Novel study: Jasper Jones: chapter one

Our exam text this year is the very fabulous Jasper Jones, by Craig Silvey.  Set in a small mining town in Australia in the 1960s, this novel shows the young Charlie Bucktin move from a sheltered world of books and cricket to an understanding of racism, family conflict and love.

It's a novel which is important for us all right now, as we grapple with racism and racial profiling in the media and in our own worlds.  It is also a story of an unconfident teenager working out who he is and what is worth trusting in his world.

In the exam in November, we will each write one essay on Jasper Jones (4 credits, counts for UE Literacy).  There will be a choice of 5-6 questions.  The questions are based on the following four aspects of the NZ English Curriculum: purpose and audience, ideas, language features, and structure.  Our work over the next four weeks will focus on:

•  understanding the key ideas in the novel, 
• who Silvey is writing for and how he crafts for this audience, 
• the use of symbolism and metaphor 
• how the novel is structured so that the reader grows alongside the protagonist.

Create a document in your ENL212 folder called "Jasper Jones."  Today's heading in this document is "Chapter One".  

Your first job is to read chapter one.  Then, I have three questions for you to answer.  For each question, I want you to find specific evidence in the text, and write paragraph answers.  For each answer, you are selecting great examples from the chapter, and analysing Silvey's choices with words and the impression he creates of Charlie.

How do we know that the narrator is a geek/nerd/uncool?

2. How does the writer develop the sense of intense hot weather?

3. What are our impressions of Jasper, and how does the author create these impressions in our mind?

p.s. I'm working on getting more copies of Jasper Jones.  The Covid19 lockdown in Victoria, Australia, is delaying the order I placed last term.  Check your emails for a link to the audio version of the book.