Remembering Babylon: Intervention
Remembering Babylon is a story of early 1860s, which begins with a strange man Gemmy who is walking into an English settlement from the Australian bush or wilderness. The settlers of English society get suspicious of the concerned strange visitor and since he was raised by black natives, the settlers viewed him as untrustworthy. He tried to convince the people that he is belonged to the same place but was unsuccessful. However, the strange man makes some friends in the English settlement even when he could speak limited English.
The strange man went lucky when he was encountered by McIvor family, who decided to take in him, although Jock McIvor, who was the father, seemed reluctant at first. Janet, the oldest daughter and the adopted cousin, developed a strong friendship with Gemmy. Lachlan used to act like the protector of Gemmy. There were many people in English Settlement who did not like Germany and used to consider them as a white black. They also considered them as a treat to the livelihood of English Settlement. Therefore, they used to keep a close watch on Gemmy and identified that the strange man is meeting some natives. They misunderstood the whole situation and started to consider him as a spy came to spy on the English settlers. There was a change of attitude in the English settlers towards Jock also.
The suspicions and the misunderstanding in English settlers mainly arose because of the exaggerations and rumors fed by one of the internal member, namely Andy McKillop. Andy was a peripheral member within the society of English settlement and was not a core member of the group. He was the only person who saw Gemmy visiting the Aborigines of the tribe, and thus shared the monopoly of the information regarding the whole event. Andy tries to use his information and also added some invented facts so as to get a positive recognition and stand in its community and so that the English settlers accept him as a core member of the community. He convinced most of the people within the community through his version of the event with a mixture of a persistent and loud voice, of causing fear and his insistence.
The attackers included Barney Mason, Andy Mckillop, Murcutt, and Ned Corocran. Barney Mason and Mckillop met at a fence on top of the hill and talked about Gemmy and shared the feeling of hate towards Gemmy. They were joined by Murcutt and Ned who rambled more about the reasons why they all disliked Gemmy. In between discussion, Andy suggested them that Gemmy should be killed; however, Murcutt suggested that he should just be scared and not seriously harmed. Thus, all of the decided that Murcutt will bring the rope, they will grab him from the house and then scare him by taking him out into the forest and tying his hands together. They all planned a time and implemented their plan.
Jock McIvor was unable to face the accusations from the English settlers, which weakened his position and he confronted a situation of dilemma, eventually he ended up developing strange opinions about the presence of Gemmy and himself in the English settlement. However, when Gemmy was attacked Jock rescued him and saved his life. Jock McIvor eventually agreed to remove Gemmy from his home and accommodated gemmy at Mrs. Hutchence’s place.
The preconceptions which derived from the inability to adequately understand Gemmy and the misinformation provided by Andy, lead to fear and to verbal and physical torture against Gemmy.
References
Malouf, D. (1993). Remebering Babylon. Random House. 202 pp. Australia. ISBN 0-7011-5883-2.
