The Role Of Identity In Jackie French's Nanberry

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‘Nanberry’ is a novel written by Jackie French, based on true events surrounding the European Colonisation via the First Fleet and the impact that this had on the local Aboriginal tribes. The characters in the book are based on real identities from the colonisation, such as Governor Arthur Phillip, Surgeon White and Bennelong. The title is derived from an Aboriginal boy named Nanberry from Warrane, Sydney Cove, if the Cadigal tribe. He was able to survive the smallpox epidemic and was taken in by Surgeon White because the sympathy the Surgeon felt for Nanberry when the rest of his family hadn't survived the terrible disease. Nanberry was taught English by his foster father, Surgeon White and how Europeans live. As an Aboriginal by blood, from the moment he was adopted, he became caught between two cultures, but later on successful adopts the parts of each culture that appealed to him the most and learned to live in both worlds peacefully. …show more content…

Nanberry had moments where he questioned who he was and struggled to find his identity. He feels two-sided partly an English boy, partly an Aboriginal boy, ‘Yesterday I was an English boy. Tonight I warn my brother. Black brother. White father.’ There are even times Nanberry is so caught up in one world, he forgets how to live the other, ‘Nanberry grew still. He was Nanberry, the Surgeon’s son, in his good clothes, his hair tied back. But if he took off his clothes, untied his hair…. It was strange to stand naked in the night air. I am not Nanberry, he thought. I am….who am

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