Ethical Issues In Jasper Jones

The novel, Jasper Jones, written by Craig Silvey, is the story of Charlie Bucktin, a thirteen-year-old and his struggle to face the fact that he helped Jasper Jones, the town’s troublemaker, cover up the death of Laura Wishart. The novel, Jasper Jones has a literary quality which is visible through multiple themes and issues. Through personal context, different issues and themes such as racism, dishonesty, and physical abuse, have challenged and affiliated my personal beliefs while reading the novel.

The idea of physical abuse is the most against my personal context, as I do not believe in such a thing. The author uses the story of Sylvia Likens, a young girl who was mistreated and killed by her foster mother while the rest of the children
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The fact that he was protecting Jasper, a teenage boy he only met nights before the mentioned quote, makes me wonder, was it right for Charlie to withhold this information? Charlie’s uneasiness to holding in the secret about Laura Wishart proves that secrets can slowly change a person from inside out. I have also felt the damaging nature of keeping a secret. Charlie may have had the right intentions to see Jasper’s side of the truth, before seeing where the case would lead to personally, however, I would have mentioned it to someone as I believe it is the right thing to do, unlike Charlie as at the end of the book no one found out and the cause of Laura’s death, as it was kept from the rest of the town.

The author of Jasper Jones addresses the issue of racism, and this topic does not fit within in my context as I am not Caucasian. Jeffrey Lu is Charlie’s best friend and he is also Vietnamese. Because of his different ethnicity, he becomes a victim of bullying.

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, at once turning an insult into a nickname. (Silvey