Capricornia: Analysis of Major Characters
"Capricornia: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the intricate lives of several central figures in a narrative set in Australia's Northern Territory. The primary character, Oscar Shillingsworth, evolves from a self-interested civil servant to a more compassionate cattle rancher after facing personal challenges, including his wife’s abandonment. His younger brother, Mark, contrasts Oscar with his carefree lifestyle and tumultuous experiences, which lead to his downfall and eventual reemergence years later.
The analysis also explores the struggles of Norman, Mark’s illegitimate son, who grapples with his mixed heritage and societal acceptance after being raised by Oscar. Heather Poundamore, Oscar's sister-in-law, displays resilience and loyalty despite her tumultuous relationship with Mark. Other characters, like the bitter Charles Ket and the troubled Frank McLash, highlight themes of identity, ambition, and the consequences of societal prejudice. Each character's journey reflects the broader societal challenges of the time, particularly in relation to race, family, and personal redemption. Through these diverse perspectives, "Capricornia" offers a nuanced examination of life in a complex and evolving Australian society.
Capricornia: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Xavier Herbert
First published: 1938
Genre: Novel
Locale: Capricornia, Australia
Plot: Social satire
Time: The 1880's to the 1930's
Oscar Shillingsworth, a civil servant and later a cattle rancher. He is a tall, erect, neat man who in his maturity wears a huge mustache. Determined to get on in life, he works assiduously for the government, marries well, and leases a large cattle station in Australia's rough-and-ready Northern Territory (called Capricornia in the novel). At the beginning, he is in his thirties and is somewhat prim and self-interested. His wife runs off, and various other problems of life make him a more generous, concerned man in the long run.
Mark Shillingsworth, Oscar's younger brother, who comes to Capricornia with him to work as a government clerk. He is twenty-two years old and less eager than Oscar to please the society of middle-class clerks and shopkeepers. Almost immediately, he falls in with a happy group of gamblers and drunkards. Tall and handsome, attractive to women, and prone to alcoholic excess, he soon falls out of work and society, has a child with an aboriginal girl, and kills a Chinese merchant in a brawl over money. He disappears and is believed to be dead for much of the novel, but he turns up as a middle-aged man, still prone to getting into trouble but often rather innocently so.
Norman Shillingsworth, Mark's illegitimate son, named Mark Anthony Shillingsworth but known in his childhood, while living as a half-caste, as Nawnim, an aboriginal version of “No Name,” which gradually is anglicized as Norman. His mother dies soon after he is born, and Mark Shillingsworth never takes responsibility for him. Yellow-skinned, black-eyed, and handsome, he lives from hand to mouth until Oscar Shillingsworth takes him into his family and rears him as a white child. He is educated as a draftsman but has natural gifts as a mechanic and ambitions to work on the railroad. He becomes a genial, attractive young man, but he is clearly of mixed blood, which he is told is part Javanese because that is less socially offensive than being part aboriginal. Much of his difficulty in life comes from his ignorance of his past and the reluctance of Australian society to accept him as a full member of a white family.
Heather Poundamore, Oscar Shillingsworth's sister-in-law. A pretty young woman, she falls in love with Mark. Their relationship is stormy because of his drinking and his relations with native women. She takes a job as a barmaid to keep an eye on Mark, and after his disappearance she remains faithful to his memory. She is a kind, sensible woman, careful with money and a good businesswoman. She is a great help to both Mark and Norman when they get into trouble with the law.
Charles Ket, a young laborer from the western coast of Australia. He at first passes himself off under the name of Harold Carlton and is getting on in Capricornia's white society until it is revealed that he is of mixed white, Oriental, and aboriginal blood. His narrow black eyes and hair betray his Chinese connection, and his swarthy skin gives away his aboriginal lineage. He is a bitter, vicious man and a dangerous enemy, not disinclined to do physical harm up to and including murder. He becomes a great hater of the Shillingsworth family because he had ambitions of marrying Oscar's daughter.
Frank McLash, a big, low-browed twenty-year-old, shaped like a kewpie doll, with an egg-shaped head. From his early years he is prone to getting in trouble with the law. He serves time in a reformatory while in his teens. He is torn between being a thief and a railway engineer, but the latter job repeatedly is torn from his grasp, sometimes by bad luck and sometimes by his own stupidity. He serves in World War I and survives, but after that his life is one disaster after another, particularly when he teams up with Charles Ket in a short life of crime.
Pansy McLash, Frank McLash's long-suffering, widowed mother. She keeps a kind of hotel, the Siding House. Although she has a strong love for liquor, she has an even stronger love for her feckless son, and she has sacrificed financially and otherwise for him all his life. She can be a good friend but is an enthusiastic enemy.
Tocky, a half-caste who becomes involved with Norman and, in her way, loves him. Beautiful, full-lipped, with long, enticing eyelashes, she brings out the worst in men. She is lively and charming and has survived a life of physical misery by her wits. She rarely does what she is told. When she obeys Norman, it ends in disaster for her and their child.