The film Rabbit-Proof Fence is centred around the real character of Molly Craig, a young half-caste girl living in Australia in the 1930's. She is taken from her camp at Jigalong to a half-caste Gulag over a thousand miles away from her mother, along with sister Daisy and cousin Grace. The three escape from the camp, but are being tracked by an Aboriginal tracker and the white government, following the Rabbit-Proof Fence to find home.
To me, Molly is a hero. She initially shows no character traits typical of a hero; she is timid, as seen in her reluctance to be checked for whiteness by the handler of half-castes, seeming too afraid to move or respond to her name. She stays away from all the other girls at the camp, as well as not going for breakfast on the first day, showing her apparent fear of things and people she is unfamiliar with. She also almost never talks at the camp, presumably through fear of being punished or fear of being judged, yet at her home in Jigalong she spoke to her sister and cousin fairly regularly. Normally, a hero would be someone who is brave, stands up to everyone and everything, tackles everything new and speaks their mind. However, she does commit one heroic act, so large and out of character that she has become a hero from my point of view; she escapes from the camp with her sister and cousin.
Why does this one act of defiance make her a hero in my mind? The dictionary definition of a hero is "a man/woman distinguished by exceptional courage, nobility, fortitude, etc." Molly's non-courageous character makes her one action stand out amongst the rest of her decisions; it must have taken an amazing amount of courage to finally decide to leave the camp, especially after witnessing the punishment of a girl who had left but was found and taken back. The soure of Molly's new courage cannot fully be determined, but the amount the source gave her must have been enough to classify as "exceptional". She would definately be seen as a hero to her sister and cousin, seeing as she managed to get both of them out; alone, neither of the other two had the courage to get out themselves. Although Molly failed to get Grace to stay with them, resulting in Grace's death, she managed to get home safely with her sister. Based on this story alone, Molly is a hero in my mind.
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3 comments:
I really loved your post, there were so many vivid points about how we first watched to the part where we stopped, you summarized really great! :)\
However never say anything about further about the movie because it might ruin the surprise and inspiration from the movie but I thought it was really good though :) :D
I think Blogging is a great venue for your writing Aidan as I see you really speak from the heart here and you make a strong and valid point about how the escape is the key to her heroism.
and reach home by walking along a rabbit-proof fence built by the Government to keep out rabbits from farmland. The book is written by Molly's daughter Doris.cedar fence pickets
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