Depiction of Racist and Discriminatory Community in Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

Jasper Jones written by Craig Silvey is a gothic bildungsroman novel, which is set in the 1960s. This specific time shows how Aboriginal people were often targets of bullying and violence in the small Australian town Corrigan. This tales explores how the protagonist Charlie Bucktin and 16 year old Jasper Jones unravel the dark secrets of their hometown. This treatise takes place during the time of the Vietnam War which is why many Australians were profoundly racist against Vietnamese and migrants during this novel. This portrays Corrigan as an immensely racist and discriminatory community through the use of strong characterization, racist language and dialogue.

This novel explores racism through the characterisation of the locals in Corrigan, especially the Indigenous boy, Jasper Jones. Due to this, he is blamed for other people’s crimes, such as the murder of Laura Wishart. Craig Silvey wrote: “Itэs obvious, innit? They reckon I got somethink to do with Laura being missing and they wanted me to say as much.” This illustrates that the police in Corrigan are corrupt since the Sarge gave Jasper a black eye trying to get information out of him and would arrest him without sufficient evidence. However, Jasper is not the only victim; the Lu family is hated on from the townsfolks. Maybe even more so because of the breakout of the Vietnam War. Racism and scapegoating is explored in the book through negative attitudes towards Indigenous and Vietnamese people.

The Lu family is a Vietnamese family who are based in Corrigan, and there only son Jeffrey a Vietnamese boy, gets bullied and downsized by the locals and kids at school. Which demonstrates that the Corrigan see the Lu‘s as the enemy since Australian citizens blames the Vietnamese for losing their loved ones by using racist language to express their hatred and disgust. For example, “The next ball Jeffrey punches through cover, zipping through for two runs. And it’s with complete disbelief that I hear real encouragement from the sideline. His teammates. In unison those belligerent bastards, yelling, “Shot, Cong!” across the field, once turning an insult into a nickname. This utilises how Jeffrey’s team mates aren’t as racist when he does something outstanding on the cricket field but when Jeffrey comes off that cricket field all that respect is gone. They are affected by the text idea racism, when Corrigan held a meeting in the in the miner’s hall and an Australian lady spilt hot coffee all over Mrs Lu and abused her. The lady acted this way because her husband had been killed just recently. Racist language has been explained in this novel through the actions of others.

Jasper Jones came to Charlies window requiring his help with Laura Wishart’s deceased body. The use of dialogue throughout this specific chapter, displays Jasper Jones as the protagonist in this situation in which we know he is a targeted character in society that has been raised in a dysfunctional family. This is the reason why the town of Corrigan use this as a reason to blame Jasper for crimes that occur throughout the community. For example “This town, they think I’m a bloody animal. They think I belong in a cage, and this here is just an excuse to lock me up in one. They don’t need any more than what they see right here. All that matters is how this looks. I’m in trouble, Charlie.” This explains how Corrigan has had a negative effect on Jasper to the extent where they are accusing him as the murderer for Laura’s death. This emphasises that Corrigan is corrupt towards aboriginal Australians, especially when it comes to small town issues involved in crime as Jasper is targeted easily for no valid reason apart from his race. Charlie’s response to Jasper was “Do? Do what? What the hell do we do?” Charlie has only read about these types of circumstances of suicide and life changing events in books and has never really thought about it until he becomes shocked after Jasper Jones exposes him to the reality of sexual abuse leading to death. Therefore, dialogue is captured through Jasper and Charlies opinions and self-understanding of racism.

Corrigan is an immensely racist town through their actions towards Indigenous Australians and non-indigenous Australians in the era 1960s due to the outbreak of the Vietnam War which influences Australians response towards the Vietnamese people. Characterisation, Racist language and dialogue is shown within the novel about racism when the Sarge violently abuses Jasper Jones because he holds him accountable for the death of Laura Wishart, The Lu families only son Jeffrey gets called a ‘Cong’ because of his race and his ability in cricket and how Jasper Jones exposes Charlie Bucktin to sexual abuse and the dark secrets of his home town.