Straightforward The Characterization of Alice Nannup

In this section, the racial discrimination experienced by Alice Nannup would be described. In When the Pelican Laughed, Alice Nannup through her writings described how she had been discriminated in many ways by white people. Since what Alice had written in her autobiography is her own experiences, it shows the condition of the society she lived in during a certain time that she described in her autobiography. As Wellek and Warren stated that the literature itself could show its relation with the society in reality Wellek aand Warren, 1956: 94, the autobiography When the Pelican Laughed also represents the social reality during the period in which Alice Nannup lived in. The white people through their actions had shown their superiority towards the Aborigines just as they did towards Alice Nannup. Here, as it is stated in the The New Encyclopedia Britannica that the racial discrimination happened when a certain race considered to be superior to the others 1983: 360, the white people in Australia during the time Alice Nannup was living in, considered that they were superior more than the Aborigines. The thought of being superior more than any other races besides being part of white race, has made the white people think that it was alright to treat the Aborigines as they like. It is also shown clearly in the Encyclopedia of Race and Ethnic Studies that how the white people in Australia at that time made certain obligations which put the Aborigine people at disadvantage such as the idea of the concentration camp under the name of ―protection‖. The concentration camp or the protection board as they call it, is where the Aborigines as well as half-Aborigine descendants were sent and turned into laborers Cashmore 2004: 1-2. When Alice Nannup was taken away from her family by the white people, she was mistreated since then. According to the Encyclopedia of Race and Ethnic, the separation of the Aborigine children from their family, had been done since the 1850s. The children were taken away from their family to the orphanages, training homes, apprenticeships, and white foster care Cashmore, 2004:1-2. This practice had been practiced till Alice‘s time and thus, she had to experience how it feels to be taken away from her family. From beginning of her life journey, separated from her family and lived with the white people, Alice started to experience such as called racial discrimination. The Campbells, who took Alice from her family, did not treat Alice like her own child as promised. As Alice described on her own in the When the Pelican Laughed, The Campbells never once came to see how we were, or see if we wanted anything like biscuit or something. We were just little nobodies. The only time we saw them was at night. If it wasn‘t for Tommy, I don‘t think we would have survived it. He used to go and buy fruit for us and sit with us whenever he could p. 47. Alice as a critical girl back then started to realize that she was treated differently by the Campbells. Alice realized that the way she was treated was not right. To Alice, the Campbells have almost nothing good in the way they treat Alice and the other Aborigine kids who were with her. Even if there was a good thing that Alice could describe about the Campbells was, ―One good thing the Campbells did was give us a rug, and we‘d sit outside with it around us p. 47.‖ Alice together with the other Aborigines kids had to experience improper treatments by the white people since they were at a very young age. Looking how Alice described that they were given rug which was not a very pleasant thing