Marshall, James Vance: Walkabout

LITERARY GENRE: An adventure story

AUTHOR: James Vance Marshall

PLOT SYNOPSES: Mary is thirteen and her brother Peter is eight years old. They are the only survivors of an air crash in the middle of the Australian desert. Somehow they try to come to Adelaide. Their uncle Keith is living in this city. But they are facing death from exhaustion and starvation, when they meet an Aboriginal boy. Peter calls him "DARKIE". Darkie is fascinated by Mary and Peter. Later he shows them how to find nourishment and guides them on their long journey. During the journey Mary can’t stand the bush boy and besides she never talks to Darkie. During the journey the bush boy catches Peter`s cold. He becomes very weak and he thinks about his death and his burial table. Nonetheless Mary doesn`t want to go near him. Peter is the only person who talks with Darkie. Then, because of Mary`s fault, she causes Darkie`s death. Mary and Peter continue their long journey to Adelaide. Finally they are saved by three swimmers.

MAIN CHARACTERS: Darkie is a nice person because he is friendly and very helpful. An important thing for me is that the bush boy doesn`t want to eat Mary and Peter. I think that he could easily could do this if he wanted to, because he is stronger than the others. I also liked Peter`s character because he never shows the difference between them and Darkie. In that way he is very sympathetic.

INTERPRETATION: The author wants to show us that even children are as clever if they are alone. He also wants to show the readers how an Aboriginal lives and that we can also live with bush boys, because they are no aliens.

PERSONAL COMMENT: I did not have many problems reading it but the only problem I had was that the author explained a lot of things very exactly, and that was quite hard to understand. I really enjoy to read the story. Moreover I like the place where it takes place. At this place there are wonderful hills and a lot of fruits that we have never heard of..