The next-to-last parcel of this tale commences with Ned learning of the birth of his daughter (336). His excitement at her birth is evident and it can be assumed that he desperately wanted to be able to see her and help raise her. Further, Ned has mentioned on numerous occasions that his ultimate goal in all his crimes and actions is to have his mother freed from prison (306). Knowing these to be Kelly's goals, I was surprised to read that he planned to build suits of armour for he and his men and fight the police rather than retreat and keep himself alive so that he might one day see his daughter and witness his mother's release from jail.
We have talked extensively about Ned's morals and his likable personality, but it is his arrogance in the final pages of the story that I want to focus on. After Kelly and his gang retreat to the Bogong High Plains (338), one would think that they would try to lay low. However, Ned gets this idea of an unstoppable suit of armour and decides that he can make himself invincible. I feel like this is a point in the novel where Carey is trying to show us that all Ned's successes with the Kelly Gang have gone to his head. Ned uses the metaphor of a "dragon" collecting its scales when talking of making the armour (340), which shows his growing arrogance. His letter on page 342 is further evidence of the power Ned feels he possesses. This sense of invincibility is ultimately Kelly's downfall when he decides that he and his men can defeat an entire squadron of policemen with their fantastic armour. Despite the fact that he is putting his ultimate goal (freeing his mom) and hopes of seeing his daughter in jeopardy, Ned abandons these goals to fight the police in what he undoubtedly perceives to be his finest hour. After his defeat and capture, he requests that his mother be freed just before he is hanged (368). This wish is not honored, and our hero/villain/who cares? dies an arrogant and unfulfilled bandit.
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