The situation where Cons Hall pretends to help Ned get rid of his tortuous uncles acts as just another example of the naive nature of Ned. He believes that Hall actually wants to assist him when in reality Hall just wants to dispose of him and all his relatives. When Ned apologizes to Hall for blaming the whole disaster on him, Hall simply laughs, and Ned "realised this were to make my friends and family hate me all them more" (161). Now, Hall vows to arrest Ned and throw him in jail soon. He never wanted to help Ned in any way at all. I, personally, sympathize with the innocence of Ned. I feel that as he grows older, this innocence will slowly dwindle away as he becomes the ruthless bushranger character.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
The Innocence of Ned Kelly
"Poor, poor Ned." I find these words crossing my mind very often as I read The True History of the Kelly Gang. Ned is so young, so naive and is often tricked and manipulated by others, especially Harry Powers and the police. After all, he was "raised on lies and silences," and he did not even know it until much later (7). When Ned shoots Bill Frost, Harry convinces him that Bill is dead, and Ned must go into hiding. Harry manipulated Ned into believing that he had murdered a man. He simply wanted to remove Ned from the picture in order to get to his mother. Ned, the narrator, comments, "Now it is many years later I feel great pity for the boy who so readily believed this barefaced lie" (123). Unfortunately, Ned has the flaw of trusting everyone even when they may seem shady like Harry. This flaw points to the innocence of Ned in that it shows that Ned does not yet understand that people may be corrupt. When Ned has great reason to believe Bill is still alive, Harry openly lies to him. To many, his lie would have been apparent, yet Ned "never encountered such a bald faced life before and thus [he] doubted [himself]" (128). Ned does not yet understand that most people do not live by the morals that guide his own life.
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Although I believe that part of Ned's innocence is due to the naivety of being a child and lack of life experiences, I believe that a significant aspect of this 'innocence' is purposeful and chosen. Ned was raised by a highly optimistic mother, and I definitely think that has rubbed off on him in many aspects of his life. Ned describes his mother as persevering in positivity regardless of all obstacles-- "If my mother were disappointed she never showed it she were always singing with her sisters and riding around the country with her brothers" (40). Ned admires her for this and finds strength her everlasting optimism. He strives to model her behavior and he "still remain[s] the OPTIMIST" (52).
ReplyDeleteEven though at this point he is referring to his optimism concerning the success of the family, I also think it is extremely relevant to the family's relationships with others. For example, their Uncle James-- he burns their house down and molests their mother but they still feel guilty when he is put in jail. Another example is Harry Power-- he continually screws the mother over and never actually marries her or anything, yet she still continually gives him chances and trusts him. I think this modeling of relationships by Mrs Kelly, particularly that everyone deserves a second chance and that it doesn't take all that much to earn your trust has influenced Ned a lot...many times in a destructive way.