Looking for Othello’s pearl in Gail Jones’s Sorry (2007): Symbolic and intertextual questioning of the notion of “settler envy”

Abstract

The turn of the century has witnessed a proliferation of the publication of the so-called “sorry novels”, “fictions of reconciliation” and “saying sorry texts” in the Australian literary context. In contrast to the arguments which define these texts as plausible examples of “settler envy”, this article highlights their dissenting and reconciling power in Gail Jones’s Sorry (2007) by offering an in-depth analysis and discussion of the meaning and function of the intertextual allusions to Shakespeare’s Othello and the use of symbols in the novel.

Keywords:

• Australian Reconciliation
• apology
• saying sorry texts
• settler envy
• Gail Jones
• Shakespeare

Notes

1. As of April 30, 2017, the Australian Government stated on its website (http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/reconciliation) that Reconciliation seeks “unity and respect between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and non-Indigenous Australians. It is about respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and valuing justice and equity for all Australians” (para. 2). It became official after the passing of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act in May (1991) under the Australian Labor Government. During the Howard government (1996–2007) the process came to a standstill (Kennedy 2009, 107–108).

2. Contrary to the principle of terra nullius on which British settlement in Australia was justified, the High Court’s 1992 Mabo decision (Mabo v Queensland 1992) and 1993 Native Title Act recognized that Australian Indigenous peoples occupied Australia prior to the British arrival in 1788 (see Rigney 1998, 126–127).

3. For more information on the negative consequences of the Native Title Amendment Act (1998), see Rigney (1998). Short’s (2008, 147–153) interviews with Indigenous Elders and activists such as Wadjularbinna Nulyarimma, Kevin Buzzacott and Darren Bloomfield, and the 2010 documentary film Our Generation, directed by Sinem Sarab and Daniem Curtis ([2010] 2013), show some Indigenous Australians’ scepticism and dissent from the Official Reconciliation process and the Northern Territory Intervention. However, there were also positive responses to Kevin Rudd’s 2008 apology from some Indigenous peoples (see Moses 2011, 152–154).

4. Texts which have been included under these labels are: Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda (1988); David Malouf’s Remembering Babylon (1993); Rodney Hall’s A Return to the Brink (1999); Peter Watt’s Cry of the Curlew (1999); Tim Winton’s Dirt Music (2001); Alex Miller’s Journey to the Stone Country (2002); Andrew McGahan’s The White Earth (2004); Kate Grenville’s The Secret River (2005), The Lieutenant (2008) and Sarah Thornhill (2011); Gail Jones’s Sorry ([2007] 2008); Rohan Wilson’s The Roving Party (2011); and Noel Beddoe’s The Yalda Crossing (2012). See McGonegal 2009; Weaver-Hightower 2010; Delrez 2010, 2011; Clarke and Nolan 2014; Wilson 2017.

5. Former prime minister John Howard failed to apologize at the 1997 Convention on Reconciliation, since he did not acknowledge any responsibility, nor was there any symbolic or material compensation offered to the victims. John Howard justified his refusal in his reference to “the most blemished chapter in our history” (in Gooder and Jacobs 2000, 230). As the injustices had been committed in the past, contemporary Australians bore no blame. In contrast to Howard’s refusal, ordinary apologies were delivered through the signing of Sorry Books, the establishment of a National Sorry Day on 26 May 1998, which came to be called “A Journey to Healing” in 1999, or the 2000 “People’s Walk for Reconciliation” across the Sydney Harbour Bridge (Gooder and Jacobs 2000, 239–243; Short 2008, 114–118).