Archie Weller – Going home.

Sometimes people is ashamed of their roots and ancestors, some people look at their own species as “dirty” and “incomplete” and this is just the case in Archie Wellers – Going home.

This story is about a young aboriginal man who is turning twenty-one. He goes by two names: William Jacob Woodward and Billy Woodward. Billy is used in the “black-society” and William in the white.
He got headhunted by a big football team at age 18, and moved away from his family and moved to Great Britain. He’s also a very successful painter. But when he is turning twenty-one he decides to visit his family at home. He receives a watch as a birthday present from his brother but is being arrested later on, because the watch is stolen.

The theme in the story is very much about the difference between colours of skin and the history behind it. And its about being proud of who you are and not neglecting your family.
Billy (or William) isn’t proud of who he is, and considers aboriginals as “drunk”, ”filthy, etc.

“She grinned up at him like Gorgon, her hands clutched at his body, like the lights from the nightclub. ‘Billy! Ya Billy Woodward, unna?’
‘Yes. What of it?” He snapped’.
‘Ya dunno me? Im ya Aunty Rose, from down Koodup’.
She cackled then. Ugly, oh, so ugly. Yellow and red eyes and broken teeth and a long, crooked, whit scar across her temple. Dirty grey hair all awry.
His people.
His eyes clouded over in revulsion. He shoved her away and walked away quickly.”

After the meeting with his aunt, we clearly get a look into his personality, that he is neglecting his descent. He thinks of his species as filthy and ugly. Maybe because he tried to live an over class, white life? His life so far has been as a handsome, semi-professional football player and a talented artist. He thinks of himself as far more civilized as his brothers and other relatives.

When he arrives at his home, he expects to be greeted nicely. But that is not the entire truth. His mother is judging him and is disappointed with him, because he didn’t came home for his fathers funeral.
At home he uses his name “Billy” Woodaward.
He gets a gift from his brother Carlton and his cousin. Their both excited to see him again.
They gave him a gold watch, and exchanged laughs and memories.
Some of the main themes in this story are definitely; prejudice, identity and racism. When Billy needs to change his name, in context to witch environment he is in, that’s a sign of the theme ‘identity’. He has two.

He prejudices his own people. He thinks of them – all of them – as dirty, filthy and drunk, but only in context to the environment he has been living in the later years. He is not proud of being an aboriginal. He actually sounds like a white, racist, man.

But after all Billy or William Jacob, found his roots, he came back to his home on his birthday and had a good time, like it was described in his childhood memory. Especially amused by his cousin and brother. But he did notice that things was changed too, his mothers looks, his fathers disappearing (death) and his brother and cousin growing up and stealing.
But he became more admitting of what his descent was, and he realized that he could not deny it.

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[ 1 ]. Page 109, line 38 – Page 110, line 6 – Archie Weller – Going Home.