Craig Silvey’s novel 2009 novel, Jasper Jones, is coming of age story set in the fictional mining town of Corrigan, Australia over the summer of 1965 where the protagonist, Charlie Bucktin is exposed to confronting issues which ultimately change the way in which he views the world. As Lois T. Stover noted in 2001, “Good young adult literature deals with the themes and issues which mirror the concerns of society … [and] help[s] readers understand the complexities … [of] these issues.” Jasper Jones, substantiates this claim, with one of the key issues addressed being racism and scapegoating. This issue has its origins way back in history and despite the ‘progress’ we as a society have supposedly made it still prominently exists in today’s contemporary
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Throughout the town of Corrigan, Jasper has a terrible reputation and is often used as the scapegoat. This is exemplified when Charlie says “He’s the first name to be blamed for all manner of trouble … whatever the misdemeanour” and if another child is in trouble “Jasper’s involvement instantly absolves them … [because] they’ve been waylaid by the devil” (Page 7). The use of a metaphor with Jasper being described as the devil demonstrates just how lowly regarded Jasper is in the town of Corrigan. Jasper knows that he is the town’s scapegoat, saying “They’ll charge me and put me away, mate. No questions” and when he asks Charlie, “Who was the first person you thought of?” (Page 18). This beautifully mirrors our present day society as we are always looking for someone to incriminate and instinctively (as Jasper highlights) no matter the situation we are going to blame someone who is different from ourselves or is unknown. Rather ironically, but not surprisingly, Jasper when asked by Charlie, who he believed killed Laura accuses the town’s other pariah, Mad Jack Lionel. This emphasizes the fact that it is just a natural human behaviour to look to blame someone else. However, as the novel progresses, Silvey deals with the complexity involved with this issue and the idea of ‘two-faced racism’. This is evident in how he, through his sporting performances, “raises the eyebrows of even the most ardent bigot on the sideline” (pages 78, 79). This highlights the fact that if he is performing and winning games for the team he is seen as one of the town’s people, but yet afterwards he is back to being shunned and is seen through a racist vision. This is very much evident in our society with the recent racial vilification of Adam Goodes in the AFL. When Jasper is assaulted by the police and Laura’s father (the shires president) in order to try to
Throughout the town of Corrigan, Jasper has a terrible reputation and is often used as the scapegoat. This is exemplified when Charlie says “He’s the first name to be blamed for all manner of trouble … whatever the misdemeanour” and if another child is in trouble “Jasper’s involvement instantly absolves them … [because] they’ve been waylaid by the devil” (Page 7). The use of a metaphor with Jasper being described as the devil demonstrates just how lowly regarded Jasper is in the town of Corrigan. Jasper knows that he is the town’s scapegoat, saying “They’ll charge me and put me away, mate. No questions” and when he asks Charlie, “Who was the first person you thought of?” (Page 18). This beautifully mirrors our present day society as we are always looking for someone to incriminate and instinctively (as Jasper highlights) no matter the situation we are going to blame someone who is different from ourselves or is unknown. Rather ironically, but not surprisingly, Jasper when asked by Charlie, who he believed killed Laura accuses the town’s other pariah, Mad Jack Lionel. This emphasizes the fact that it is just a natural human behaviour to look to blame someone else. However, as the novel progresses, Silvey deals with the complexity involved with this issue and the idea of ‘two-faced racism’. This is evident in how he, through his sporting performances, “raises the eyebrows of even the most ardent bigot on the sideline” (pages 78, 79). This highlights the fact that if he is performing and winning games for the team he is seen as one of the town’s people, but yet afterwards he is back to being shunned and is seen through a racist vision. This is very much evident in our society with the recent racial vilification of Adam Goodes in the AFL. When Jasper is assaulted by the police and Laura’s father (the shires president) in order to try to