Jasper Jones

Jasper Jones

1. Charlie Bucktin

   • Protagnonist
   • Charlie is thirteen, almost fourteen years old, and lives in the small town of Corrigan, Australia.
   • Over the course of the novel, Charlie matures considerably.
     • He learns to master his anger, behaving diplomatically around his parents and his friends. He also realizes that he will never be entirely free of his fears, but that he can train himself to face them.
   • Struggles with various fears and insecurities: fear of insects, of bullies, of failure
   • , etc. Charlie is an avid reader of American authors (including Norman Mailer, Jack Kerouac, and Truman Capote) and a budding writer who dreams of living in New York as an adult.
   • Struggles to understand other people’s motives for committing crimes, though as the novel concludes, we are left to guess what conclusions on this subject Charlie has reached.

2. Jasper Jones

3. Mad Jack Lionel

   • legendary resident of Corrigan who supposedly killed a woman years ago
     • As a result, is greatly feared by the adolescents and children of the town
   • common test of courage to steal peach pits from the tree on his property
   • Charlie and Jasper discover that Jack is Jasper’s paternal grandfather.
   • Charlie comes to see Jack as a sad, lonely man, worthy of his sympathy and compassion.

4. Eliza Wishart