education / Jobs

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The play emphasises the obstacles the characters face in terms of access to education as well as job opportunities. Due to their ethnicity, Aboriginal women are forced to work as fruit pickers, they have very limited opportunities. This is seen Nan brushes off Dolly working as anything else other than a fruit picker: “You’ll be at the Blue Moon. With us. As usual.” This shows that Nan, the eldest knows the fate of Aboriginal women at the time.

The affects of racism are also seen with the bank manager where he shows little respect to Gladys as she tries to apply Dolly to work there. The bank manager reluctantly notes down Dolly's name however it is evident by his tone and the way he carried himself that Dolly would not be considered due to her background.

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Harrison explores the deeper education issue through her novel, the play outlines the trend of Aboriginal people falling out of the education system, such is demonstrated through Gladys who knowing this, pushes Dolly to excel in her studies.

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Humpy's within the play is an example of home, culture and identity. Regardless of the struggles of living in the Humpies, they provide characters with a sense of home, allowing them to express their Aboriginal cultures, traditions and way of life without the disturbances cast by the white society.

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The play provides a unique setting which shows the unique challenges being both Indigenous and female brings forward. The protagonists are set in a difficult circumstance in that they would be victim to the sexist views of the 1950s as well as being Aboriginal in a prodominately white society.
Examples:
Gladys emobides the intersectionality of gender, race and class. As an Aboriginal woman, she faces discrimination from the dominant white society. She is expected to fulfill traditional gender roles while also navigating a racist society.

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Throughout the play, characters including Nan Dear and Glady's assert their independence and subsequently challenge gender norms. Living as Aboriginal women, they find themselves facing unique challenges also set off by the absense of Papa Dear. His absense outlines the integrity and determination of the Aboriginal women, outlining their courage to continue to live life.