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  • Essay / A growth story for the protagonist of the novel "Jasper Jones"

    While most authors base their literature on current contextual events, some "go against the grain" and build their own writing on contextual events past. Craig Silvey, in his 2009 novel "Jasper Jones", set in 1965, presents the story of protagonist Charlie Bucktin's growth, as he gradually loses his adolescent innocence. He constructs this growth story through the characterization of Jasper Jones to act as a catalyst for Charlie's bildungsroman. Additionally, Silvey presents symbolism to emphasize to Charlie the injustice of the world throughout the novel and cleverly depicts Ruth Bucktin's characterization as an allegory for the protagonist's overwhelming naive perception of the world. Ultimately, Silvey presents how Charlie's continued allusion to literature and past contextual references affect the way he treats his bildungsroman in the novel. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Throughout our lives, we have relationships that can influence our behaviors and beliefs. Silvey constructs the characterization of Jasper Jones to act as a catalyst for Charlie's bildungsroman, as the relationship Charlie has with Jasper causes his behavior to change while losing his innocence. Early in the novel, Jasper lures Charlie out of his room, which is described as "my falling from the window is a bit like the birth of a foal" even though Charlie longs to "sit safely in the womb from my room.” Silvey cleverly constructed this first interaction with Jasper to emphasize how uncomfortable Charlie is with breaking the rules and how foreign this action of sneaking out of his room is to him. Further demonstrated by the use of zoomorphism, "like a foal", which suggests how this action of breaking the rules symbolizes Charlie's rebirth into an adult world through this first act of losing his innocence. The imagery of a "foal" also depicts Charlie as evolving into this weak creature that goes astray and also reflects how this weakness is his inability to understand the new perception of the world that Jasper acts as a catalyst for his discovery. The setting of the "womb" is also used to reinforce Charlie's metaphorical birth from a naive perception of the world to a more acute understanding of its injustice. When Charlie leaves the “mother’s womb,” it symbolizes that he is now without her prior protection; which led him to lose his innocence and become the “man” he wishes to become. Silvey describes Jasper as this "man" that Charlie wants to become by constructing a positive semantic field of adjectives like "strong", "tall" and "defined" to juxtapose the way the town of "Corrigan" views this boy as a " absent ". , “thief” and “thug”. This juxtaposition of descriptions highlights how Charlie is different from the rest of the town because he sees the truth just like Jasper and having Jasper come to his window and guide him on this path of discovery makes him see Jasper as his goal staff. Jasper's second act leading Charlie to lose his adolescent innocence is when he takes her to see Laura Wishart's dead body, as this leads to "a bubble" that "bursts", "and everything changes" for Charlie. The metaphor of the bursting of the "bubble" symbolizes how he again leaves this fragile naive perception he had of the world and evolves towards this stable perception of the world which he is shocked to know exists. Furthermore, the metaphor of"bubble" also reflects the way he leaves his childhood behind, as is the case with children, and may also foreshadow the fact that he will not enjoy the world he discovers. Through this association with Jasper and this desire to become like him, Charlie is influenced by his actions and begins to change the way he behaves. From being this precocious, literacy-minded boy, who makes no mistakes and never stands up to others, is someone who asks Jasper if he has "any whiskey?" and standing up to "Warwick Trent", the school bully, when he proves his courage by stealing "more than four of Mad Jack Lionel's 'peaches'." Silvey constructed this change in Charlie to express how Jasper's impact over the course of the novel led Charlie to become this strong-minded boy who is no longer afraid, reinforcing the idea that Jasper Jones acted as a catalyst for Charlie's growth. Jones, Silvey constructs events to symbolize how the deception and injustice of the world results in the protagonist's growth. When An Lu's garden is destroyed, Charlie's "bricks flow" and he begins to "tremble" and be "scared", this reaction shows how scared the protagonist is due to the level of violence that has been used against his best friend's family, whom he knows. did nothing to deserve this treatment. The injustice of the attack on the Vietnamese family symbolizes for Charlie how cold and unforgiving the world is; as they are attacked because they are looking for a better life after leaving Vietnam during the Vietnam War and also because An Lu is good at his job. The fact that they are attacked for no real reason and that "something beautiful" has been "destroyed" shows how meaningless the world is because terrible things can happen to people who don't deserve it through people who are just “sharks in the world”. "dark". The imagery that "something beautiful" has been "destroyed" also evokes the way in which the attackers are "uprooting" the stable foundations on which Charlie's perception of the world, equality and fairness, rests, which leads them to destroy everything that is beautiful in Australia This destruction of the foundations of Charlie's beliefs causes him to develop and grow even though he loses his innocence The metaphor of the "brick" symbolizes. this event weighed on Charlie and how much it weighed down his heart and soul by witnessing this attack because Charlie does not understand why someone could "destroy something beautiful Charlie then questions his father about ". Why did this happen? Why would anyone do this to An?', the repetitive questions symbolize Charlie's confusion about why things happen and that he doesn't 'understand anything about this world'. The questions also make the reader wonder why the world works this way too. His questions go unanswered by his father, which further deepens Charlie's state of confusion and disbelief, but it also means that the protagonist knows that things happen for no reason, a message that he takes and on which it grows. Another message Charlie takes from this event is that he should not judge a book by its cover, as that in itself is an injustice. The protagonist always considered his father weak but during this attack on An Lu, he discovers that he was wrong as his father defends An Lu. He is described as "so great." He’s so big,” which, through the use of anaphora, depicts Charlie as shocked by his father’s courage and strength, implying that he was doing his father an injustice by judging him. This development in his education about the people that Silveytakes Charlie and the reader means he