The White Girl chapter summaries
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Adelaide High School **We aren't endorsed by this school
Course
ENGLISH 11
Subject
Communications
Date
Apr 4, 2023
Pages
3
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The White Girl chapter summaries
Chapter
Summary
1.
Odette lives with her granddaughter Sissy outside Deane.
She feels a pain in his left side.
Odette's daughter Lila left Sissy with Odette when she was a baby. She would not tell
Odette who was Sissy's father.
Odette talks with Henry Lamb, the local junkyard owner and friend.
Aaron Kane and his brother George, who Odette looked after when they were young
boys, try to buy something from Henry's yard.
He does not like them so he refuses so Aaron threatens him.
2.
Odette remembers the bad times of growing up on the mission and later when her
husband and father died in the quarry accident.
She arranges with Henry for him to build Sissy a bicycle for her birthday.
Sergeant Lowe arrives in town. He wants to use his powers over the local Aboriginal
people. These include taking Sissy away from Odette.
3.
Sissy sees a stranger watching the house.
Odette remembers more stories from her childhood like when her father, Ruben,
bought the old tub from Henry's father.
She also remembers about how she recently started illustrating cards for a woman to
sell in her shop.
4.
Odette visits Henry.
He tells her the Kane boys, Aaron and George, have been harassing him.
Odette takes Sissy to Henry's place on her birthday.
Henry let Sissy have some old plates she likes.
Odette gives her the bike Henry has made for her.
5.
Odette and Sissy visit her old friend Millie Khan who tells her about a new good doctor
in town.
Odette recalls when she and Bill Shea were friends as children but Bill's mother
stopped it because Odette was Aboriginal.
Odette visits Dr Singer about her pain. He tells her to go to Gatlin hospital for an x-ray.
Sergeant Lowe threatens Odette that he can take Sissy away.
6.
While Odette is away, Sissy takes her bike for a long ride.
Aaron and George find her alone on a country road.
Aaron is very aggressive and tries to kidnap her. George tries to stop him.
Bill Shea arrives and beats Aaron and takes Sissy home.
7.
Odette goes to Gatlin and remembers going there many years ago to look for Lila. She
does not find Lila but meets Delores who lives in the church to be close to her two girls
who were taken from her.
She also remembers receiving letters from Lila with no clues about where she was
living.
Odette has the x-rays at the hospital. While waiting for the results she tries to visit
Delores but is told she suicided after her girls were moved far away.
Dr Singer gives Odette the results and tells her she needs surgery.
When Odette returns to Deane, she sees Sergeant Lowe and realises she cannot have
the operation because Sissy will be alone and Low will use this as an excuse to take her.
8.
Henry fixes Sissy's bike.
Aaron chases Sissy in his truck but she escapes.
Odette is furious and goes to the Kane farm where she sees and old necklace of Lila so
she realises that Joe Kane, Aaron and George's father, raped Lila and is Sissy's father.
George begs Odette not to hurt his father.
9.
Odette goes to see Lowe to get permission to leave Deane.
He refuses for her or Sissy to go.
That night, Shea comes to Odette's house and gives her written permission to leave for
a week.
Odette has a plan to escape with Sissy by pretending she is a with girl and not her
granddaughter.
10.
Odette and Sissy visit the graveyard to say goodbye to their dead relatives.
They go to Henry's junkyard where they learn that his dog has been poisoned, probably
by Aaron.
Henry drives them to the train station to leave Deane forever to escape Sergeant Lowe
and Aaron.
11.
Odette and Sissy start the train trip to the capital city.
They meet an old white woman on the train who thinks Sissy is a white girl and Odette
is her servant.
This gives Odette the idea to pretend that Sissy is white so they can escape more easily.
12.
Odette and Sissy meet Jack, a friendly Aboriginal man, along the way.
He explains he is not controlled by laws for Aboriginal people because he has an
exemption. An exemption requires for him to give up being with other Aboriginal
people and live like a white person. Odette does not like that he has done this.
A police officer stops Odette and checks her permission papers. He is suspicious and
says he will check with the police in Deane in a couple of days.
13.
Jack offers that Odette and Sissy come live with him and his family, but Odette declines.
She and Sissy find accommodation in the city.
They meet Wanda who works at the hotel and seems suspicious of them.
14.
Odette goes looking for Lila at an address on one of the letters she sent but Lila left
there a long time ago.
While Odette is away, Wanda, the hotel receptionist, starts asking Sissy lots of
questions.
Sissy finds and reads the letters from Lila.
Odette comes back to the hotel and Wanda reveals that she is Aboriginal and was
stolen from her family.
15.
Bill Shea is drunk.
The police officer who checked Odette's travel permission while she was at the station,
rings Lowe and tells him Bill gave her permission to travel.
Lowe is angry with Bill and Bill drinks more and then shots himself dead.
16.
Odette wakes up in hospital.
She collapsed and has had her surgery.
Wanda is caring for Sissy at the hotel, but she and Odette go to stay with jack and his
wife Alma and their family.
17.
Lowe contacts the welfare board to report Odette missing but they are not interested.
He tries to get information about where Odette has gone from Dr Singer but he refuses
to help.
Lowe travels to the city and goes to Jack's house. He sees Odette and Sissy and follows
them. Sissy sees him in the crowd.
18.
Odette and Sissy go to the Aborigines Welfare Board to get an exemption like Jack.
A letter written by Dr Singer helps convince the board to give her the exemption.
Lowe arrives and tries to stop the exemption but the board says he is too late and there
is no reason to change the decision. This means Odette and Sissy are safe from Lowe.
Lowe follows them back to Jack's house but jack chases him away.
19.
Odette meets Wanda at a meeting for Aboriginal citizenship.
Jack tells a story to show how some white people treat Aboriginal people badly but
others do not.
Epilogu
e
After several years, Odette has died and Sissy is leaving Jack' family to start a teaching
job. Along the way she is going to take Odette's ashes to Deane.
(Start your own ending from here)
There she meets Millie Khan, an old friend of Odette's, and they share news of what
has happened in Deane since she left.
Sissy tells her that she found Lila but Lila did want to stay in touch after the first
meeting because it was too sad.
Millie told her that Lowe has disappeared, and Henry blow up himself, Aaron and
George.
Millie and Sissy spread Odette's ashes in the mission graveyard.
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