Jasper Jones Character Analysis

Jasper Jones - Essay

Craig Silvey’s loss of innocence Novel “Jasper Jones” is a story revolved around the secrecy of three young adolescents, Charlie Bucktin, Jasper Jones and Eliza Wishart. The story is narrated and told through the perspective of Charlie so the voices of everyone else is limited through dialogue, nevertheless the unravelling series of tragic events, exposes the individuals own thinking, their values are cast out and represented through their voice. The values they withhold so closely involve honesty, trust and love, however not all these are preserved. Over the course of the novel trust is lost and secrets are kept, leading to miscommunication. Miscommunication is seen as the most extensive contributing factor or catalyst
Even today miscommunication is a dramatic problem in modern society, it creates anger, frustration and confusion. Miscommunication has had a massive impact on human kind throughout history for example leading us to war. This theme was present throughout ‘Jasper Jones’, it didn't have such an effect as starting World War III but it did have a traumatic effect on the characters in the book. It ruined relationships and led people on. But fuelling miscommunication is honesty, or even larger the lack of honesty. Eliza kept the note to herself and Charlie’s mother went behind her husbands back to see other men. At the height of Charlie’s parents split was his fathers personality. He was a stoic man, internalised everything, stayed strong but very quiet. “..She picked a fight and, like always, didn’t get one back. My father just let her go. It was like yelling at a statue. He let her scream and holler, let her beat at him and weep.” “Of course it came to no surprise to my father. He knew she was miserable here, he even knew the company she’d been keeping…he knew all her secrets…I often wonder why he kept it all to himself…maybe it thought it made her happy or maybe it was easier for him to shrug and keep it under the rug.” The smilie used comparing his father to statue, justifies Charlie’s dad’s own personality and his stoic character shines through here, he is unable to communicate to her and that comes across strongly to the reader, Imagery of her trashing the house too is cast upon to the reader clearly, “She drove out, our car fishtailing wildly down the street…She tipped things, stripped things, tore things…she found my fathers manuscript and ripped it apart and cast it across the room.” This descriptive language transparently paints the picture of his mother’s rampage. Along with the repetition of ‘things’ adds