Good morning distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the 24th annual Queensland Literary Symposium. I’d like to start off by highlighting a prominent book that has captured readers with its engaging and thrilling storyline along with insightfully revealing significant aspects of human society and culture. I refer specifically to the novel, Jasper Jones. Written by the Australian author Craig Silvery, Jasper Jones is set in the scorching summer of 1965 in Western Australia. One night Jasper, the town’s mixed-race outcast, shows Charlie Bucktin a dead body. Told from the perspective of Charlie, he and Jasper embark on a riveting mission to solve the mysterious murder of Laura Wishart. Silvery’s story demonstrates many social and …show more content…
During the sixties, indigenous Australians were deprived of full citizenship until the 1967 referendum, therefore prejudice morals were not reprimanded. The character Jasper Jones experiences continuous discrimination from the people of Corrigan simply because of his race. Jasper is a half Aboriginal boy who is the outcast and scapegoat of the town. Charlie reveals, “Jasper Jones has a terrible reputation in Corrigan. He’s a Thief, a Liar, a Thug, a Truant. He’s lazy and unreliable. He’s feral and an orphan, or as good as. His mother is dead and his father is no good. He’s the rotten model that parents hold aloft as a warning: This is how you’ll end up if you’re disobedient.... In families throughout Corrigan, he’s the first name to be blamed for all manner of trouble.” Here, Silvey employs the harsh term “rotten” to emphasise and increase the severity of Jasper’s poor reputation in the town. Furthermore, Silvey's intentional use of capitals provides the reader the impression that the adjectives of “Thief”, “Liar”, “Thug” and “Truant” are now titles belonging exclusively to Jasper, to indicate who he is or has become. Through the phase “he’s the first name to be blamed for all manner of trouble” communicates that Jasper is subject to immense prejudicial ideologies as he is blamed for all troublesome and criminal matters that occur in Corrigan. Charlie challenges the racist …show more content…
The novel takes place during the Vietnam War, when Australia sent soldiers to fight alongside the South Vietnamese against Communist attacks. As a result, Australia's involvement caused significant and long-lasting controversial effects on Australian society, therefore there was significant racism against the Vietnamese. Thus, the Lu family, who were Vietnamese immigrants, were continually victims of the racist mindset of the townspeople. Although Jeffery is bullied and degraded by the locals because of his heritage, Jeffery is an endlessly determined and optimistic person, who does not get pushed down easily by others. Charlie observes "Someone kicks his ankle and says, F**k off, Cong. Jeffrey stumbles, but keeps going, head high.” By referring to Jeffery Lu as a "Cong", a northern Vietnamese Communist, it is clear that Jeffery deals with extreme racism and discrimination from the townspeople. Jeffery's mother, is further exposed to racism when she is scalded by hot water and verbally abused. Charlie reveals “She slapped her cup up, right into her chest and her chin, staining her thin summer blouse and scalding her skin. The cup smashed... But Sue Findlay hadn’t finished. Jabbing her finger, she screeched the most horrible words, the nastiest things imaginable, her voice uneven with tears, her eyes crazy. It happened so quickly. The surrounding folks just stared.” Mrs Lu was attacked as Sue's son had been killed
Racism develops quite a lot during the novel. An example of racism that was occurred in the novel was showed when Darcy had told Gary during the awards night that he should be cautious, because majority of the Indigenous women had the "clap". Back then, the word "clap", meant a viral disease that a lot of Indigenous people had.
It is crucial that we study Australian Narratives as it creates insights into events we may have not explored. This is evident in the novel "Crow Country" written by Kate Constable. It teaches us about Aboriginal beliefs and spirituality, Australia's History and respect, as we experience what it feels like to live in rural Australia, creating an understanding about Aboriginal people. Therefore, through a close read and study of "Crow Country", readers are able to learn new and important things about our past and present, showing that it is crucial to study Australian Narratives.
This novel is a suitable text for a stage 4 class as it addresses a relevant and multicultural issue that students are able to relate to. It is an Australian novel that addresses two cross-curriculum priorities that are set out by the New South Wales Board of Studies (2012):
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
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.
