Previous
Chapter 16
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Remembering Babylon, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism and Xenophobia
Gender and Power
Community and Insularity
Coming of Age
Colonialism and Property
Summary
Analysis
Lachlan feels as if the world “had come apart.” His old friendship with Hec Gosper, a friend and mentor, has been subdued by Hec’s long-held grudge against Gemmy and Lachlan’s defense of him, which wounded Hec’s reputation. Lachlan, now 13, will soon leave behind the other boys to join the ranks of the men, though this means that Gemmy can no longer hang around with him. Previously, Lachlan had to discourage rather severely Gemmy from following him around, but at times Lachlan wishes he had never done so. With shame he reflects on his behavior as a younger child, parading Gemmy around with a sense of power and dominance.
In the process of growing up and coming of age, Lachlan is ashamed to realize how foolish he was as a child and how wrong his conceptions of the world have been. However, although Lachlan is growing up, he falls into the same trap as most of the settlement’s men—which Jock himself must overcome—of being more concerned with his social standing and appearance before his peers than with his ongoing relationship to Gemmy.
Themes
It is around the time of Gemmy’s visitors when Lachlan realizes the full distance that separates him from the other boys. The other children—one of whom is Ned Corcoran’s—mock Lachlan for his friendship with Gemmy and play-act shooting the man dead, like their fathers think someone ought to. Days later, these same boys tell Lachlan about the attack on Gemmy at night.
Lachlan’s peers’ play-acting of shooting Gemmy down illustrates their desire to find power by dominating others, which is typical of the men of the settlement. Their play also painfully summons the first moment that Lachlan saw Gemmy, when he had the exact same thought: this is not someone to care for, but someone to dominate and feel powerful over.
Themes
When Ellen finally explains the whole event to him, Lachlan feels betrayed that he was not told and that he slept through the attack like a child. Moreover, he feels both powerless and fearful, not of danger, but of the fact that he had not recognized the wickedness of the world and “how his failure to see it was a weakness in him.” Rather than go to school, he spends the day crouched in the bush, clutching a rifle for no particular reason, wondering how the world can ever go back to the way it was. Midway through the day, Hec arrives and sits with him quietly. As he does so, Lachlan feels the distance and hostility between them melt away.
A key component of Lachlan’s coming of age is the realization that the world is not easily divided into heroes and villains or good and evil. Rather, he realizes that wickedness can show itself in anyone, even in the white settlers and even, perhaps, in himself. The narrative thus argues that such a loss of innocence—painful and complicated though it is—is an essential part of growing up and entering the world as a mature individual.
Themes
After Gemmy moves to Mrs. Hutchence’s, life for the McIvors returns to a semblance of normality, though Lachlan observes that Jock is dispirited, that “something had been destroyed in him that could not be put right.” Although Jock eventually returns to his old friends, he no longer trusts them or feels that being thought well of by such men is “the first thing in the world.”
Jock’s dispiritedness suggests a loss of faith in the other settlers, an almost cynical realization that the respect he once strived for means nothing if it comes from cowardly, even wicked men. Although Jock’s realignment of priorities is beneficial for his relationships with Gemmy and with Ellen, it also comes at great cost.
Themes
Get the entire Remembering Babylon LitChart as a printable PDF.
When Lachlan goes to visit Gemmy at Mrs. Hutchence’s house, he discovers that in the dance of interactions between Leona, Hector, Mr. Abbot, and Janet that he witnesses, all his conceptions of manhood and power have no bearing. Janet herself has become more and more independent lately, less concerned with Lachlan—he had taken for granted “that her chief concern must be him”—and more focused on her own wishes and desires. “In the revelation that a power he had taken for granted might have limitations, he felt much of it fall away.”
Lachlan’s realization that much of the world has little regard for him or his visions of manhood and power marks another critical milestone in his coming of age. This moment shows the frailty of Lachlan’s power and suggests that for individuals to grow up, they must realize that the world and its people do not revolve around themselves, and likely do not even care about their presence at all.
Themes
Lachlan leaves the gathering at Mrs. Hutchence’s house and Gemmy accompanies him. They walk for a short while, not speaking. Lachlan knows that Gemmy’s spirit is not well, and he feels that he himself is not either. They part ways, both turning to look at each other one last time when they are 60 yards apart, moving in opposite directions down the path. Gemmy’s face is too far away for Lachlan to read his expression, but for many years after, in his dreams Lachlan tries to discover what Gemmy felt in that moment, always unsuccessfully. Even as an adult, Lachlan awakes crying after these dreams.
Lachlan’s recurring dreams about this moment—the last time he ever sees Gemmy—even as an adult imply that he is burdened by guilt that is never quite resolved. He never knows if Gemmy feels betrayed by his imposed distance or if he understands. Regardless, both seem to understand that change is imminent, and that neither of them can continue with the way things have been going.
Themes
