Dr Mark’s The Meaning in a Nutshell
Jane Harrison Rainbow’s End (2005)
The play Rainbow’s End (2005) by the Aboriginal playwright Jane Harrison is set in northern Victoria in 1954 near the Murray River and not too far from Shepparton. It celebrates the strength of three generations of Aboriginal women in the same family who face racism, poverty and injustice but maintain their love, humour and resilience.
Jane Harrison is the child of a mixed-race marriage, and this play is partly a tribute to her parents since it features an intelligent and pretty Aboriginal woman, Dolly, who is courted by a decent, sincere, and well-intentioned white man, Errol. They face many challenges due to racism and inequality but find happiness together by the end of the play.
Exhibiting stylistic influences drawn from the Marxist playwright Bertolt Brecht, the play is about consciousness-raising in the theatre audience, pointing out the unjust nature of their society so they are inspired to engage in political activism or support the political activism of Aboriginal activists. The play celebrates Aboriginal political activism, notably in public housing, in education, and against racial prejudice in general.
The play is also fervently opposed to assimilation policy and advocates for the preservation and promotion of Aboriginal identity, culture, and solidarity. To this end, the play uses words from Aboriginal languages so these words are given added legitimacy by being used in literature, and so that these languages remain living languages rather than fade from use. Instead of assimilation, the play advocates for the self-determination model of delivering Aboriginal welfare where Aboriginal people have a significant say in how it is conceptualised, organised and delivered.
In this context, the play argues that Aboriginal people share a fear of government officials and their assessments of Aboriginal homelife, since they are rated according to white standards of acceptability rather than Aboriginal cultural standards. The negative assessments can result in catastrophic consequences, such as the removal of Aboriginal children from their families in what became known as the ‘stolen generations’.
The play reflects critical perspectives drawn primarily from post-colonialism and secondly from critical race theory. Consequently, the play attributes blame for the chronic problems afflicting the Aboriginal community to the racism inherent in white colonisation, white settlement, and white civilisation. Aboriginal people are depicted as the victims of racism virtually everywhere they turn. In addition, all the self-destructive behaviours that can afflict Aboriginal people are depicted as unfortunate reactions to, or the consequences of, the racism of whites. These include a lack of education, long-term unemployment or under-employment or being denied employment in decent respectable jobs, welfare dependence, poverty, inadequate housing, alcohol abuse, and crime. Due to the prejudice from mainstream society, Aboriginal people are relegated to the bottom rungs of the employment ladder and of society.
In this critical theoretical context, the play portrays Aboriginal people as living in a society characterised by white supremacy and systemic racism, which can be found everywhere, not only in the economy and in the pervasive mass media but built into the language of popular discourse, such as the widespread use of the term ‘white’ to mean clean and good. In addition, even those white people who are not racist can exhibit an ‘unconscious bias’ that automatically assumes that white society is better rather than just different. Such individuals can even exhibit a ‘white saviour’ complex where they feel they are saving Aboriginal people by bringing them into mainstream (white) society.
The play makes a point of challenging negative stereotypes of Aboriginal people by presenting Aboriginal characters as being the opposite, and as being the victims of injustice. For example, the play does this by presenting Aboriginal characters as willing to discipline their children, as having a strong study and work ethic, and as valuing knowledge about the wider world.
In this regard, the play also promotes historical revisionism ̶ the rewriting of history to displace Eurocentric (white) accounts with a version of history that centres on race and racism and features the perspectives of the Aboriginal people as an oppressed non-white racial minority. The Eurocentric (white) version of history is accused of assuming that the history of Australia began with white discovery and settlement, and it is accused of silences and omissions, neglecting to acknowledge or include Aborigines in the story, as is evident by the lack of a specific entry on Aborigines in the encyclopaedia.
Although the play is primarily concerned with issues of race, it also reflects concepts and perspectives drawn from feminism. Notably, the play celebrates strong resilient Aboriginal characters who are women. Not only are they discriminated against because of their race, they are discriminated against because of their gender, expected to be homemakers and mothers rather than career women or political activists. The play challenges these limited expectations by presenting Dolly as living by feminist values and achieving a scholarship to study nursing, and by presenting her mother Gladys as emerging as a political activist and natural leader who will campaign for social justice for her people. In addition to being relegated to limited roles, further injustices from patriarchy include a real fear of sexual assault and rape.
The play also argues that Aboriginal people have nothing to gain from participating in Australian patriotism and royalism, since it will only result in disappointment and humiliation. In this regard, the play is strongly republican and it presents the view that the Aboriginal people are the original owners of the land and should be respected as such.
The play also presents the view that the 1950s was not a great era of affluence and national prosperity but rather a backward time of conservatism and the oppression of marginalised groups. It was an era that needed to be transcended.
Student resources by Dr Mark Lopez
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The purpose of the concise notes of Dr Mark’s The Meaning in a Nutshell is to provide much needed help to students seeking to unlock the meaning of the texts with which they have to deal. (More elaborate notes are provided in lessons as part of my private tutoring business.)
Subject: Rainbow’s End meaning, Rainbow’s End themes, Rainbow’s End analysis, Rainbow’s End notes