The institution is very nondescript and does not allow its residents to develop an identity by personalising their effects. The institution creates a blank state, culturally and psychologically, for the white Australians to manipulate their charges. Harrison conveys her views that the Government had no moral right to remove the children from their parents and were violating the equality demanded by the concept of social justice by exploiting their power, and their narrow-minded views.
The play establishes the institution as a base for the children throughout their lives. Each character has a bed, some of which differ slightly due to varying living situations, or in Jimmy's case, varying psychological states. Jimmy's bed is facing the opposite direction to the other characters, with the headboard facing the audience to resemble 'the bars of a prison cell' (Setting NP). Jimmy is a character whose prison is not only literal, but metaphorical. He is trapped in the prison of his own mind on page 5 whilst reminiscing over the past. In the literal sense, the prison represents his bed and his inescapable place in the child home. Jimmy strongly desires to leave the institution on a weekend visit however is repeatedly turned down in favour of Ruby. Despite the wash of jealousy, and also the lack of self worth that was created by these rejections, the prison acted as a form of protection from the abuse that Ruby suffered while out on visits.
Shirley personifies the debilitating cycle occurring with the removal of Aboriginal children, and also shows the immediate and powerful bond formed between mother and child. Shirley’s introduction into the play carries a vastly different mood to the other characters. As opposed to a melancholy tone of the other characters, Shirley is frantic with excitement over the birth of her grandchild. The intense joy that this child’s birth gives her helps her overcome the hardships of being a stolen child herself.
The play opens with scenes largely featuring female characters, Ruby and Shirley, and situations that draw attention to their helplessness. Childbirth is an extremely defenceless time for a woman at which their mind is vulnerable due to the overwhelming love for their child – ‘babies are so helpless … you hold a new baby again … and it’s you that feels vulnerable’ (page 2). Harrison exploits the connotations associated with females and children to emotionally involve the audience creating an empathetic environment.
Anne is the character that exemplifies everything that, from the white perspective, the Australian Government strived to accomplish. She was adopted out into a white family and as a teenager ‘had no desire to find her real family.’ (Characters NP). Anne had the same institution bed as the other four characters, none of which were adopted out successfully, only with different covers. This epitomises the parallels between the five characters because although their situations differ superficially, all have suffered from their forcible removal. The negative repercussions of the separation of mother and child cannot be escaped…
Anne’s outlook on life differs greatly from other characters due to the environment that she grew up in. Anne is a materialistic girl whose trivial stories such as ‘to tan or not to tan’ (page 16) are almost as shocking to the audience as the stories of near insanity. The story features Anne’s internal monologue whilst debating whether to meet her biological mother, eventually deciding that she ‘can’t do it … [she] has exams’ (Page 16). This nonchalant attitude to the reconciliation that is only a dream for the other four characters shows the extent to which she has been robbed of her Aboriginal identity and culture. However, the reconciliation represents not an opportunity to Anne, but pressure to make a life changing decision that disturbed the life she had fashioned for herself. Anne portrays the problem that many stolen children face, ‘Am I black or white?’ (page 28). Because of the views of Aboriginality in white society, Anne’s adoptive family will not allow her to ‘throw away everything [they] have taught her’ (Page 28) yet her biological family want her ‘where [she] belongs’ (Page 28). This struggle affects Anne’s psychological state more than the initial separation from her Aboriginal community and shows the audience that there is no ideal outcome for the children that were forcibly taken from their biological family and culture.
Jane Harrison employs the use of gaps and silences throughout the play to accentuate the plights faced by the five central characters. These silences allow the audience to draw their own individual conclusions while also encouraging them to consider the play and the messages it conveys. The language and writing style varies slightly between each character to portray the differences in their personalities. Harrison uses an ambiguous writing style with the character Ruby to appropriately convey the abuse she suffered whilst out on weekend visits. This ambiguity leads the reader to think over the events and create their own assumptions.
Ruby’s abuse is introduced on page 8 in a section named ‘Unspoken Abuse 1.’ This name creates a sense of vulnerability and helplessness in Ruby, which is a blatant abuse of power on the side of the white Australian. Also, the number on the end implies that this is the first in a string of events such as this. When Ruby is chosen for the weekend visit for the first time, it is said that ‘in the bright light she is almost white’ (page 6). Ruby is chosen for the weekend visit to a white family purely because she has the appearance closest to Caucasian and is the most attractive in the eyes of the visitors. When she returns from this visit, the other characters are collectively called ‘children’ which start Ruby’s feelings of abandonment. Initially she was described as a ‘very young child who feels abandoned.’ Ruby becomes increasingly isolated from the other children after her abuse began – ‘the children – except for Ruby – start to dance’ (Page 18). Ruby’s life is ruled by white Australians who hold absolute power of every aspect of her life and are named only ‘Authority Figure’ (Page 24). There is no name given to this character so that the audience can maintain an emotional distance.
Jane Harrison uses the play ‘Stolen’ to convey the flaws of Australian society during the era of the Stolen Generation which stretched from 1909 until 1969. The abuse of the power held by the Australian Government is used to evoke sympathy for the marginalised Aboriginal characters and to accentuate their vulnerability. The play opens with scenes using connotations associated with women and children to show the detrimental affect that the Government Policy had on the characters. Each character represents a common outcome of the forced removal from their family, yet although their situations vary superficially there are several parallels such as the uniform loss of culture and identity. Anne is what the Government would believe is a successful removal. Harrison used this story to leave the audience with no doubt that the forced removal of an Aboriginal child from its biological parents and culture creates psychological trauma for all parties involved.
