Jasper Jones Allegory

Superficially, Jasper Jones (2008) explores coming of age, youthful love, unspoken secrets, racial discrimination, and the desire to escape extraordinary mundanity. However, Silvey's portrayal of Authority and Jurisdiction challenged my perception of social supremacy, altering my perceptions and grasp of the power within our society, ultimately impelling me to reflect on my own place within it. Jasper Jones is an allegory for the expectations of society, confronting us with the consequences of failing parental responsibility, Silvey challenges our assumptions on domestic authority and power. “But now when she comes home, she's bitter and irritable, as though she's been led back to her cell after a foiled escape." Though Silvey calls to our

But she just stares on ahead.” Illustrated across kinaesthetic imagery, Silvey marks the maturity divide between Eliza and Ruth, foiling the two characters and ultimately challenging our societal age-equivalent expectation. Through this juxtaposition, Silvey provokes us with a duality of adulthood and childishness. If maturity is not merely an inevitability of ageing, why are guardians given so much power often unchecked? “Banizweski was vile,” he said. [Sylvia] was just a grisly game for them.” With the height of reconciliation protests across Australia coinciding with the writing of Jasper Jones, it seems obvious that through parallels of expected authority and his prior representation of Ruth as childish and Ms. Wishart as completely detached, Silvey critiqued the Australian Federal government’s, at writing, inaction towards reconciliation. However, as a modern audience that has since witnessed the apology, I was prompted to reflect upon the recent referendum. Though I personally view the failure of the Voice as a tragedy, after considering how divided the First Nations community was on the Voice, I've been challenged to consider my

I mean, Laura's dad was even on the news." Whereby Silvey accentuates our society's inability to distinguish actions made for individual gain from the veneer of being community-driven. [On Pete] “I wouldn't have suspected this man to be the monster he was.” Even when faced with concrete knowledge of Pete’s abhorrent character, Charlie's admittance to retrospective hesitation crystallises the effect of positive associative conditioning, affirming the immense influence leaders possess and their capability to create conformity under the guise of positive change, ultimately challenging me to reflect on my personal susceptibility. Though Jasper Jones was written in 2007, much like his apparent commentary on the societal tensions of the Vietnam War, “Fucking Red Rat," it’s a reasonable presumption that Silvey further utilised it to comment upon the rise of authoritarianism in 1967. Upon considering character portrayals, I began to draw my own parallels: Are the leaders of Corrigan an embodiment of