The Aboriginal class system, as Grenville describes it, was communal in nature. In fact, class system would be the wrong terminology entirely because there was no class system present whatsoever. Thornhill thinks in The Secret River that all of the Aboriginals live like gentry, or nobility. While the English class system propelled characters in the novel to climb up the social hierarchy, there is no apparent social hierarchy among the Aboriginals. Nolan contends that Grenville is providing commentary that the Aboriginal social structure provides overall better satisfaction for members of the community than the English class system does. She cites Thomas Blackwood as evidence that Grenville believes the Aboriginal social structure leads to overall happiness. In The Secret River, Blackwood has a notorious catchphrase: give a little, take a little. This saying relates to Blackwood's strategy for dealing with the local Aboriginals. He supports their communal approach with the land and he respects their territory by not venturing into it. Blackwood has become so involved with the local Aboriginals that he even has an Aboriginal woman as a lover and they share a child. Grenville portrays Blackwood as content with his rum-making business and content with his ties to the Aboriginals through his lover. Nolan argues that Grenville uses Blackwood as an example of someone who adheres to the Aboriginal social structure that emphasizes community. He and the Aboriginal community demonstrate social cohesiveness and general happiness in the novel. Grenville doesn't spend as much time diving into individual Aboriginal characters in the novel. As a result, Blackwood is the best example in the novel of someone who embodies a social structure that stresses social cohesiveness.
Next, Herrero suggests that the Aboriginal community is largely content due to their spiritual and emotional ties to the land. While the English class system encourages members to gain land at all costs to achieve wealth and status, the Aboriginals did not place monetary emphasis on their land. Instead, the Aboriginals built emotional connections to the land they were living on. The main reason that Will Thornhill and Sal Thornhill were not happy was because they had no emotional or spiritual connection to the land.
"The unspoken between them was that she was a prisoner here, marking off the days in her little round of beaten earth, and it was unspoken because she did not want him to feel a jailer" (150). This shows that Sal never felt attached to the land and she became alienated from Will due to his obsession with the land. All in all, the English class system created multiple fractures to the Thornhill family's relationships with one another.
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