Imagery And Symbolism In Jasper Jones

The Novel Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey revolves around a thirteen year-old boy named Charlie Bucktin living in the small Australian town of Corrigan in the 1960’s. After Charlie’s inciting incident; being led to the hanging body of Laura Wishart by the town outcast Jasper Jones, his journey of self-discovery commences. He begins to realise and question the harsh reality of everything around him, including but not limited to the racial prejudice in which Corrigan embraces. Characterisation via structural juxtaposition, first person narrative point of view, imagery and symbolism are used throughout Jasper Jones to create a Bildungsroman novel that positions readers to question their values, attitudes and the values and attitudes of society, alongside …show more content…
Imagery pertaining but not limited to Charlie 's insectophobia (fear of insects) is used to describe entities and things that Charlie dreads such as when referring to helicopters threatening Charlie’s buried secret, “Two black dragonflies in the sky”. Charlie also reiterates throughout the novel the phrase ‘We drowned Laura Wishart’, which denotes his childish reluctance to accept death for what it is. He even throws up after ingesting some water from the damn in which Laura Wishart’s body resided, haunted by her heavy ghost, but is later mature and brave enough to dive in to save the reckless seemingly “suicidal” Jasper. The Bildungsroman’s end goal of maturity can further, clearly be acknowledged and is highlighted by the symbol of the peach pit from Mad Jack Lionel’s garden and how Charlie’s reaction to it has transformed as he undergoes his character formation. In the beginning Charlie regards the act of stealing a peach as dangerous and for him an impossible feat, “To pilfer a peach from the property of Mad Jack Lionel assures you instant royalty. The stone of the peach is kept as a souvenir of heroics and is universally admires and envied.” At this point his whole world is innocently ‘universally’ based in Corrigan whereas after enduring the inner turmoil that comes with ‘knowing’ and by the end of the novel when he steals 5 of the eternally glorious peaches, he has become what he once admired and feared, “…it requires more courage for me to tentatively bend and snatch up that rotten from amid that sea of bees…But I get them, all five of them, into the crook of my arm, hot and soft and mushy, and it feels incredible, like something has clicked into place…I get brave.” As is a classic protagonist development in the Bildungsroman, Charlie is even able to share his