Herbie and the Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith.
This essay will seek to explore the similar experiences the characters faced in the movie, The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith" and the text "Herbie" by Archie Wellers short stories, Going home. Jimmy and Herbie are the main characters of each text. Both come from a Aboriginal culture and grew up in a "white mans world." Jimmy had a good child hood, however when he reached his teens he went through some rough treatment because he was confused about his life, he experienced racism, violence, and mistreatment. Herbie also experienced these things but in his childhood, these three things will be discussed throughout this essay.
Violence was the theme that made the "Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith" and "Herbie" so alike. There were two types of violence exploited in the texts, they were physical and cultural. In the chant of Jimmy Blacksmith when Jimmy was a child he was taken to a white family, which was thought to be he right thing to do in the early 1800s. As a result of Jimmy going back to his own family and following their culture he was exposed to violence. They cut his chest and took him hunting, While blacks might not see it this as violence and it is to prove that they are a man, the white people did, and as a result he was punished for being with them, he got the cane. Also giving someone the cane is a form of violence, as it hurts and is toucher.
The way Jimmy was treated throughout his childhood started to break him up. He was being pushed into things he didn't want to do, being a black man .
Growing up in a white mans world was too hard for him to handle, he burst out and started killing everyone that turned his life around, starting with the women from the farm that he worked at. He axed them to death, then he ran away and killed those that stood in his way. His life was ended when he hunted down by locals pleading for justice.
Herbie also went through a lot of violence throughout his childhood but in a different concept.