touch


 * Examples:**
 * Thornhill's observation of the forest 'splitting parts of itself out at them' when the Aborigines throw rocks from the shelter of the bush (p. 306). Even when Thornhill is hit by one of these rocks, the description of the event is of the physical and not the emotional or psychological impact (p. 305).
 * There are descriptions of a spear as 'a shadow cutting through the light and piercing the ground' (p. 306), and of Whisker Harry's fatal gunshot wound as something that 'pulsated, a small evil animal inside him' (p. 308).
 * In its final words the section returns to the calm of the opening sentence, with an eerie stillness, but this time it conveys the horror of what has occurred; instead of merely a silence, it is a 'great shocked silence hanging over everything' (p. 309).
 * There is no dignity portrayed in the massacre: when John Lavendar beheads a baby, 'It fell near his boot and he kicked it away.' (p. 303)
 * There is a lack of physical touching between Sal and Thornhill. The text focuses on the emotional conflict before detaching itself of emotion almost entirely when the massacre is described.
 * The sheer brutality is described to great lengths. It is as if they are slaughtered like animals: 'Twist got her by the hair, yanked back her head, and sliced across her neck as if she were one of his hogs.' (p. 304)
 * Smasher would not let other people touch him when he got speared: 'Refused to sit. Pushed away Spider who was coaxing him to lie down.' (p. 309) He is shown to be in great agony: 'Smasher was rasping as if the wood in his chest had got into his voice.' (p. 307)
 * There is a vivid description of when various characters take hits: 'Another spear flew from the trees and struck Devine on the shoulder.' (p. 306)
 * Whisker Harry 'knelt in the dust and kissed it with the blood from his mouth' immediately before he dies. (p. 308)
 * Dan participates in the violence with a club. When a baby cries, Dan comes over to it and 'struck once, twice, and the cry stopped.' (p. 309)