1) The Noongar and Colonists are very different people and have a very different way of

life. To the Noongar they believe they are people of the whales or the wild and immense
themselves into the wilderness. The colonists however find the wilderness as an obstacle to their
way of life because the only form of life they know if civilized communities or farm/ranch life.
Also the colonists exhibit reading and writing as being important to a civilized world and most
important wealth or a high status among people. The Noongar are people who are happy just
living their daily lives, to them more importance is placed in teaching their young the way of the
wilderness and their traditions making sure that their traditions are not lost in the future.
To the Noongar they view ownership as being a whole thing, they all own the wilderness and its
property and they don't pay to purchase anything or place a name stamp on it, Nor do they have
any class or statues the only people with a status are the Elderly people who command respect
and acceptance from all their people. To the colonists have land and property placed in their
name is very important without they feel as if they have no value and own nothing, they need the
ownership papers stamped with their names to ensure them about their ownership and class. The
colonists hold status as being important it ensure who their leader is or who they are to follow
and with status they link property and wealth. To the colonists without any of these you are
nothing and have no importance in society.
Gender-role can be seen as being very extinguished in the Deadman Dance, this is due to the
fact that only British women are seen in the novel. Christina is seen playing with her brother
Christopher also Mrs.Chaine is seen schooling Bobby and making an influence on his life. But
the only time a Noongar women is mentioned is when they speak of Manit the Elderly women or
the women who was kidnapped by the British and saved. It enhances how the Noongar women
are placed more in the shadows have a more background role than the British women who have
more enhanced and outgoing roles within their communities.
All these differences cause conflicts when their differences clash, although the Noongar are
very open and accepting people when their Traditions and beliefs are threatened they feel
betrayed and loose their friendships with the less understand British people who want nothing
but to gain more wealth and use any resources or trickery neccesarry to accomplish it. The
biggest conflict arrises when the British begin using whales for trade, the very whales that are
ancestors to the Noongar people.
That Deadman Dance is a novel about globalization by speaking of how the British colonized
King George Town. People from a different world with different views came and brought along
them different resources found in their part of the world to try and change another part of the
world into something habitable and then took resources from King George Town into the British
world to trade and make profits off it. Land that was once nothing but "Empty" (pg 15) is now a
"growing village" (pg.311). This itself is globalization, when a place goes from being Empty into
being a prosperous village with so many oppurtunities to come.
2) The Noongar people are Native Americans living in a part of the new world that the
British are trying to colonize known as King George Town, both the Noongar and the British
have a different perspective of seeing things out on King George Town. The Noongar are people
who have lived out in this wilderness for years, where they have made their homes (huts) using
recourses that come from that very wilderness. To them they see it as a way of life and have
learned to pick up different signals from sounds such as strong winds, or from the smell of
coming rain and live their lives around the wilderness and what it will bring them. Bobby once
mentions when he is out helping in an expedition (Mr. Chaines search for land/opportunity) how

the sky told them there was rain to come, (pg. 48). Animals are an important factor of this
wilderness, to the Noongar these animals are sacred especially whales whom they see as being
their ancestors. To the Noongar the wilderness and its animals is a part of them.
The British however view the land as a hindrance to their opportunity to prosper, they see
nothing but wild land that needs to be tamed and civilized. Geordie Chaine is one of these
settlers who has come to King George Town in search of opportunity. On his arrival he is
disappointed on what he sees immense grey-green land beyond the shore. Empty, he thought.
Trackless. (pg. 15). Chaine sees this wilderness as being cumbersome to his plans and future of
building a better life for him and his family. The animals to the British are just another means to
an end, if they can gain benefits through these animals they are happy but otherwise dont want
to be bothered by animals.
In my perspective there are two instances or phrases that are most memorable
descriptions of the setting. One is when Mr. Chaine sees the land of King George Town for the
first time and thinks Empty. To me this is memorable because he uses it as a form of finality, he
doesnt use words such as discouraging or near-emptiness which would still give a sense of some
hope but rather as being something that has no hope at all. The other instance is when Menak
describes a ship out on sea, he sees the ship part the sea, and once it passes how the sea seals
back together. We never think of the sea as being parted or sliced and then put back together,
rather we just think of it as being a part of nature and leave it at that. Menak puts a whole other
meaning to the sea and the way of the sea.
Personhood is when something is given characteristics of being like a person. The
Noongar give animals, and the wilderness a form of personhood when they refer to it as talking
to them through the winds or the birds and frogs singing or talking to them. The British find it
odd that something so wild would be personified especially how the Noongar see whales as
being their ancestors.
3) Having different points of views in a book can be very beneficial because it gives you
more than one perspective on things and gives it less opportunity to attack a certain person or
type of people. Having so many perspectives in That Deadman Dance lets the reader see how the
Noongar people saw things, the British people and Bobbys point of view, it lets a person see all
aspects. From the British point of view we learn of what they see when they first come to King
George Town and how they see the wilderness as a disappointment rather than an opportunity.
The British make us see the harsh side of the Noongar people refereeing to them as being
savages or untamed things that to Bobby and the Noongar people is normal and we wouldnt see
if the British perspective was not included. The Noongar are more accepting people who easily
but cautiously accept the British people and their ways and show us how odd it was to them
when the British came and brought with them odd clothes and resources that they had never seen
introducing them to a new way of life. As for Bobby his point of view is that of someone stuck
between his ancestors and culture and his future in a growing colonized world, he is awed by the
British and jumps in to fit in with them. This novel is different because it gives more than one
point of view and thus makes it a novel that doesnt try to point a person to just taking one side
but gives different things to take into account when making a judgment of the characters and
type of people and why they did what they chose to do.

4) The deadman dance is a dance that consists of the Noongar people from all ages be it
young, or old and led by an Elder. During the dance the Elder made a step and everyone else
copied the Elders movements in sync after him. "Those stiff movements, those jerking limbs"
(pg. 61), these movements of the dance where stiff hand and leg movements made to look as if
dead men where dancing giving it the name DeadMan Dance. Bobby changed the dance from
being a serious dance that required quietness and seriousness into one that was more light and
free. He used moves that he learned on the ship during his journey and what he picked up from
the British people such as doing a jig in which a person jumps up and kicks their legs together,
then another step by sliding from side to side as if on a teetering ship making the Noongar people
laugh with glee.
Bobby changed the dance not just by his moves but also by leading the dance, it was no longer
led by an elder but anyone who wanted to lead and became a dance to celebrate with joy and
happiness. It shows how the Noongar people thought the British funny and mysterious when
Bobby mocked them and their moves by adding them to the dance and the Noongar laughed at
those moves knowing he was mocking the British. It ties into the fact how indigenous people are
more open and acceptable to change because Bobby changed the Deadman Dance that was a
tradition for centuries in just a matter of seconds and the people did not create a scene over it but
rather embraced the new change with open arms and eager eyes. In such a way they also accept
any challenges thrown at them with an eagerness to overcome it and take care of the challenge
rather than closing themselves off and separating themselves from the issue at hand.
Bobby plays a big role throughout the book, his friendship with Dr.Cross allows him to be a part
of the British people's world enabling him to be playmate with Christopher and Christine and
later marry Christine and thus becomes part of both worlds. He is an an agent of change by being
open to British ideas and accepting them so openly, in turn helping the Noongar accept them as
well. He can also be seen as a trickster because he often tells stories to make people laugh and
adds funny twists to different tales and makes everyone accept them to what he sees them as or
believes them as being.