The Secret River Essays

12th Grade

The Secret River

The Pearl, by John Steinbeck and The Secret River, by Kate Grenville both explore issues surrounding racism and classism. However, whilst The Pearl places a heavy emphasis on classism due to racism, The Secret River discusses racism and the...

11th Grade

The Secret River

Early European settlers did not understand that, as the original inhabitants of Australia, the Aboriginal people were entitled to the land, yet they did not claim ownership of it for their possession. However, the Aboriginal people belonged to...

11th Grade

The Secret River

The concept of how a person’s view of themselves can be comprised up of many influences and experiences is effectively explored throughout Kate Grenville’s The Secret River. The broad range of experiences and influences that impact upon William...

11th Grade

The Secret River

New South Wales is more a battlefield than it is a colony. Smasher is the vicious commander steering colonization forward where else Blackwood is an innocent bystander protesting the war. New South Wales is the beginning of colonization; firstly,...

12th Grade

The Secret River

Empathy is about finding echoes of yourself in the eyes of others. The Shape of Water (2017) by Guillermo Del Toro is a magical realism film that follows mute heroine Eliza as she falls in love with a Fishman while facing the villainous...