Essay Questions

Why is Devine Senior removing Richard Devine Jnior from his inheritance will?

Throughout his marriage with his wife, Devine has believed that Richard is his biological son. However, Richard has not been his biological son because his biological father is Bellasis. The wife has managed to keep this secret for many years to ensure that Devine Senior is kept in the dark. Nevertheless, one day this secret becomes in the open after Devine and his wife are involved in a domestic fight. Out of anger, the wife tells him that he is nothing because even Richard is not his biological son. After realizing that the wife has taken him for a ride over the years regarding their son, he decides to remove Richard from his inheritance will because after all he is not his biological son.

Why is Richard Devine struggling to discover his self-identity?

Things go wrong after Devine Senior realizes that he has been raising another man's child over the years. He decides to kick Richard out of his life completely. At this point, Richard fails to understand what mistake he has committed to be hurtled away by the man he has called a father for many years. Devine Senior on the other hand could not control his anger after realizing that his wife has hidden this secret for years. To find peace of mind, Devine decides to ask Richard to leave because he is not his biological son. Richard is confused and moves out of a place he has called home for years. Since he is not to blame, he decides to struggle very hard to discover his true identity afterward because he is aware that he is paying for the sins of his mother.

Do you think that Devine Senior is justified to kick the young Richard out of his home and inheritance will?

The reader realizes that choices have consequences and that is the true revelation of the events taking place in the book For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke. Richard Devine is paying the price for the mistakes he did not commit. It is his mother's fault to have cheated on his father and claimed that he is his biological son. Therefore, Richard becomes the sacrificial lamb of the domestic violence between his parents. However, it is not justifiable for Devine Senior to take everything away from Richard because he had invested in him the entire of his life. The person who should have been kicked out of the family is Richard's mother for keeping the destructive secret for years. Alternatively, the parents should have sorted their issues out without involving Richard. If at all Devine Senior had to involve Richard, it could have been better to allow him to stay at home and give him a smaller percentage of inheritance.