To begin, I chose some quotes from the novel to analyze that I believe demonstrate the English class system does not lead to overall happiness and satisfaction.
“His Majesty's government issued Mrs Thornhill, master of the assigned convict William Thornhill, with a week's victuals, a blanket or two, and a hut up on the hillside behind the wharf. That was the extent of what His Majesty felt obliged to provide. The idea was, the servant William Thornhill would work for his master, in this case his wife, at whatever employment might be found. He was in all respects a slave, obliged to do his master’s bidding. The felon would thus remain a prisoner, but the master would do the work of a guard” (80). This gives us our first glimpse of Colonial Australia society. Many convicts were stuck as indentured servants for long periods of time, sometimes their entire lives. While Thornhill has more freedom in Australia than he would have in Britain, he is still looked down on as a slave.
It was an old pain returning to find that William Thornhill, felon, was waiting under the skin of William Thornhill, landowner" (173). This quote demonstrates that Thornhill accomplished a serious feat: He gained enough power and status to work himself out of the class system that brought him here as a felon. However, this quote also suggests that Thornhill has no more room for social mobility because of his status as an ex-felon. Even though he has status like never before, he feels dejected because the English class system continues to refuse to support him and allow him to grow.
"Thornhill spoke as mildly as a man might who has nothing to prove. Forgetting you manners are you, Dan Oldfield, he said, and saw the grin close down" (181). Now that Will has power, he condones the system of indentured servitude, the same system that took away his liberty and happiness. It is interesting to see the system come full circle. Instead of breaking the system and the injustices that come along with it, Thornhill decides to force Dan into his punishment.
"[Thornhill] could hear the great machinery of London, the wheel of justice chewing up felons and spitting them out here, boatload after boatload, spreading out from the Government Wharf in Sydney, acre by acre, slowed but not stopped by rivers, mountains, swamps" (214). This quote shows that Will Thornhill understands the tragic consequences the Aboriginal people will suffer as a result of the English class system. While Thornhill has misgivings about causing agony for the Aboriginals, he thinks that the continuation of the system might be beneficial for him on an economic level because he can continue to climb the social hierarchy more.
The consequence of the English class system and intolerance towards Aboriginals was the massacre that occurred. After the massacre, Dick ran away from his family's home and into Blackwood's. When Thornhill finally found Dick at Blackwood's, Dick refused to look at him, upset that his own father could participate in the massacre. When people see Dick with Blackwood on the river, they believe they are father and son. This pains Thornhill (280). Here, it is evident that while the English class system led to economic success for Thornhill, he paid the price by causing division in his family. On a personal level, the events caused Thornhill grief.
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