Characterisation of other characters

In what follows, we will focus on the characterisation of the Laffeys and the policemen from “Heart is Where the Home is” by Thea Astley.

Mag and George Laffey

We analyse Mag and George Laffey together because of their joint action of helping Nelly hide her son Charley from the police. However, you should note that they have separate traits.

From their outer characterisation, we find out that while George is probably a country man, Mag is “a town girl with town notions” (p. 66, l. 29). They are a married couple and have two children together, and Mag is depicted as being “deceptively young and pliable” (p. 66, l. 25).

Inner characterisation

Mag’s inner characterisation is rendered from the policemen’s perspective who consider her too independent, “…a woman who never knew her place, always airing an idea of some sort…” (p. 66, ll. 25-26) or a “cheeky sheilah” (p. 68, l. 2) and a “stuck-up” (p. 69, l. 5). However, the implication is not that Mag is stuck up or cheeky, but simply a woman who wants and is willing to help the Aboriginal people and to stand up to a government she thinks is misguided in its actions. She is presented as unusually independent and strong-minded for a woman at that time.

The woman’s actions show her to be compassionate and concerned about Nelly, as she speaks to the desperate mother “soft and fast” (p. 65, l. 27).

She and her husband come up with a plan to save Charley from being taken away which shows courage given that they are breaking the law. Through the interactions with the policemen, both Mag and George show control and dissimulation. They are not afraid to criticise the government or answer back to the policemen:

‘Certainly I know.’ George was standing behind the men at the foot of the steps, his face nodding her on. ‘You're wasting your time here, let me tell you. You're wasting mine as well. But that's what government's for, isn't it?’
‘I don't know what you mean, missus.’ (p. 67, ll. 15-19)

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The policemen

The policemen function as a collective character as they are not individualised. As a collective character, they help illustrate government attitudes towards Aboriginals and official legislation regarding them.

The policemen in the story do not question the morality of removing Aboriginal children from their family, but simply enforce the law: "The morning the men came, policemen, someone from the government, to take the children away from the black camp up along the river…" (p. 62, ll. 1-3); " ‘Maybe so. But we'd like to speak to her. You know it's breaking the law to conceal this.’ " (p. 67, ll. 13-14)

Although some of them feel bad seeing the wailing of mothers and fathers, they are also shocked that Aboriginals do not fight to keep their children:

Even the coppers felt lousy seeing all those yowling gins. They'd have liked the boongs to show a bit of fight, really, then they could have laid about feeling justified. But no. The buggers just took it. Took it and took it. (p. 62, ll. 6-9)

The two backstories about Ruthie’s daughter being taken away and the other Aboriginals being tricked so that their children could be removed from them, illustrate the way authorities, represented by the policemen, manipulated Aboriginals:

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