Black Snake

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Introduction: In the novel, Black Snake by Carole Wilkinson, the author tries to establish an honest perspective of Ned Kelly and whether he is a villain, hero or victim. Wilkinson’s audience is young readers interested in Australian history, particularly bushrangers in the 1800’s. By questioning documented evidence of the time, the thoughts of the readers are shaped. The film, Ned Kelly, 2003, depicts Kelly as a Robbin Hood-style hero, who stole from the rich to give to the poor. However, in Documents that Shaped Australia (Tompson, J. 2010.) M. H. Ellis portrays Ned Kelly as ‘one of the most cold-blooded, egotistical and utterly self-centred criminals who ever reached the end of a rope in an Australian jail. Which was he? Villain, Hero …show more content…

Ned's mother was in jail for three years instead of three months, Ned only wanted to get back to the authorities for imprisoning his mother for no reason. Ned's father died when he was only twelve. This had life long consequences. Ned was put in charge of 12 kids, At the age of 15 this didn’t end well. Ned's family was also dirt poor, so this also adds to the stress and difficulty of Ned's early life because they had to steal to survive and that made him a criminal. Body Paragraph: From a young age, Ned Kelly has been under police harassment. The corrupt police had on Ned's tail all the time because he was known to belong to a bushranger family. Ned was the default suspect of all crimes in the town, for being related to Red Kelly the convict. The police where the authorities so they could do anything to the Kellys without getting fired. Ned had no social standing in town, so everyone didn’t want to be near them or hang out with them. Body Paragraph: Carole Wilkinson shows that Ned has community discrimination towards a socially unacceptable family. The community despises Ned because of his association with bushrangers, and they believe that he is a thief and very dangerous. The townsfolk believed that Ned would kill their family and steal all their stuff and take their

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