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Chapter 17
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
Mr. Frazer travels to Brisbane—which he finds disappointingly small and unimpressive—with his finished report to pitch to the Governor of Queensland, Sir George. However, Sir George proves to be useless; initially he is suspicious that the report is somehow a political threat against him by his opponents, and upon realizing that it is merely one botanist’s passion project, he quickly loses interest.
Mr. Frazer’s unsuccessful attempt to make the government share his vision of a better form of colonialism reflects the fact that, although a better manner of settling Australia may be imagined, the historical reality is that it was done in the same domineering, ruthless, and destructive manner as so many other British colonial operations.
Themes
Sir George is a dreamer, but not a doer, placed in charge of creating a “self-governing state” out of the territories of Queensland. He is alternately pleased by the grandeur of such a charge and depressed by the fact that he is spending the last decades of his career so far from respectable society. He writes pestering letters to English politicians each day and makes grand allusions to Greek mythology to give himself a feeling of meaning and purpose.
Sir George operates as a kind of parallel to Lachlan, suggesting what the boy might have become if he was never forced to recognize his own limitations and grow up. Like Lachlan did as a child, Sir George fantasizes about his own grandeur, believing that his life and ambitions must naturally be the center of all that surrounds him.
Themes
While Mr. Frazer is speaking with him, Sir George pontificates about his own achievements, which bear no relation to the conversation at hand. Frazer decides, privately, that Sir George “exudes an air of magnificent unreality that includes everything he looks upon.” Considering the report, Sir George does see in it some possibility of grandeur several centuries in the future, which reviving his interest and gives him visions of vast orchards and gardens. But in his mind, the dreaming of such a thing is as good as accomplishing it: “To descend to detail would be to miss the wood for the scrubby little trees.” Sir George invites Mr. Frazer to have dinner with himself, his wife, and the Premier Mr. Herbert to further discuss the matter, but Frazer suspects that this is not truly a victory.
Again, Sir George parallels the behavior of young Lachlan, boasting of exploits that he may or may not have accomplished and clearly envisioning himself as a great achiever. To see such behavior in a child is understandable; to see it in such a man as Sir George is pathetic. This contrast suggests that coming of age, with all the pain and self-limitation it involves, is nonetheless critical, Otherwise, one may turn out to be an utter fool and useless individual who just gets in the way of the progress of others.
Themes
Two days later, Mr. Frazer dines with Sir George, Sir George's wife, and Mr. Herbert. While Sir George believes he deserves greatness—though now fears that he will never see it, through the fault of others but not himself—Mr. Herbert, by contrast, “seems made for success but winces at it.” The entire conversation never touches upon Mr. Frazer’s report, but instead circles itself and seems to be passively combative, as if Frazer is watching three people “who have been too long shut up together.” Trapped by the strange politics at play, Mr. Frazer never speaks of his botanical vision, and neither does Sir George.
Although Mr. Herbert himself seems the opposite of Sir George, he represents the same futility of governments and systems that Sir George embodies, even though he himself seems quite capable. The observation that the governing figures seem as if they have been stuck together for too long is poignant, suggesting that politicians and governors themselves often seem more interested in their petty internal squabbles and tensions than in actually accomplishing anything on behalf of society.
Themes
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As Mr. Frazer leaves, Sir George gives him such a reproachful look that he presumes he must have failed in some way, though he cannot determine what his role was even supposed to be. The next morning, Frazer receives a note from Mr. Herbert offering Gemmy, whom they had spoken of, a position as a customs officer with a respectable salary in the port of Bowen. Mr. Frazer is confused and disappointed that he has been so misunderstood. His botanist’s dream disappears “into a future that appeared increasingly remote.”
The overall futility of Mr. Frazer’s quest to envision a new, better form of colonialism seems reflective of the fact that although a better could theoretically exist, the sad fact of history is that the colonization of Australia was achieved in the same manner as in so many other Commonwealth territories: through land seizure, violence, and domination.
Themes
