Foreshadowing in Remembering Babylon Rachel C McAfee 12th Grade

The first chapter of Remembering Babylon contains the introduction young boy, Gemmy, and his first encounter with the white settlers of Australia. The exposition foreshadows characters' actions and potential conflicts, establishing later events in the novel and Gemmy's eventual rejection from society. As Gemmy finds, violence and conflict are conditions of life - or at least of his life - that prove nearly inescapable.

In the exposition of Remembering Babylon, future conflicts are foreshadowed through the characters' initial reactions to Gemmy's entrance to their society. Upon Gemmy's entrance to the society, Lachlan's first reaction is, "A black! That was the boys first thought. We're being raided by blacks. After so many false alarms it had come" (2). This initial reaction characterizes the conventional societal view of the aboriginal people in the eyes of the white settlers. By revealing that the setters viewed attack as inevitable characterizes a negative, distrustful, and violent relationship early in the text. Establishing the context for for later conflict between the cultures and the eventual rejection of Gemmy from society, which Gemmy then leaves to return to the aboriginal people. The way the people regard Gemmy as...