—Sanjna Puri
When discussing Remembering Babylon in class, before we were even assigned to read the book, I remember being a bit scared to read it. It was classified as a difficult read but I never comprehended how difficult until it took me about 20 minutes to get through the first five pages. At first, I didn’t relly enjoy this book because of it’s difficult reading style but as I started to read more and more, I understood why this book was chosen as a great work of literature. This book has a very interesting subject matter and portrays this in a great way. Gemmy, is supposed to represent the unwillingness to change in the Europeans way of life. When the McIvors took Gemmy into their house, I was honestly very surprised because this family was good friends with almost all their neighbors, who very much disapproved of Gemmy’s arrival. As time went on, you begin to see a change in the McIvors and see how much Gemmy has really changed them in regards to how they now view their town and their so called “friends”. They begin to realize that Gemmy has brought meaning into their lives that they felt that they have lost since coming to Austrailia in the first place. In a way Gemmy brought the McIvors closure or a sense of belonging. I really did enjoy this book because it showed how one person, who no one wanted and who everyone thought was a monster, turned out to be one of the best things to have ever happened to that family. This is why I understand how this is considered to be a great work of literature. This book was about what it really takes to belong in a society and I find it amazing how fast people can change their views and automatically judge people without really knowing what’s going on.
