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The Lieutenant
69
The Lieutenant By Kate Grenville
Overview
Part 1 The Young Lieutenant
The opening covers Rooke's childhood and transition into his role as an impressionable lieutenant. His schooldays are recounted efficiently, swiftly followed by his first experiences of maritime battle. After experiences an injury in battle he is sent home and forces him to reflect on his life. The invitation to travel to NSW.
Important ideas introduced in this first segment include Rooke's affinity for numbers, patterns and knowledge; the difficulities of being an outsider; the intrigue of foreign languages; and the notion of duty and the implications of disobedience
THEMES
Themes
>Isolation
>Belonging
>Self discovery
>Power and violence
>Friendship
>Communication
>Racism
>Imperialism
>Morality
QUOTES
Quotes
CHARACTERS
Characters
Daniel Rooke
Anne
Dr.Vickery
Talbot Silk
SETTINGS
Settings
Portsmouth
Portsmouth Naval Academy
Greenwich (Dr.Vickery, the astronomer royal's observatory)
Resolution (ship)
Antigua
America (the war)
Overview
Part 2 The Astronomer
The title indicates the shift in Rooke's life: no longer a scholar or a soldier, he embraces an identity as 'Astronomer' - a role that gives him a new confidence and engagement in the worl, after feeling lost and future-less following the end of the war in Part One.
After the sea voyage, Rooke settles into his new environment in NSW, but there is tension as the settlement runs low on supplies, the Aboriginal residents remain largely hidden, and Rooke longs to meet and share language with them
THEMES
Themes
QUOTES
Quotes
CHARACTERS
Lieutenant Gardiner
Captain Barton
Characters
SETTINGS
Settings
Overview
Part 3 The Names of Things
This is the longest Part, and fulfils the anticipation created in Part Two. The majority of this section is concerned with Rooke and Tagaran's friendship and the sharing of language between them. The title obviously refers to this process of literally learning words, but it also hints at the impossibility of naming some things - such as emotional ecperiences.
In contrast to the closeness between Rooke and Tagaran, tensions between the Aboriginal and English residents of NSW increase in Part Three, leading to the climax at the beginning of Part Four
THEMES
Themes
QUOTES
Quotes
CHARACTERS
Characters
SETTINGS
Settings
Overview
Part 4 To Be of the Party
The climax in racial conflict occurs in the fist sentence of this part, as the attack on Brugden is reported. In this section Rooke discovers that to be of the party is to be just as blameworthy as to lead such action: specifically, by failing to avoid the punitive mission, he feels his own ethics are as compromised as if he had actively supported it.
THEMES
Themes
QUOTES
Quotes
CHARACTERS
Characters
SETTINGS
Settings
Overview
By far the shortest, this final Part functions as an epilogue, recording events beyond the ending of the narrative proper. While his work in Antigua is important to him (and thematically important, emphasizing some of the values both Rook and the text endorse), it is offered as an afterthought to the story of his time in NSW
Part 5 Antigua, 1836
THEMES
Themes
QUOTES
Quotes
CHARACTERS
Characters
SETTINGS
Settings
Main Characters
Characters
- Daniel Rooke
- Anne and Bessie Rooke
- Dr.Vickery
- Talbot Silk
- Commodore (Governor) James Gilbert
- Lieutenant Gardiner
- Major Wyatt
- Brugden
- Tagaran
- Warungin and Boinbar
Daniel Rooke
Daniel Rooke aged between five and seventy-four throughout the novel, the lieutenant of the title, is intelligent but socially awkward, preferring his own company and the quest of knowledge to vocational advancement or the society of others, He is - sometimes reluctantly - friends with Silk and is uncharacteristically entranced by the companionship of Tagaran.
Anne and Bessie Rooke
Daniel's younger sisters: Anne is about four years younger than him, and Bessie younger still. He is particularly fond of Anne, who is bright, like him. She misses him when he goes away to school and into military service, and cares for him when he comes home injured.
Dr. Vickery
A minor character, Dr. Vickery (The Astronomer Royal) is influential in Rooke's life; as well as inspiring a young Rooke, Vickery recommends Rooke's services as an astronomer on the expedition to New South Wales.
Talbot Silk
A colleague and friend of Rooke's, Silk begins as a lieutenant and becomes a captain. He is two years older than Rooke, good-tempered and charismatic, and enjoys telling entertaining stories. His main ambition in the new colony is to write a narrative about experiences in the unknown environment, to be published back in England.
Talbot Silk
Commodore (Governor) James Gilbert
Upon landing in New South Wales, James Gilbert, the commodore of the First Fleet, becomes the King's appointed governor and supervisor of the new settlement. While sympathetic to the aboriginal people and initially declaring that all interactions are to be peaceful, he is strong on discipline of both his own men and the locals. He differs from Rooke in showing a disdain for science and 'knowledge for its own sake' (p.130)
Lieutenant Gardiner
Gardiner is a fellow lieutenant in New South Wales. He is kind and a good friend to Rooke. Like Rooke, he is uncomfortable with British treatment of the Aboriginal people, objecting to his own role in it.
Major Wyatt
The commander of Rooke's regiment, Wyatt is a military man through and through. He is stern and unforgiving, irritable, and loyal to the governor. He has an uneasy relationship with Rooke; his military dedication is a trait Rooke lacks.
Major Wyatt
Brugden
Brugden is a convict transported in the First Fleet. Once a gamekeeper for the Duke of Portland, he is given certain liberties (unusual for a prisoner) in exchange for his hunting skills, which provide the main source of meat for the settlement. He is fatally wounded by an Aboriginal spear.
Tagaran
Tagaran is a young Aboriginal girl keen to learn English, share her own language and develop a relationship with Rooke. Her age is not determined but she is described as a 'child' at their their first meeting. Confident and bright, she possess qualities of leadership and determination.
Warungin and Boinbar
Warungin and Boinbarr, two Cadigal men, are captured and brought to the settlement for an education in English manners and language. Warundgin appears something of a leader among his people and is not intimidated by the settlers; nor has he any desire to please them. He is horridied when they make him watch the flogging of prisoners who have stolen potatoes. Boinbar is more affable, and seems more willing to participate in the exchange of language and conversation with the soldiers