Corrigan in 1965
Corrigan is how the town is spelled in Jasper Jones but in real life it is spelled as ‘Corrigin’. Corrigin is a farming town located 229 kilometres north east from Perth, Western Australia. Corrigin would most likely have a population of under 1000 people in the 1960s and is probably smaller than Latrobe, Tasmania when looking at it from a bird’s eye view. In the text, Corrigan is described as a small, community-driven, isolated mining town in regional Western Australia. Silvey would have used Corrigin’s geographical features to set the scene of a small, isolated town in the text. Since the town is fairly small, everyone in the community would know each other and every little event would be amplified because of how small their…show more content… America joined the war, wanting to stop the spreading of communism, sending thousands of troops as well as getting her allies (Australia included) to send troops as well. Majority of Australians that fought in the Vietnam War were conscripted meaning that their participation was compulsory. This war had affected the time period of Jasper Jones as well as the intensity of the Corrigan community because the events took place during the middle of the war. It also affects how characters in the novel act towards the Lu family because they had Vietnamese heritage so it rose tones of…show more content… Jasper Jones
Eric Edgar Cooke was a murderer who terrorised the city of Perth in Western Australia. During the time period of 1959-1963, Cooke committed 22 crimes, 8 of them resulting to death. Silvey would have seen this opportunity to include Cooke as he was executed just a year before the novel’s time period was set in as well as the murders being set in Western Australia where Corrigan is located.
Eric Edgar Cooke was born into an unhappy family, his parents only married because his mother was pregnant with him and his father was an alcoholic. When Cooke was born, he had a cleft lip and palate and had surgery performed on him. He had trouble speaking and was often blamed and beaten by his parents and his peers at school for being different. His father would often come home from work drunk without any money due to spending it all on alcohol. At 14 years old, Cooke started to earn money for himself, his mother and sister and stayed away from home to avoid being beaten by his father just as Charlie had described Cooke’s life on page 107. Eric Edgar Cooke’s childhood can be compared to Jasper Jones’ life in the book. After Charlie reflected on Cooke’s life he thought of Jasper Jones, he described him as, “an orphan, or as good as. Whose dad hits the drink as hard as he hits his only son. Who also has to steal to eat,” which is quite similar to Cooke’s childhood experience with his