Jasper jones is intriguing novel by Craig Silvey it revolves around the mysterious death the mayors daughter Laura Whishhart (jaspers girlfriend). Whose brutally abused body is found hanging from a tree in a clearing that has been adopted by jasper jones? And who has bad reputation due to his race and the fact that he has to to steal in order to survive due to the lack of parents. So jasper enlist the help of Charlie Bucktin an intelligent teenager to help hide Lauras body and get to the bottom of this alleged murder. Jasper is forced to to hide her body instead of giving her a proper funeral as the residents who reside in Corrigan are ignorant, hypocritical, narrow-minded, racist people who fail to give jasper a fair judgement of
The novel is set during a World War. The tension and separation of races during a war seemed evident in Australia. As a multicultural country including Japanese and Aborigine population, conflicting attitudes towards these races had to be imminent. I entirely agree with the above statement due to the unequal treatment of the aborigines, tension between the Japanese population and characters such as Hart showing lack of trust over his lover Mitsy
The Craig Silvey novel ‘Jasper Jones’ tells a story set in the late 1960's about a young man named Charlie Bucktin who lives in Corrigan, a little Australian town in West Australia. Charlie is presented with issues of racial prejudice, shamefulness, and moral dishonesty and is tested to address the idealism of right from wrong ,acknowledgement that the law doesn't generally maintain equality amongst all. The thoughts are depicted through Silvey's use of story traditions which either challenge or reinforce our values, states of mind and convictions on the issues brought before us, particularly racism The 1960's appeared to be an extremely dull period for quite a number of people whose race was recognizably unique - different to that of the
Welcome! Welcome! To Rodrigo’s Novel Analysis, by your favourite host…. RODRIGO! Or… I hope I am your favourite host {Tears animation on screen}. Today we will be looking at “Jasper Jones”, an Australian novel written by Craig Silvey. Just like last episode’s analysis of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, we will explore the deeper meaning to personal and societal issues faced by a major character in this book.
Jeffrey is ruthlessly bullied throughout the novel because of his race. Charlie’s attitude to Jasper and their relationship in the novel is reflective of Wesley’s beliefs in the value of social equality and is as a result of his strong influence on Charlie in these beliefs. This is similar to Atticus Finch and his influence on his children’s values and ideology in the novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’. The difference in treatment because of gender in the 1960’s is also explored in this film.
Throughout the pivotal Australian novel Jasper Jones, Craig Silvey, one of the most prominent Australian authors, has altered the reader’s perspective upon various figures through the characterisation of corrupt authority figures and unguided youth. Set in Corrigan, Western Australia during 1965, Jasper Jones follows the well-informed thirteen year old Charlie Bucktin, as he attempts to navigate the inexplicable murder of Laura Wishart. Charlie joins forces with Jasper Jones, the town outcast, and Eliza Wishart, the Shire Presidents daughter, in an attempt to discover the culprit of this horrendous homicide. In the novel, Corrigan has been described as a town where the personal lives of its residents are everyone’s business. Therefore, characters
Courage helps us everyday. It is important to have because it can help you try new things and it can help with many other things. In Jasper Jones, Charlie helps Jasper by going with him to the glade. “Jasper doesn’t respond. He just turns and sets off. I follow.” (Silvey 3) Charlie has many moments where he uses courage and most of the time it helps him or others. He uses it when he goes with Jasper to the glade, when him and Jasper put Laura’s body in the river, and when he goes to Jack’s house.
Michael Crichton defines prejudice as “opinion in the absence of evidence”. This theme is embodied in Harper Lee’s classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird and brims throughout the course of the story. Harper Lee exemplifies prejudice by using the juxtaposition of the unbiased man, Atticus Finch and his disparaging sister, Alexandra. Atticus’s quote “you never really understand a person until you consider things from from his point of view-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” relates to the quote by Michael Crichton because they both illustrate the theme that you cannot judge a book by its cover.(30)
How does Craig Silvey explore the idea of ‘the outsider’ in his novel Jasper Jones?
The book “To Kill A Mocking bird talks abouyr many lessomns. . it involves a lot of relationships to the realworld. Harper Lee truly demonstrates the importance of discriominbation in the book.