becomes a more independent individual, who doesn't just refer to stereotypes as his judgment of people. Additionally, the moral of not judging a book by its cover is explored when Silvey introduces the beating Sergeant Jasper shortly after Laura Wishart's disappearance. The blows cause Jasper to have "a left eye like a cricket ball" and although Charlie trusts Jasper, he himself says that "If I hadn't seen the cuts and bruises...for myself, I would not have suspected this man of doing it. to be the monster he was.” This initial uncertainty on Charlie's part was constructed by Silvey to convey how this new idea of ​​the world shocks the protagonist as he loses even more of his innocence. Additionally, Charlie's growing awareness of Corrigan's cruelty, deceit, and racism is an essential part of his growth, as it makes him understand what type of person he does not want to be racist. When he realizes this, his morality changes as he associates the "Sarge" with helping and justice with a "monster". By creating people in positions of authority to take advantage of innocent children, Silvey challenges the reader to consider the extent of injustice in today's world, because although the novel takes place in 1965, it is still a current problem. As readers today, we can still relate to this situation because in America there are still racist attacks carried out by the police. This is why Silvey encourages readers to stand up and fight against injustice, because doing so could save many lives and many lost childhoods. Silvey cleverly constructs Ruth Bucktin's characterization as an allegory for Charlie's growth in the novel by shattering his naive and innocent perception of the world, the more he matures the more strained their relationship becomes until it reaches the breaking point : the discovery of his affair. Ruth is an "abrupt and impatient" mother who always has a harsh "sarcastic" tone with Charlie, which is seen to be due to her resentment towards her husband and child for trapping her in Corrigan, a small town. This harsh tone symbolizes the lack of love and respect she has for each member of the family and challenges stereotypes that mothers are the source of care and affection in their children's lives. Furthermore, shattering Charlie's perfect perception of the world as it is not as it should be, since Silvey constructed Ruth to express how in mid-1960s Australia women began to behave in a more liberated and feminist way. As the protagonist loses some of his innocence by sneaking out of the house and observing the injustice in the world, his behavior in this tone changes from not responding "I don't argue" to responding. An example of this change in behavior is found in Chapter 3, when Charlie has to dig a hole in the garden and when told to fill it, he says "No." “I’m not filling it!”, this first change in their relationship. conveys that as Charlie grows, he becomes more independent, something his mother does not know how to handle, leading to more arguments and a distant relationship. This distance between them increases when Charlie discovers that she is having an affair and catches her "struggling and grabbing" at another man. Instantly, this betrayal leads Ruth to lose her moral authority as she falls from grace, causing the power she had to transfer from her to Charlie. This power shift dynamic between them means that Charlie is now in charge and this is shown when he states "I don't have to do what you say anymore." He estimatesthat he has the right to say this because the perfect image he had of his parents is shattered and he no longer wants to please her because he is broken by her betrayal. This disbelief and hurt caused by his betrayal is presented through the metaphor "The brick falls farther than ever" and the simile "I hate it like poison." These negative descriptions convey how painful this betrayal is for the protagonist because it implies that his heart is more hurt than ever before. On top of that, when Charlie catches them engaging in a sexual act, it is another loss of childhood innocence, as it makes him grow up and also makes him stop being a child. What we read can massively impact and influence our lives, knowing this Silvey. presents how Charlie's continued allusion to literature and past contextual references affect the way he treats his bildungsroman in the novel. Charlie is a precocious and literate boy, who is beaten by Warwick Trent for saying "too clever" words, who communicates his ideas and feelings in the novel by referencing literature he has already read, such as when he expresses how MarkTwain inspired him. To Kill A Mockingbird is also referenced several times as Silvey invites us to explore the parallels between the two novels while Charlie assumes that Jasper perceives him as "Atticus Finch", brave and tense. He thinks Jasper “must have assumed I was genuine and righteous. Like Atticus Finch: worthy, reasonable and wise.", this comparison between the two characters hints at a strong intertextuality between them and also suggests how much Charlie wishes to be like this character when he grows up. This reference to his future shows how he communicates his future aspirations through literature as he grows and matures throughout the text The inclusion of "To Kill A Mockingbird" shows how Silvey was also inspired by the novel as a child and. thinks this was a pivotal moment in his own progression and reflected this on Charlie The parallelism between the two characters also suggests the way Charlie reflects on Atticus Finch's actions for inspiration, and then reflects those actions for inspiration. "like Atticus Finch". The actions that inspire him are those where Atticus declares that he does "his best to love everyone", that justice can be "ugly" and that it is only about “facts of life”. These actions that inspired Charlie can be seen in himself when he doesn't understand "why would anyone do that to An?" ", this connotes his idea of ​​equality which he observed in the character of Atticus Finch. This morality of equality is communicated by Charlie throughout the novel as he believes that there is inequality and racism in Corrigan's town, a motive that has caused him to repeatedly lose his childhood innocence. The protagonist also comments on past crimes that have taken place, including Eric Edgar Cooke, Western Australia's first serial killer who committed a total of 22 violent crimes. Eric Edgar Cooke was a self-employed serial killer who "shot a man between the eyes" and "stabbed a woman" between 1959 and 1963. As Western Australia's first serial killer, this meant the state lost his innocence. reflected on the town of Corrigan by the disappearance of Laura Wishart. While Corrigan and WA have lost their innocence, Charlie can relate to Eric Edgar Cooke's story and therefore knows what to expect after Laura's disappearance. Additionally, in the Eric Edgar Cooke saga, two men were wrongly convicted of his crimes representing Corrigan's injustice, with Jasper Jones also wrongly suspected of being responsible for the disappearance of.