ned kelly: experiences of an impoverished youth!

one quote that stood out to me is when Ned Kelly states that " it would be better had i known the true cruel nature of the world but i would not give up my ignorance even if i could" (pg.31). the reason that this stood out to me is because throughout the story i see these recurring references of political turmoil and extreme poverty, which seem to be directly affecting the life of Ned Kelly and his family. through the eyes of Ned Kelly we get a picture of his world where he is constantly hungry, made to do back breaking labor on a daily basis, has an alcoholic father, and has to watch his mother struggle to get by while trying to raise seven children. . there is constant reference to "spectators" and "squattors" which are basically rich people who come to buy up land and seem to be very influential in gov't policies. although Ned is writing this story to leave for his daughter to read when she gets older, i feel that it could definitely be viewed in a political context, because there also aludes to this class distinction between the englishmen who i feel were perceived as more affluent/ wealthy vs. the irishmen who seem to be linked with poverty and criminality. as support to the class struggle viewpoint, there was an example in the text on (pg.13) where Ned talks about how the blacks were the "lowest of the low" and he couldnt understand how they had boots, while he and his brother were without them.