Rebels

1. Rebels Redskins

2. First Impressions Rebels Redskins Arseholes, Young, stupid, violent, algudz to villagers. Crazy. Frightening. Arseholes, heartless, stupid, violent, evillllllllll……… Crazy. Frightening

3. Relationships with others • REDSKINS • Commit atrocious war crimes to innocents • Rape • Murder • Cutting people up and feeding to pigs • Disembowelling animals REBELS • Squatters in village. • Murder • Threaten gay rape “I’m gonnaFuck you up the Arse” • Threatens the safety of the village

4. Beliefs • REDSKINS • Spread fear into the inferior blacks • Kill, rape people • Destroy the lives of the indigenous peoples • Hate • Moral nihilism REBELS • Guns • Liberation from the evils of Australian greed • Liberation from the power of PNG

5. Strengths and flaws • REBELS • Has human qualities • Less arseholey than redskins but still arseholes nonetheless • Fight for liberty and freedom from oppression REDSKINS • No redeeming qualities besides being pricks. Good at it too. • Enjoy being arseholes • Nihilistic

6. Notable Language that gives more character REBELS • Not really, only real defining feature by the author except by their use of swearing, which lets us know that they're more than gun wielding platypuses. Has childlike vocabulary. Very weak grasp of Pidjin English, implies they are uneducated and young. • REDSKINS • Better grasp of the English language than rebels as they can converse in complete sentences. We assume they are more educated and civilized but that is not the case as we progress into the novel when they start ravaging the villagers.

7. Specific inquiry • The people of Bougainville live in a tropical paradise, lush with fruit and vegetables with a sea thick with fish. Yet they live in a state of suspension, forever waiting, listening for helicopters, hiding and knowing that inevitably they will be found. Comment:

8. The people are in fear of being found by both the Redskins and the Rebels as they are one and the same, albeit, with different ideologies and the colour of their skins. The villagers know that both groups have murdered and committed heinous atrocities against one another. They are both harbingers of death. The fear of the rebels comes from the fact that they are wanted by the redskins and that if the village harbours them, the redskins will destroy the villagers. They are pariahs among Bougainville because everywhere they go the redskins were sure to follow. The paradise that they live in has been tainted by fear of capture and fear of death. Their island is now a green hell filled with demons. Their paradise has been lost.

9. Specific inquiry • The destructive nature of war is slow and debilitating to both perpetrators and victims Comment:

10. They all just want it to end. Both the villagers and the redskins are sick of the war and don’t care who wins. The longer the redskins are in the war, the less human they become and forget their humanistic morals and ethics and become instruments of war. The villagers have lost a lot, both in possessions and family and friends and also their way of life. No longer can they live in the ways of the past but now have to adapt to the conditions of war. They are just collateral damage to the soldiers. The rebels, like the redskins have lost their humanity. Most of them are young, some just teenagers fighting for a lost cause. Everybody is battle weary and sick and tired and have become apathetic and nihilistic. And then Mr. Pip makes it all better.

11. The End