Sandra K. Friday
Rabbit-Proof Fence is based on a true story about three girls abducted from their mother and grandmother and taken to an internment camp where they and other girls who were labeled
half-castes
(one parent was Aborigine and the other was Caucasian) were brought up to be domestics and were not allowed to marry Aborigine men. A special law known as the Aborigines Act identified the Chief Protector of Aborigines as the legal guardian of every Aborigine in Western Australia. He had the power to remove any
half-caste
, as they were called
,
child from its family and ship him or her off to an internment camp. This is a story of the sheer determination of three girls, two sisters and a cousin, who escape from the camp and literally walk 1,200 miles back to their home. . . pursued, all the while, by trackers and police.
Molly, the eldest sister who is fourteen at the time of the abduction, begins narrating the film in the language of her people when she is an old woman, and she conveys the history and events that lead to her abduction along with her sister Daisy and their cousin Gracie. Then we slip into the 1930's, which is when the incident occurred. In fact, from the moment the film begins, we hear Aboriginal women chanting. Students would have no trouble, by now, identifying five things in this culture that differ from their own and sharing them with the class for extra credit.
Unlike Doggie in
King of Masks
, these three girls have a mother and a home to which they are determined to return, even though the law gives their
protector
and legal
guardian,
a Mr. A.O. Neville
,
the authority to relocate them in internment camps. Doggie, as you recall, has been sold eight times and has no one to call family. So a fair amount of growing up comes with the anxiety these children are experiencing.
Because this is the third film in the unit, it seems appropriate to tackle all five of the essential questions introduced in the second section of the unit. In the first fifteen minutes of the film, the problem and horrific conflict have been established. The girls have been wrenched from their mother's arms and hauled off to camp. The question that remains is, "How in the world will it be resolved?" This is a perfect moment for the students to write an
initial response
, using some of the prompts they have gathered. Certainly predicting the outcome seems appropriate. Perhaps thinking about the title and the fact that the fence runs right past the tiny settlement where the girls have lived with their mother and extended female family might pose some speculation.
Students could begin a
graphic organizer,
making observations
on
the conflict
so far, and add to it once the girls escape from the internment camp and begin their 1,200-mile odyssey home. Except that this is based on a true story and in the end we meet two very old women, Molly and Daisy who actually walked the walk; it is almost unfathomable that children could have survived this ordeal.
There is certainly fodder for the question on whether a
character changes
:
at first, but then, and finally
.
There are about fifteen scenes for students to choose from to answer the question, "
How does this scene relate
to a character or to the elements of the story?" Prompts to fall back on here are: What does this scene show about a character? or how does this scene show an important part of the lesson? Students might look for the scenes that serve as the hinges upon which the plot turns.
By now students should be expecting the question, "
What is the lesson or message
of the story?" "What is it that the director wanted to express or
expose
?" "How did he do it?" When we first meet Mr. A.O. Neville, the camera lens is looking up at him from his desk. Students might consider whether they liked him when they first saw him. No doubt, we will have discussed this in the opening scenes. The camera does a "take" on Mr. Neville at the internment camp when he calls Molly to come to him. As she walks towards him, Molly's eyes are the lenses, and we approach Mr. Neville through a narrow viewfinder. Again, students might think about how they liked him in that scene. This question of the lesson or message should generate discussion and can be laid out on a graphic organizer with their observations on the left and detailed incidents to support them on the right.
The two remaining questions are: "In what ways does the story, a character, or an event
relate to the students
or someone they know or a story they have read or a film they have seen. Even though this story takes place in Western Australia in the 1930's what might it have in common with how societies treat people today? Wasn't the strategy to cleanse Western Australia of the Aborigines, altogether? Isn't that the gist of Mr. A.O. Neville's slide show to the white women in Perth? Doesn't this sound familiar?
Finally, there is the question as to
whether the story is effective
. By now, students should have built up a list of prompts that they can visit to help them with this question. We might brainstorm all of the prompts that students have by now to help them make this determination. Students also will have the graphic organizers they have completed on this film, and their storyboards that I have not mentioned for this film, but that I highly recommend.