77 pages • 2 hours read
Jack DavisNo Sugar
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1986A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Act III, Scenes 1-5 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Act III, Scene 1 Summary
Joe and Mary return to the Government Well camp to find it completely burned out. Joe picks through the ruins and finds a rabbit trap, a wine bottle, and a bicycle that all belonged to members of his family. Their entire home has been destroyed. It was obvious that no one ever intended for them to return to the settlement.
Act III, Scene 2 Summary
Joe and Mary are walking through Northam when Sergeant Carrol sees them. He asks what they’re doing there. Joe wants to know why the camp was burned. Carrol says that he was just following orders, adding that they are not allowed in town. At this point, there is no reason for them to be in Northam. Since the natives moved, it is no longer a ration depot. Joe says that they weren’t moved, they were kicked out. Carrol gives them a warning not to camp anywhere, including Government Well.
Act III, Scene 3 Summary
Sergeant Carrol enters the Northam Police Station and makes a phone call to the Protector of Aborigines office in Perth. Mr. Neville answers the phone on the other end. Carrol tells him that he has seen Joe and Mary in Northam, but makes it clear that they are not actually camping in town. Mr. Neville tells him to arrest them both and reminds him that there are to be no native in Northam. After the conversation ends, Neville begins writing a reply to Western Australia Historical Association. Back at the Northam Police Station, Sergeant Carrol takes Constable Kerr to go and arrest Joe and Mary.
Act III, Scene 4 Summary
Sergeant Carrol and Constable Kerr approach Joe, who is now alone. Carrol does everything he can to keep the confrontation mild. He finally convinces Joe that it is in his best interest to go to the police station with the constable. However, Joe refuses to wear handcuffs or to walk in front of the constable. He does not trust him enough to expose his back to him. Sergeant Carrol leaves to find Mary.
Act III, Scene 5 Summary
Mr. Neville, dressed in fine clothes, addresses the Royal Western Australian Historical Society. He stands in front of a portrait of the King, the Union Jack, and the Western Australian flag. His speech is hypocritical and self-aggrandizing to the extreme. He recounts the history of the relationship between the aborigines and the white men. Then, he states that he believes the natives must be treated in a civilized fashion, and anyone who fails to do so will be prosecuted.
Act III, Scenes 1-5 Analysis
These five brief scenes complete the betrayal of the families by the white authorities. When Joe and Mary see the destruction of the former settlement, there is no longer a way to pretend that the authorities ever intended for them to return. It is also clear that they either thought that the natives would never know, or that they didn’t owe them an explanation. Either way, Joe and Mary see just how little significance they have when the government makes its decisions.
It is worth noting that Carrol’s excuse for not telling them about the burning of the camp was that he was “just following orders.” This is the classic excuse that has been used by everyone from the participants of the famous Milgram electroshock experiments, to Nazis who claim that they participated in the Holocaust, but only reluctantly. When systematic violence occurs, the passing of responsibility onto another often accompanies it.
