Racism in the Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

Question: "The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a closely personal account of the tragedy of one man. It is also an indictment of a racist society where the white man, assuming authority on the basis of racial superiority, can so comprehensively abuse this authority."

Discuss this statement with detailed reference to the text.

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a powerful story of a black man's revenge against an unjust and intolerant society, where the whites assume and abuse authority on the basis of racial superiority. Jimmie is mistreated and racially abused throughout the entirety of the novel. This racial abuse is what leads Jimmie to his murderous rampage in the middle of the novel. Keneally wrote this novel with the purpose of trying to eliminate racism against the aborigines, and to rid society of the concept of racial superiority, and the abuse of the authority, which is created by the concept. Each time Jimmie is racially abused, he becomes more and more provoked, until he lets out his anger against white society by carrying out all the murders.

Jimmie Blacksmith discards his aboriginal ancestry and tries to fit into the white culture and follow the white ways of life, only to eventually be rejected from it, due to

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" Jimmie knew that he was lying, and told him that he'd measured them all with his tape, and Healy's reply was to say "My tape that counts. " This is a blatant example of the racial superiority, and the abuse that is resultant from it. When Jimmie asked why he wasn’t being paid the full promised amount, Healy's reply was "There's twelve of dem posts three inches out. The cook was an Englishman, and this man showed some of the most obvious signs of racial abuse associated with racial superiority. " This made Jimmie so angry that his face prickled, because this racial abuse of being a type of person, a black, instead of an individual. Lewis found many "fictional faults" with Jimmie's work, much the same way as Healy did. Mr Lewis mistreated Jimmie and treated him as an inferior.

The novel, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, is a severe criticisim of a racist society where the white man assumes a feeling of racial superiority over the blacks.

Jimmie's next employer is Mr Newby, on a property near Wallah. Keneally is trying to free the blacks from this prison of racism and inferiority. Healy replies by saying, "…fussy bloody black. Mr Neville plays a key role in the event of Jimmie trying to become part of the white world, because he plants the idea of how the white world is better and has more opportunities, in Jimmie's mind, which is the first sign of racial superiority in the novel. None of the white farmers even bothered to look at the reference when Jimmie tried for work at several places. The Newbys did this because they were concerned that Jimmie could leave, before finishing the job, if they kept fowarding the payments in the form of groceries. After this knock-back, Jimmie asks him for a reference at least.

Approximate Word count = 1579
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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