Examples Of Racism In Jasper Jones

Phillip Gwyne’s novel, “Deadly Unna?” explores how the main character Gary Black, a white boy from the “Port” also known as “Blacky” grows up by not agreeing to racism. Blacky experiences prejudice and friendship from both the aboriginal and white communities. Blacky begins to develop a greater tolerance for aborigines and their culture, and then he further attempts to apply this knowledge to the intolerant and prejudiced town in which he lives. The boy who helps him shift in his opinion of aborigines is a local aborigine named “Dumby Red”, who lives in the aboriginal missionary “The Point”. Dumby is of Blacky’s Football team and helps Blacky in various ways to become more tolerant.

The Australian history in the 1960s era proves to focus mainly on racial equality. There were many significant acts in this same time period, including the Indigenous Rights Movement, the White Australia policy and the 1967 referendum in regards to racial equality. This particular part of Australian history relates back to the novel Jasper Jones in numerous ways. It is clear that these powerful movements would have provoked Corrigan as a community. Jasper is treated as outsider due to his racial differences which sets him apart from what is considered ‘normal’. Jasper is described as a “half-caste”, due to his mixed race of white and Aboriginal. The community continues to refer to Jasper as this, despite the fact it is a rather offensive term to use. Regardless of their own personal flaws and egregious conduct, Corrigan’s citizens have Jasper pegged as an unrepentant bad boy. Typically, whenever a crime or misdemeanour occurs, such as the burning down of the post office, he is the likeliest

Over the years, the face of racism has taken on many forms. In present day America, racism is a very taboo subject. It a common view that racism is not a big issue anymore, given the large strides that we, as a country have made towards equality. However, the inequalities that still exist between races point to a different situation. Instead of the blatantly discriminatory acts that our nation has witnessed in the past, modern racism practices are more covert and seemingly nonracial, making this kind of discrimination seem more acceptable and politically correct. The Civil Rights Movement forced society to implement a new, subtler way to perpetuate racial inequality. In Racism Without Racists, Bonilla-Silva describes the justification

Deadly Unna? (1998), is a book based on a true story that tells the tale of non-Indigenous boy Gary ‘Blacky’ Black and his friendship with Dumby Red. Set in Port Victoria in South Australia, Blacky’s evolving relationships with the Indigenous kids in the community inspires him to question the underlying racism that exists in society. In this essay, the author’s methods for conveying the theme of belonging to the reader will be evaluated. Subsequently, Gwynne’s generation of racial segregation in the community, followed by the contrasting types of racism demonstrated by the characters, will be analysed.

‘Jasper Jones’ and ‘Jindabyne’ are two influential texts that raise questions about issues that are affecting many Australians past and present. The texts highlight the issue of racism using the characters Jasper in ‘Jasper Jones’ and Susan in ‘Jindabyne’. The texts are able use these characters to successfully challenge the audience views on racism and how it effects individuals and society.

As most of you may know by now, I have chosen to do a book analysis on the novel; Jasper Jones by Western Australian named Craig Silvey. This book has been the winner of many awards such as the 2010 ABIA Book of the Year, the INDIE Book of the year in 2009 and has also been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 2010. In my opinion Jasper Jones is a book that encapsulates various elements from the thrillers of a safe-guarded murder to being excluded from a community with bigoted and derogatory views. The novel gives us an insight into the perspective of a quiet, precocious and Harper Lee like-minded -‘Charlie Bucktin’ who has mutual relationships with many interrelated individuals

In general, I am skeptical of the notion of institutional racism, which implies that the nation as a whole is racist at the core of its laws and society, as I am not aware of any laws or institutions which are motivated racially. However, given that I lack a sophisticated knowledge regarding this issue, I pursued this book with an open mind. I found that throughout Between the World and Me, the perspective that Coates provides

Craig Silvey’s novel, Jasper Jones, is simply To Killing a Mockingbird set in Australia in the 1960’s, because both of the books include similar characters, with the same storyline, exploring the same ideas and themes. Through these connections in the novel, Craig Silvey challenges the modern Australians to consider their idea of prejudice and what it means to be an Australian. Craig Silvey uses similar characterisation for each characters, matching them with the personas in Harper Lee’s novel to explore the similarities between the 1960’s Australians and the 1950’s Americans. Jasper Jones, who the town portraits as “…a Thief, a Liar, a Thug, a Truant” (pg 6) whereas he’s actually “…never stole a thing [he] dint need” (pg 44). This character is very alike to Tom Robinson, who Maycomb paints as “a rapist”, even though later on in the novel evidence could be found of Tom’s innocence.

