Themes and message

Identity

In the short story “N’goola” by Katharine Susannah Pritchard, the theme of identity is explored in connection with Mary, a half-Aboriginal woman who experiences an inner conflict over her identity. Although she lives in a settlement with other Aboriginals and half-Aboriginals and is married to a half-Aboriginal man, Mary distances herself from her these people and their way of life (35, ll. 16-20). 

At the age of six, Mary was taken from her family by white authorities and placed into a missionary school where she was taught to forget her culture and live according to white values and customs. This has given her ambitions; she wants to live like the white people. Because of this, the people in the settlement treat her with prejudice, calling her “ ‘a crawler to the whites’ ” (p. 43, l. 11). 

Because of her education and ambitions, Mary finds it difficult to identify with her Aboriginal roots. However, learning about her Aboriginal heritage makes Mary happy: “the secret elation it gave her to think she belonged somewhere, and to somebody.” (p.36, ll. 2-3). This suggests her need to belong. Furthermore, she is more drawn to Aboriginal culture than to white culture (p. 43, ll. 13-15). 

The conflict between Mary’s white and Aboriginal identities becomes more urgent when, as she listens to Gwelnit’s story, she realizes that she is his daughter N’goola. At first, she rejects her Aboriginal identity, ...