Henry Lawson Character Analysis

In “The Bones” Lawson (a real-life Australian author) joins Mister Mitchell and the camel when they meet in Hungerford. Lawson and Mitchell were childhood friends, which is the reason they give for traveling together—but the camel understands that Lawson joined the party mostly because Mitchell seems mad and like an entertaining subject for a story. The camel explains that Lawson is often either drunk or dehydrated, and both states make him talkative. Much of the plot in “The Bones” consists of Lawson telling the camel about his memories of Mister Mitchell and Mitchell’s father, who struck rich in Australia’s gold fields after participating in the massacre of Aboriginal people (called the Hospital Creek Massacre). Lawson’s relationship to animals seems to be one of convenience. He’s the first person in years to speak candidly to the camel, but the camel also understands that animals in general are simply tools for Lawson to employ in his stories. Lawson believes that including animal characters makes his human characters look worse by comparison.