Literature Review: Craig Silvey’s Novel "Jasper Jones"
Craig Silvey’s, best-selling novel, Jasper Jones published in 2009 is based on intolerance and stereotyping in a west Australian town. It’s a quality literary work as it addresses an issue most people neglect talking about and would rather not face; viciousness of humankind. Silvey includes an anecdote that displays the reality of cruelty humans are capable of. The book which has won Indie Book of the Year, has already been renowned as an Aussie classic.
A white child, Charlie Bucklin whom is clenched shut into not knowing a single matter concerning the outside world except for his continually growing love for literatures gets his first taste of prejudice. He is wide-opened into the many dark hidden secrets surrounding his country town. When he is approached by knuckle knocks on his room window and a single hiss of his name on a blazing evening in the late 65s, by a riveting, mixed son, Jasper Jones. An outlier and rotten model that parents behold as a warning in the western Australian town. He is consistently induced to must have hands in all manner of troubles within Corrigan. Jasper’s urgent request from Charlie which was to accompany him that night wasn’t rejected. Leading to a gruesome discovery, a secret burden that only the two of them had to carry for the summer. Jasper’s clear-eyed recognition of revealing that liability to the town turns into reality, influencing character development on his companion, Charlie. Charlie matures considerably within time, from a naive 13 year old struggling with various fears and insecurities to someone who knows more than someone his age should. After being a witness to Jasper’s secret. He perceives more of life, including the seedy side of it. He comes to realization that he’ll never be free of his fears and impulses himself into facing them. He’s puzzled about the motives for committing crimes and is overly naive to the realities of the world, but as the novel concludes, we are left to assume what conclusion he’ll reach. Whether he’ll be aware of the purposes behind these entities or not.
The novel Jasper Jones offers an insight into the contemporary Australian history of racism. Racial prejudice is not just demonstrated through the abandoning treatment of the ‘untouchable’ Jasper. Jeffrey Lu, Charlie’s friend. His family and himself are Vietnamese. Temporarily, the Vietnam war was taking place triggering another oversight back in Australia. In every scene in which he appears, they are stereotyped for having an involvement in the conflict, but they continuously bear the brunt. When Jeffrey joins and takes to the oval in the novel. It’s crystal clear that he does not feel embraced by the crowd instead he is persecuted because of his differing ethnicity.
The author, Craig Silvey, paints an accurate image of prevalent issues. And that overall, Corrigan is a profoundly racist community in which all natures of discrimination and race-based harassment are tolerated. These happenings are what implies inequity, dominance and subservience between races. This is an enchanting book with great character development. It addresses relevant issues that aren't only confined to small outback towns but issues that are applicable to everyone universally. It provides readers with a solid commentary as to what Australian life was like in the 1960s.
