Morality In Jasper Jones

After having a thorough read of the novel ‘Jasper Jones’ by Craig Silvey, I have come to understand the powerful effects of using written codes and conventions in novels. Silvey’s impressive piece of literature was carefully constructed through techniques such as characterization, socio-cultural context, themes and intertexuality. By doing this, Silvey was accredited for convincing the readers, appealing to their emotions and manipulating their beliefs and values to accept or agree with his opinions on the issue covered in the novel.

Bigotry and stubbornness are perceptible attitudes of small-town communities in 1960's Western Australia. The notion that the inhabitants of the tight-knit community of Corrigan are racist, prejudiced and ignorant is explicated in Craig Silvey's coming of age novel, Jasper Jones. The bildungsroman is narrated by Charlie Bucktin, an adolescent from the small town of Corrigan. Charlie becomes unexpectedly involved with a local indigenous boy, Jasper, as they set out to discover the truth about the death of a young girl from their community. Throughout this quest, Charlie comes to many realisations about life, ultimately, that society can be very cruel. The prejudism and ignorance of the tight-knit community of Corrigan manifests in the

Charlie’s friendship with Jasper Jones, his parents, and witnessing the intolerance of Corrigan are the three biggest factors in Charlie's development from innocence to experience. Jasper Jones exposed him to fear and forced him to be brave and face his fears, the rampant intolerance in Corrigan, both racial and otherwise, exposed him to the injustices of the real world, and his relationship with his parents taught him to be diplomatic and control his

Charlie Bucktin learns a great deal about himself, others, Corrigan and important lessons that will help him live a better life in Jasper Jones. In the novel, Charlie goes through some experiences that teach him some of life’s great lessons. In particular he comes to learn a great deal about trust, love, facing and overcoming fear, role models and racial prejudice.

Loss of innocence in ‘Jasper Jones’ helps us understand that everyone is forced to grow up, and not be so naïve. Throughout the novel Charlie experiences a progressive journey, and encounters numerous events in which a 13 year old boy shouldn’t be exposed too, and which change a persons life, and how they look at things. This is first evident when Jasper takes Charlie to Laura Wishart’s hanging body in this moment Charlie is capsulated into adulthood. He states “But I don’t turn back. I stay. I follow Jasper Jones. And I see it. And everything changes, Sudden tears sting my eyes. I really don't want to cry, but I'm angry. And stunned. And I'm very afraid”. Parataxis is used, by having short sharp sentences it conveys the sense of assurance.

Literature is the window to realizing the negatives of society and how destructive certain norms can be. Readers are brought into a completely different story than their own, but by using similar issues in today’s world, the readers can actually learn from the story and its overall message. All writers write for a purpose, whether it’s for a new meaning to life, to live a different life than our own, or to impact others on an emotional level by teaching them to see the importance of the little things. As a reader, you search for pieces of literature that interest you whether you find the story like your own, or wish you lived the life in the story. By using issues in today’s within their works, authors are able to grab the reader's attention long enough for them to get across what they wanted to get across. Often in many works of literature, writers use societal issues as their basis for the work’s themes and symbols. By doing so, this allows the reader to question the morality behind social norms and how impactful certain ideals can be in people’s lives.

The moral message apparent in this coming-of-age novel questions each of the teenage boys, who in various ways show us what it's like to grow up in rural Australia if you are smart or poor or of a different race. This moral message makes me question the past of the Australia I have came to

In the novel Jasper Jones, Craig Silvey provides us the audience an insight into the characters’ pursuit of truth by exploring overarching ideas such as Fear, Racism and Scapegoating and linking them with character dialogue as well as narrator descriptions. The main truth presented by Craig Silvey is the investigation of Laura Wishart’s death, by pursuing this truth Charlie uncovers truths about his family and town. I believe that by using these overarching ideas, silver is able to offer us a deep insight into the characters’ pursuit of truth.

Direct descriptions are the simplest way to start the characterisation, consequently it discloses a lot of information. The diction and register of Charlie is extensive and very formal and his vocabulary is so vast, from this the readers understand that Charlie is well educated. Words like “Admonish” “Philistine” “Traipsing” demonstrate the diction of Charlie. In contrast with Charlie, Jasper has colloquial language like “gonna” and “nuthin” and has a heavy Australian accent along with poor diction. Thus readers interpret Jasper is illiterate and doesn’t attend school. To some degree Jasper Jones represents the rejected outcast people, who don’t get their rights and become the scapegoat. The characters are so brilliantly sculptured that they become real breathing people that will forever stay in my heart.

Literary elements take up substantial fragments in stories today. In the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird”, there is a young boy named Jem Finch and throughout the story, you start to realise that he’s growing up, not physically, but mentally, we call that ‘the coming of age’. Jem’s coming of age experience is developed at Mrs.Dubose’s (a bad tempered old lady) house through conflict, irony, and symbol.

     The book also focuses on Charlie’s home life. Charlie has two siblings that make him feel invisible. There’s a hidden resentment in the tone that is used by Charlie to explain his sister and brother. But by the end they have managed to form a certain bond that Charlie has always wanted.

Throughout the novel Charlie’s personality and intelligence level changes a lot. In the beginning Charlie is happy, has friends, he’s retarded, and can’t remember a lot of things. “I fergot his last name because I dont remebir so good.” (Keyes 2),

The Novel Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey revolves around a young boy named Charlie Bucktin living in the small Australian town of Corrigan in the 1960’s. Charlie is exposed to the confronting issues of racial prejudice, injustice and moral duality. He is challenged to question right from wrong, has to come to the realization that law doesn’t always uphold justice and we as readers are positioned to understand that people are capable of holding two conflicting values and remain in confortable harmony. The ideas are portrayed through Silvey’s use of narrative conventions that are used to either challenge or reinforce our values, attitudes and beliefs on the issues explored.

It is a natural part of human nature to long for the feeling of belonging, even if it means following a corrupt and unjust social regime. Craig Silvey weaves this idea into the novel Jasper Jones, in which the “half-caste” deuteragonist and protagonist Charlie Bucktin discover the death of the shire president’s daughter, Laura Wishart, and work together to find the culprit as to avoid the inevitable scapegoating of Jasper for this crime. Silvey’s implementation of the historical setting of the 1960’s introduces the themes of fear, racism within a social regime and scapegoating; these ideas relate to the racism present in Australia at the time, due to the reign of the White Australia Policy and the effect of the Vietnam War. By integrating these key ideas into the story of Jasper’s experiences with scapegoating, Silvey reflects on real-life examples of racism present in Australia during the 1960’s, as well as other developing nations, and how the need to impress others is the major drive for the wider

“The more you have to lose, the braver you are for standing up”, so say Charlie in Jasper Jones. This quote reflects both novels, as the both discuss the morally wrong actions due to racism or discrimination. To kill a mockingbird is so similar to Jasper Jones through its historical, ethical and social settings that critics are referring to Jasper Jones as an Australian version of To Kill a Mockingbird. These similarities are identified as we compare Jack Lionel and Boo Radley, Laura Wishart and Mayella Ewell and the small town life of both novels. The characters of both novels ma be very similar but the plot is much different.