Similarities

When I was working on my presentation, I came across the definition that Wendy Rose gave to explain the title of The Halfbreed Chronicles, and it really resonated with me that Wendy really identifies with these people. The actual quote was “By halfbreed I’m meaning something that transcends genetics. It’s a condition of history, of society, of something larger than any individual” (pg 86 of interview). Earlier on in the interview I read, the interviewer asked Rose if she had anything new that she was working on. Rose responded that she and several other writers had come across the idea of writing about groups of people that were not of their ethnicities, but the authors somehow identified with them. The “halfbreeds” was the group that Rose identified with. This is entirely evident in the two poems, “Truganinny” and “Julia”.

Neither of the two women are mixed racially like Rose is, but according to her definition, the “Halfbreed” title transcends genetics. It is more based on society and history. These two women in the poems fit into the both of those categories. Julia was cast outside of society because of her appearance. Her husband made the difference between Julia and “normal” people that much bigger by displaying her as a “freak”. Her differences were purely surface deep. Inside, she was a woman who wanted to be loved, a woman with feelings, but her husband treated her as a possession, as an object.

Truganinny was the last of her kind. All she wanted was to be left in peace for the rest of her life, and to be buried somewhere that had meaning to her. But, as she was the last of her kind, people disregarded her last wishes, and instead, prepared her for display in some sort of museum or other place. Truganinny classifies as a halfbreed in more of the historical sense. She was the only Tasmanian left, and the people couldn’t let the history go. They needed to remember her and her people, but the only way they could do that was to display her body instead of a picture or displaying some of her possessions.

Rose also fits into the society part of the definition. Even though she was biracial, she was treated as an outsider to every society that she came in contact with. Her father’s tribe wouldn’t consider her as a full member of the tribe because her father connected her to the tribe, not her mother. Her mother’s side of the family ignored her because she didn’t look like them. Her mother blamed her for things that she didn’t have any control over, like the ending of her marriage. Our society cast her out when she became an addict.

There was one more similarity between these three women that I thought was very interesting. In “Neon Scars,” Rose mentions how she “went on display” when she sold Indian crafts at Yosemite (page 96). I wonder if this is why she chose two women who were literally put on display after they died.

(Sarah Jaworowicz, Post 9)