Summary of 'A Black Grandmother' by Sally Morgan
About the writer Sally Morgan
Sally Morgan (1951) was born in Australia as the eldest of five children. She is an Australian Aboriginal author, dramatist, and artist. Her full name is Sally Jane Morgan. She was educated at The University of Western Australia. Her mother never told her that she was Aboriginal. Sally was told that she was of Indian-Bangladeshi descent. But later she came to know that she was aboriginal. So, Sally began to research her family's history.
About the text 'A Black Grandmother'
The text 'A Black
Grandmother' is a first-person narrative. ‘A Black Grandmother' is chapter 15
of Sally Morgan’s autobiography ‘My Place’. This narrative text describes her
gradual discovery of her Aboriginal origins.
She has written this
autobiography remembering the time when she was fifteen years old school-going
girl. During the time, Sally used to live in Australia with her mother,
grandmother, and her sister Jill. When Sally was at school, she wanted to make
her career as an artist leaving her school and study. However, her mother
wanted Sally to continue her study. Sally’s mother didn’t find a better future
being an artist.
Sally belonged to aboriginal
origin but she didn’t know it. Her mother told her a lie that they belonged to
the white community.
Sally didn’t know about her originality until, one day, her grandmother revealed it.
Characters in the text
There are mainly four characters: Nan (Grandmother), Mum (Mother of Sally), Aunt Judy (friend of Sally's Mother), and Jill (sister of Sally).
What is the writer’s concern in 'A Black Grandmother'?
Here, Sally's concern is to find her Aboriginal identity. Being an Aboriginal writer, she asserts her identity in a white-dominated society. She expresses concern over the loss of Aboriginality. She does not express happiness about acculturation because it is the case for the loss of Aboriginal lineage. This narrative text also explores the fact that Aboriginal literature not only fights for equality but also fights for retaining and preserving Aboriginal identity.
Main summary of 'A Black Grandmother'
The text opens on 14th Feb 1966
when Australian currency changed from pounds to dollars. The mother and the
grandmother were shocked when they heard about it. They
thought that the old money was more valuable as it had more silver than the new
currency.
Sally noticed that her
grandmother had kept a jar on the shelf in the kitchen. Sally asked her
grandmother why she was saving the money but she didn’t get a proper reply. Sally,
then, asked her mother. Her mother replied that the old money would be worth a lot
someday. She also told Sally not to tell anybody about the old money because
they were afraid that the government officials might seize the money. Sally had
noticed how her mother and grandmother were scared of the authority but never
bothered to ask.
Sally at the time was in her last year of school and
had her final exam coming up. Previously in her second term, she had failed
every subject besides Art and English. When she was at school, she wanted to
make her career as an artist (drawing). Sally’s mother didn’t want sally to
live her life as an artist as she saw no better future in being an artist. Sally’s
mother had opposed Sally’s idea of leaving school to pursue her ambition as an
artist.
The next weekend Aunt Judy,
whom she had known for a long time, came over for lunch. Sally’s mother wanted Judy to have
a talk with Sally regarding her decision of making her career as an
artist. Aunt Judy suggested Sally to give up her aim of becoming an artist. Sally got furious at her mother
for getting someone from outside the family to talk to her about it.
It was not only her mother and
Aunt Judy who discouraged her. Sally's art teacher at school too humiliated her.
One day, Sally’s teacher held up her drawing in front of the class and started
pointing out her mistakes. Her teacher criticized her drawing for about
ten minutes. The whole class laughed at her and Sally felt bad. Sally thought
that she was good at art but her teacher’s criticism scattered her.
Sally cried bitterly at home by
banging her head against the brick wall. She then decided to give up drawing.
She went out to her backyard with her collection of drawings in her hand and
burnt it all. Her grandmother grieved after learning what happened to Sally.
Sally’s mother and grandmother were worried about Sally’s condition.
As time passed it was almost the end of her school
year. One day, when Sally returned home from school, she saw her grandmother
crying. Sally had never seen her grandmother crying. She stood in the doorway,
frozen. Sally inquired her grandmother. Her grandmother replied thumping her
clenched fist on the kitchen. She shouted at Sally saying she was Black and
they would prefer a White grandmother instead. She, then, continued crying and
ran to her room then locked herself up. Sally was standing in the doorway
frozen. It was the first time Sally learnt her identity. She thought that she
belonged to white origin. Her mother had lied to her saying that her
grandmother was an Indian and came to Australia by boat years ago. She told a
lie because the Aboriginals were not looked at with decent eyes during the
time. Aboriginal students were bullied at school too. The very revelation of
being Black made her conscious and curious about her identity.
That night when Sally and Jill
were lying in their bed, Sally asked Jill if she knew that their grandmother was
black. Jill replied that she knew it. Jill regarded aboriginal people as savage
and uncultured.
Jill slept crying that night
whereas Sally slept with lots of curiosity about their originality. Sally is
ready to accept her origin. After that Sally kept asking her mom and
grandmother about their originality. Her mother didn’t say anything.
One day, her mom came to
her room. She asked sally to stop asking her grandmother about their origin. She told her not to
dig up the past and let the past be buried. Sally agreed on a condition. She
wanted her mother to tell from her mouth but she didn’t disclose it.
As Sally lay down, she fell
asleep and dreamt the time when she used to visit the beach with her
grandmother and draw pictures of kangaroo, emu, hunters, etc. She also drew
three men and told a short story about them. After a while, Sally woke up from her sleep.
As time passed Sally’s final exam was nearing. She got so busy in her preparations that she didn’t bother much about her origin. She started preparing for her exam because she didn’t want to disappoint her mother. She, for her mother’s sake, tried her best in exams for the first time in her life. Surprisingly, she passed every subject scoring almost distinction.
Read the summary of the poem Sonnet 8 by John Milton
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