Hey! This is my first ever post yayyy! I was was just wondering if anyone could mark my essay. It's on the novel 'The Lieutenant' and the topic we had to answer was...
Communication not discovery is at the heart of 'The Lieutenant'.
If anyone could read it, that would be amazing!
Thankyou!
Kate Grenville’s literary creation ‘The Lieutenant’ follows the life of Daniel Rooke and his journey as a lieutenant in the First Fleet. It provides Rooke’s perspective of the world and certain revelations he experiences through his encounters in life. The communication between characters in ‘The Lieutenan aids the uncovering of the wider unknown in the novel. At the beginning of the novel, Rooke is depicted to be “quiet, moody, a man of few words.” However, as the story progresses, we see that his journey soon comes to revolve around his discovery of self through communicating with the “natives” and his colleague in the First Fleet. Tagaran’s interaction with Rooke allowed not only herself but the other natives to be discover aspects of the world they were naive to. Whilst Silk uses communication in attempts to become more knowledgeable, his recounts are unreliable as he alters what he finds, thus proving he is not actually uncovering the world for what it is.
Through Rooke’s journey he see him transgress from a timid young man, to somebody who is willing to fight for the wellbeing of others. Rooke develops into such a strong willed character through his interactions in life. When “Rooke turned thirteen” he met Dr Vickery, “the Astronomer Royal” who showed him “the mysteries of the quadrant… telescope” and inspired him to pursue astronomy. Without Vickery, Rooke may not have learnt about fascinating aspects of the world and perhaps would not be part of the expedition to New South Wales, thus not allowing him to develop into a strong-willed individual who worked to free others from the hardships in life. After his first encounter with Tagaran where she teaches him some words in her native tongue, Rooke realises that his path was not to investigate a comet, but “to acquire the native language”. Through several encounters later, with Tagaran and others such as Warungin, as well as observing his Fleet’s negative actions towards the natives, Rooke has a revelation and decides to go back to Antigua where he buys and frees slaves. Rooke was a man of knowledge but he needed to “leave behind everything [he] thought [he] knew” about the world to be enlightened about the injustices many are facing in the world. Rooke communicated with many individuals in his life, who ultimately allowed him to discover his destiny revolving around the fighting for other peoples freedom.
Not only did Rooke learn from his interactions with Tagaran, but Tagaran herself learnt from Rooke. Rooke taught Tagaran english, but she also taught him how to speak her tribes aboriginal tongue. Yet despite this, Tagaran and others became aware of certain objects and features regarding the life of soldiers in the First Fleet. Soon after arriving in Australia, Rooke and his fellow soldiers saw “five native men step out of the bushes.” In response the Fleet offered trinkets (eg. looking glass) to the natives, that the natives observed but eventually “lost interest”. Weymark, a member of the Fleet shot a gun right near the natives. This allowed the natives to believe that the fleet offered bribes, and relied on brute force and threats to appear strong, thus making the natives register that they have to be careful around the new inhabitants of their country. Further, Tagaran becomes intrigued by Rooke’s musket and picks it up, “her finger already on the trigger.” Rooke was very cautious and reluctant to show Tagaran how to use the musket yet he does so anyway. Rooke’s reluctance most likely was due to guns relation to violence and death, but despite this he allows Tagaran to know another aspect of they colonist’s lives and how they survive and assert their dominance. Interactions between the contrasting groups allow them to understand the bigger picture.
Silk too does communicate to become more knowledgeable yet, his discovery proves to be changed for his liking. Silk took to learning the native language for his writing. Further along the story, Silk finds out that Rooke has been interacting with the natives on a intimate level, especially with Tagaran. He interprets Rooke’s story of Tagaran washing herself in a way that suggests they had a sexual relationship as opposed to a platonic, sibling relationship. Silk does not accept Rooke’s objections and pleas to believe otherwise, and rather accepts his false interpretation of the events between his friend and Tagaran. He accepts this by stating “there is no need to explain. We are both men of the world!” The falsity of Silk’s beliefs seem to pose no issues to him, thus his lack of investigating facts does not allow him to understand the wider world.
Grenville’s novel ‘The Lieutenant’ offers the idea that the sharing of certain aspects of an individuals life and their knowledge contributes to the discovery of life as a whole. This is accomplished through Rooke’s interactions with many people throughout his lifespan, and the natives observation of the Fleet who decided to reside in their home. On the contrary, whilst Silk did communicate with natives to increase his knowledge, he alters what he finds, thus he has not depicted the world for how it actually is. Grenville’s work asserts that communication is vital when unmasking the world and its negatives and positives.
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