<doc.id=2061.a4>
<title> Remembering Babylon </title>
In this essay I will give a description of Jock McIvor, the settler farmer, who with his family takes in Gemmy, the enigmatic young Englishman who has turned into an aboriginal. I will begin by briefly retelling Jock McIvors background, followed by a description of his personality. I will concentrate on his relationship with Gemmy.

When living in Scotland Jock McIvor worked as a gardener on a big estate. He met his wife, Ellen, through her brothers, all miners. "A big, raw-boned, fair-skinned, sandy fellow" Ellen says about him, "shy at first but bold enough later". Jock wanted him and his wife to go to Canada, but instead they agreed on Australia as a better choice. They were attracted by the "sunlight and spaces" of this foreign continent. 
	 When arriving in their new country it is not what they had expected. They are both dissapointed. Having finally settled down and started making a home for theirselves, Jock works hard to see to it that they will have what they can.

"Oh, I wouldna' concern yursel wi' Gemmy. He's hairmless." This is what Jock McIvor tells his neighbours. But his feelings for Gemmy are ambivalent. He sees a rare loyalty towards himself in the young man, and an affection, if not for himself, then at least for his wife and children. But he can't deny his own feeling towards Gemmy. Despite being white, Gemmy is not of his kind, he is something completely different. Jock can't figure out what's going on in his head, and this makes him puzzled and afraid. He has a responsibility for his family, to provide for them and protect them. Even though Gemmy seems harmless, God knows what he is up to. Perhaps they will have his former mates, the blacks, all over themselves one day. Taking Gemmy in was against his own better judgement. Ellen wanted to do it in and Jock agreed to avoid the embarassment of exposing a difference between his wife and himself to their neighbours. He tries to be fair and patient with Gemmy, but he can't. The feeling of unease towards the young man stays with him. Gemmy feels this and is afraid of his new master.
	 Jocks sees his own feelings even more in his neighbours and the other people in the settlement. They too are worried and afraid of the new member of their society and whatever he could bring with him. One of his neighbours, Ned Corcoran, explicitly expresses his thoughts on the matter of the natives: "We ought to go out, and get rid of of 'em, once and for all...". What's most disstressing about the situation is the way Jocks neighbour and friend Barney Mason reacts. Barney admitts to Jock that he is worried but, despite being worried himself, Jock dismisses his neighbours anxiety. He is very uncomfortable with this, since he thinks it destroys their relationship, a relationship built on mutual trust. 
	 In their early years together Ellen was attracted to Jock by what she calls "a mixture of forcefulness and almost girlish modesty". But Jock has changed. When they first arrived in Australia he showed a side of himself his wife had never seen before. He turned loomy and it was her that had to keep a positive attitude towards their situation. The hardships they've went through, including the loss of two children, has made Jock a stern man. The light-heartedness of him as a young man has entirely been consumed by their new homeland. Ellen sometimes teases Jock of some of his old girlfriends in Scotland when she didn't know him (she has heard through her brothers). "Get awa' wi' ye, thir wasna ithers'" Jock tells her and their children, but her teasing pleases him, reminds him of when he was young. 
	 Jock is often homesick. He misses the changes in weather and nature of Scotland. "If only he could wake one day and find it, just for a day, under a blanket of snow!". He is disappointed with the way things have turned out here, on the other side of the world. He hasn't been able to provide for his family what he thought he could, he feels ashamed. But he doesn't talk about it, he seldom talks about his problems with others (he sees himself as a man that keeps his troubles to himself. 

Jock McIvor is a good man. His life in the new continent is a rough one, and he works hard to provide for his family. I believe most people around him sees him as a nice fellow, and that few people dislike him. He has a good heart and tries to be fair to his fellow-beings. But like most people he is afraid of the things he doesn't know, which complicates his relationship with Gemmy. His natural feelings of responsibility towards his family, makes it hard for him to have a person he doesn't feel he can trust so close to him.

What is told about Jock McIvor in Remembering Babylon is mostly told by the third person narrator. Jocks own thoughts is the main source of information concerning himself, but the characterizaton is also, in less extent, built up by other peoples, mainly his wifes, thoughts about him.
</doc>