Jasper Jones Racism Quotes

Craig Silvey’s Jasper Jones is a powerful text, conveying ideas that protest against the social norm of the 1960’s. Protagonist Charlie Bucktin is a teenager living in the small Australian town of Corrigan in 1965. His daily routine is somewhat interrupted by the intrusion of Jasper Jones – the town’s scapegoat – knocking at his window. Together, they attempt to solve the murder of Laura Wishart, a young teenager found hanging in Jasper’s secret hideout. Is this a sinister end for Laura or is Jasper being set up? Jasper Jones, by Craig Silvey, demonstrates that fictional stories not only have the power to move the reader emotionally and physically, but also to change the way the reader sees humanity by delving into issues such as racism, condemnation and the unknown.

Racism is a social issue that occurs prevalently throughout Silvey’s novel and is an attempt to appeal to the reader’s emotional side and demonstrates that what Australian society did as a whole in the 1960’s was wrong and unacceptable.

Through the use of characterisation, Silvey has forced the reader to view the aftermath of racist attacks from the victim’s point of view. The attack on Jeffrey Lou’s family is one such example. “An Lou doesn’t fall when they hit him in the face. He holds his arms out, but they grab him and pull him and keep hitting him. In the body and in the face.” The Lou family, who are Vietnamese, are targeted for the loss of a white Corrigan male’s job, whilst An kept his. Silvey attempts to invoke emotions of anger and rage by showing the reader this attack, and therefore discouraging racism. A fictional text like Jasper Jones has the power to move a reader and invoke physical and emotional change in the reader’s

actions.

Silvey’s text attempts to highlight the issue of condemnation, which invokes the reader’s emotions and actions to ponder a sense a injustice. Jasper Jones, the text’s namesake, has always had all wrong doings blamed on him. Silvey deliberately portrays the town as judgmental, not willing to listen and is blatantly biased toward Jasper. This is Silvey’s attempt to invoke emotions of anger and disdain towards the town. “They don’t know shit about what it is to be me. They never ask why.” This quote demonstrates that the town has presumed Jasper’s guilt, without attempting to hear out his side of the story or circumstances. This fallacy is something that many people are still guilty of in the modern day, and an issue that Silvey attempts to highlight throughout his novel and demonstrates that fictional texts do have the power to move their readers.

Silvey’s novel highlights people’s fear of the unknown, through the use of the characterisation of Charlie and Jasper. He leads the reader to be moved by the actions of these two characters whom, instead of prejudging and assuming the worst because they did not fully comprehend the situation, actually investigate and attempt to discover the truth by gathering evidence. The reader is also encouraged not to turn a blind eye to discrimination, but to consider the circumstances, facts and possibilities, in an attempt to understand the unknown and positively change society. Charlie’s father says, “often, its not the darkness they’re afraid of, it’s the fact that they don’t know what’s in it.” This simple quote highlights the fact that viewing situations on face value is not enough, and to delve with a more thorough and open examination will demonstrate the truth about many things. Through this issue of the unknown, the reader is encouraged not to presuppose, but to peel through the layers and uncover the truth.