We spend our entire lives trying to figure out who we are, and as much as we all would like to believe we start with a blank slate, that simply isn’t the case. Some of us are born with, albeit slightly hidden, marks of what our history already dictates for us. Racial perception in society has always been a topic of controversy throughout the entire nation. Based on past occurrences, it has been proven that black and brown people as a whole have been oppressed, mistreated, and even wrongfully persecuted based on social stigmas conceived by society. Society today have the wrong ideologies; they believe that a safer environment means locking away individuals that appear to be a menace or danger based on the color of their skin. However, this mentality is flawed because locking up individuals does not promote a change; it only increases hate and eliminates the chance for someone to change their ways and become a better person. In the novel “Citizen” by Claudia Rankins the poem “In Memory of Trayvon Martin”, “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander, alongside the video situation 6, both conveyed that racism is prevalent in the modern world today as one should take to account the toll of microaggressions on the political and personal standpoint of equality for all colored individuals.

In other words, obvious and direct forms of racial discrimination in the United States are viewed as socially unacceptable. For example, instead of talking about a need to put more African Americans in prison, “we talk about locking up more and more people, [but] what we’re really talking about is locking up more and more black men” (Alexander 105).

Our obsession with judging our fellow man rather than trying to understand him as well as our penchant for creating smokescreens to cover the real issues are ripping out our hearts and trampling our souls. We live in an enlightened time, but yet we stand guard at the gates of yesterday protecting a past that has little to offer but distrust, anger, hurt, and alienation from our fellow man. We live in a society of non-discriminatory intolerance. We live in a society often unwilling to acknowledge the truth behind its sins or that it has sinned. As a people, we are quick to denunciate but slow to act and take responsibility. Regardless of the color of our skin, we have embraced intolerance to the point that it has become our norm, and it is that intolerance that now lays siege to all that we love and care for as a nation.

“No one is born hating another person because the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Nelson Mandela. In today’s society, minorities deal with racial issues such as racial profiling, racial bullying in institutions, and because of these racial attitudes, groups and movements have formed due to these acts. To this day, society is still burdened with many people who do not fully grasp the concept of equality; because of this, outdated racial attitudes are still an ongoing issue in modern society.

The subject of racism is a difficult one to address. Especially when discussing the grotesque history of Jim Crow and the Jim Crow Laws. Plenty of hard feelings overshadow the issues and sometimes personal opinions can prevent progressive discussions from progressing. The views in this paper have been carefully considered and do not hold one race or another responsible the racism that currently plagues our American society. Instead this paper encourages every member of the human race to examine racism in clarity while seeking the truth about its existence. The origins of racism in America will be contemplated, the ways that Jim Crow Laws promoted racism will be reviewed, and the remaining impacts of Jim Crowism that continue to test our humanity

Explanations that justify the use of racism directly relates to differential treatment of minority groups and contributes to racism’s existence as an unstoppable social problem. The foundations of these explanations are based on the common misunderstanding of the definition of race. Thus, problems that tend to concentrate in one race are mistakenly judged as “race problems”. This judgement leads to the establishment of a system of inequality between a superior race and inferior races. However, the logic behind these explanations don’t account for the true reasoning behind minority individuals value status. In fact, these explanations contribute to minority individuals’ further struggle in life.

Taking into consideration my early childhood, youth and adolescence, I could say that I was surrounded by people, who were friendly and shared common cultural values. However, with the hindsight at my whole life, I could say why the sense of institutional racism touches me so deeply. I was raised by my mother and my grandmother, both of whom could not read and write. Thus, for the illiterate people there were no chances to have higher status in the society. The only way to survive for them was hard physical work. Institutional racism, as a form of oppression, is more consequential and involves policies and acts that affect a large number of people. Life of my family is only one example of its impact. Even though, a lot of time has passed since then, the most recent incidents with Rodney King, Trayvon Martin and George Zimmer, illustrate how a black man continues to be viewed as a menace to society in America (Blumenfeld, 2010).