Class conflict has dominated society since the days of the early Egyptians. It has always been the way that one individual has the power to rule over another. “The ladder of society” or “the rat race” are two common names for this pattern in history. Quite often the individual seen as superior has greater wealth or class than the individual and this immediately puts them in a position of power.In ‘the Secret River’ Thornhill comes from a poor background where he is constantly at the demand of the superior individual, from his days as a child to rowing the upper-class across the river Thames as an apprentice Waterman, Thornhill was forever working for the “better man”. So it is strange that years later in Australia when Thornhill, now a free man, gains power over and individual of his own. Dan Oldfield is a convict the Thornhill’s knew back home in England and they take him in as a servant. Thornhill, a man treated as a borderline slave his entirely life, remarkably describes his knew position as a whole new kind of pleasure, and happily abuses the new convict brutally. It’s a shock because Thornhill was a man with no power, and once he got some he abused it straight away.
A modern day scenario that mirrors Thornhill’s lustful power surge is the story of ex Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s reign of terror in Iraq. He controlled the country and caused multiple issues in the country throughout his time as president. His journey from working class man to war destroying tyrant is a similar scenario, to that of William Thornhill and Dan Oldfield.Information on Hussein can be found at the following linkhttp://www.fact-index.com/s/sa/saddam_hussein.html
By Brad
No comments:
Post a Comment