Jasper Jones

In this section of the novel, a variety of scenes establish the pattern that Charlie does not yet fully understand The Link Between Responsibility and Maturity. Although he witnesses certain injustices (such as when Sue Findlay scalds Mrs. Lu with the tea or when the townspeople attack Mr. Lu in his garden), he has not yet matured into a man, and as such, he still looks to other people to fight battles rather than doing it himself. This pattern holds true even when the battles are verbal and not physical, for Charlie notes the cruelties that Jeffrey’s cricket teammates heap upon him, but he never stands up for his friend during or after the match. Similarly, while Charlie does make a decision to help Jasper, he is not mature enough to make many other moral decisions on his own. This theme is further expanded upon when Charlie contemplates the reality that a true man knows what to do when something goes wrong and realizes that he still does not know what to do in tough situations. By contrast, Jasper’s attitude toward Laura’s death shows that he is more mature than Charlie is even though Charlie is respected in the town and Jasper is not. While Charlie does not know what to do in difficult situations and frequently fails to stand up for those he loves, Jasper takes responsibility for Laura’s death even though he did not cause it. He was not there when she died, but he had already internally taken on the responsibility of protecting her, and this makes him feel culpable when he was not able to protect her. He did not know that Laura was going to die, and as such, he bears no responsibility for her death, but he takes this responsibility, nevertheless. Charlie, on the other hand, still dodges responsibility more than he faces it.

Jasper Jones’s difficulties are compounded because as someone with half-Aboriginal heritage, he is the subject of intense discrimination in town. The Aboriginal people are one of two types of Indigenous people in Australia. The tenuous nature of his ties to Aboriginal culture demonstrates that people look down on him not because of anything he does or even because of any cultural ties he has, but simply because he has Aboriginal blood. This racist dynamic is demonstrated when Jasper suffers injustice even from the police, who commit acts of violence against him in the process of interrogating him over Laura’s death. This shows how Jasper is discriminated against because he belongs to a marginalized culture; ironically, even he does not understand the details of his origins, for his mother died long before she could teach him about the heritage and culture of the Aboriginal people. The basis for the town’s discrimination is therefore doubly flimsy and superficial.

Similarly, the abysmal ways in which the entire town treats the Lus indicates the intense degree to which the local culture is ruled by attitudes of virulent racism. The townspeople’s indifference to Sue Findlay’s unprovoked attack on Mrs. Lu demonstrates that the people of Corrigan are willing to overlook overt racism even when it is physically violent in nature. Mrs. Lu had nothing to do with the death of Sue’s son or the drafting of her other son. Her Vietnamese heritage makes her an undeserving target of Sue’s anger and grief at a larger political situation. Although many people witness this act, nobody does anything about it, and no one censures Sue’s violently racist actions. This trend is later compounded when Jeffrey’s father is viciously attacked by local men who invade his home for the purpose of expressing their racist views with their fists. In this scene, however, Wes demonstrates The Link Between Responsibility and Maturity when he comes to Mr. Lu’s rescue and proves himself to be far more mature than these other white men of Corrigan, who have chosen to give in to racist attitudes and actively harm their neighbor.

However, Wes is not without faults in his own family dynamics, and Charlie often gets frustrated with Wes for failing to stand up to the unreasonable dictates of Ruth, Charlie’s mother. His mother largely acts as a tyrant in the family, and his father merely takes the verbal attacks. Charlie is disappointed that his father will not stand up to her because, in his mind, it is the right and manly thing to do. Charlie does not consider defending his father in this case, and this shows that he expects a level of manly behavior from his father that he does not expect from himself. Thus, he does not yet see himself as an adult or a person who is responsible for doing the right thing and defending the weak. Even when he and Jasper first see the police cars on the day the town assumed he had been kidnapped, he is initially too afraid to send his friend away even though it would be very dangerous for Jasper to be found. He wants the comfort of having Jasper around, and as such, he is willing to allow his friend to be in danger so that he himself can feel more secure. From this scene, it is clear that The Link Between Responsibility and Maturity has not yet established itself within Charlie’s behavior; he still has important life lessons to learn.

As the novel progresses, however, he does move toward a more mature way of interacting. Some of Charlie’s first attempts to take responsibility are evident when he speaks with Eliza during the cricket match and takes it upon himself to cheer her up, even if his methods are a bit on the clumsy side. He does not know how to cheer her up with words at first, so he hands her a handkerchief. This physical gesture is meant to show Eliza that he wants to help her even if he does not quite know how. He will later do the same with Jefferey. When Charlie is able to cheer Eliza up with words, he is happy. He has taken responsibility, albeit a small one, for another person, and he succeeds in making things better. This is an important step in his maturation process. Similarly, Charlie’s desire to physically claim a person is shown when he wants to put a ring on Eliza’s finger or give her some other physical item to show that she is his girl. The two youngsters have already kissed, and the kiss was prompted by Eliza, proving her interest in him. He wants an outward sign of this belonging, however, even though her regard has already been freely given. This dynamic will become significant later in the novel when Charlie begins to think about holding onto people versus letting them go. Thus, this scene plants the seeds for the theme of The Role of Freedom in Personal Growth, which will be more fully developed in subsequent chapters.