Fences (symbol)
Fences are a symbol of a prohibition on freedom. The first thing “the white men” did, they built “the great fences of Australia”, then “overpowered aboriginal people”, and “put them behind new fences in new reservations”. Fences helped the white men to deprive them of their freedom, ruin their lifestyle and make them follow the white men’s rules. Fences were supposed to show to whom the authority belonged.
People of mixed race (allegory)
People of mixed race are allegory of rejection in a society with racial constraints. “Instinctively” or on a subconscious level, people follow certain rules and those, who dare to break them, are going to be punished, rejected. When the first generation of mixed race people were born, they were “looked upon” by everyone, for they were “others”. “Molly often wished that she didn’t have light skin so that she didn’t have to play by herself”. The mere fact that her race could not be easily identified made other people want to reject her.
The journey (motif)
The journey of “1,600 kilometers” is the motif of the story. In spite of their fear, tiredness, hunger and a feeling of despair, they make their minds to start “their incredible journey to reach their goal”. Lots of girls had tried “to run away back to their homes” but the trackers always caught them. As soon they were caught, they were placed in a place once described as “a small, detached concrete room with a sandy floor, with only one glimpse of light and little ventilation coming through a narrow, barred opening in the north wall”. It didn’t scare the three girls away.
