AustLit

In this analysis, Elizabeth Braithwaite looks at four novels which construct a futuristic images of school life and education, including The Inheritors by Jill Dobson (Dobson was born in England but came to live in Australia in 1972). She identifies three consistent themes regarding notions of truth, the power of language and communication and the negative effects of trying to fit into society and examines them under the headings of 'the function of schools in futuristic societies', the importance of school as 'place', representations of teachers in futuristic texts and how representations of futuristic schools comment on the reader's present (p.36). Braithwaite claims that despite the differences between the four texts they have one common factor and that is '...their main aim is still socialisation' and furthermore, the reader is positioned to accept that '...young people must take responsibility for their own lives and be prepared to take risks to find out what truth means for them' (pp.42-43).