The Fence Symbol Analysis

The fence which Gemmy balances himself upon in the first moment that Janet and Lachlan see him represents the divide between the Aboriginal Australians’ world, where Gemmy has been living for 16 years, and the white society of the settlers. When Gemmy approaches the children, he has no intention of leaving his Aboriginal tribe behind, which is signified by the fact that he balances himself upon the fence, committing himself to neither the Aboriginal Australians’ world nor the white world. However, when Gemmy loses his balance and lands on all four on the settlers’ side of the fence, he is unwittingly removed from the world of the Aboriginal Australians and pitched into white society. When Janet is an adult, long after Gemmy has died, she keeps picturing him balanced upon the fence, not yet having chosen between being an Aboriginal man or a white man. Thinking of that very moment when Gemmy was neutral, caught between worlds, Janet realizes that her family loved Gemmy. That they loved him while he was still on the fence—as opposed to not loving him until after he had fallen into white society—suggests that it ultimately does not matter whether Gemmy considered himself white or Aboriginal Australian, whether he chose one world over the other; they loved him just the same. Ultimately, the fence symbolizes both the force of the division between these worlds and the way that that division is somewhat meaningless.