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Racism In Jasper Jones

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Racism In Jasper Jones
Racism in Jasper Jones and the Complexities in Young Adult Literature
“Because those men struck his father, over and over, and they destroyed something beautiful. And nothing will ever happen to them.
Because a girl goes missing in this town and it’s Jasper Jones who is held and threatened and belted for days, but somehow those monsters will arouse no suspicion.” - Jasper Jones, Page 276
Lois T. Stover once said that “There is nothing simple about quality young adult literature.” In this, Stover definitely has a point. Young adult literature can be as complex or easy as anything else, including adult literature. Young adult novels today mostly range from the mindless romance of Twilight to the arguably great yet unoriginal dystopian rebellion …show more content…
Jeffrey Lu’s father, An Lu, was harassed by cranky neighbours unjustly with no reasoning, having his prized flower-beds destroyed. While as the reader we hate James Trent, it is shown that he was just scared about a young girl who went missing when he says “He probably killed that young girl. Go back to Hanoi, rats.” Trent is in fact upset and worried about the young girl going missing and not turning up, but he had a very different way of showing it. Although this does not mean his actions are excused, nor are they justified at all, it just comes to show that it wasn’t just a personal attack on An Lu because of his race, but it was because Trent was in despair. Society is not always a happy place in Corrigan, but this is also true to the modern society as well, and it mirrors social issues of relevant to today. James Trent is a character that clearly exemplifies the shades of grey applicable to Lois T. Stover’s words, as he is not entirely what he seems on the outside, and there is more going on, making his actions more complex than is initially displayed to the
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