Poor Poor Ned

Mary asks Ned to write everything down so that his daughter will have a true account of the events. Mary decides to go to San Francisco as she will not be safe until she leaves the country. Ned and Dan break into various banks and steal the gold. They spend some of the money they have robbed helping out various neighbors. The closing pages of the narrative are filled with newspaper accounts of their exploits and robberies. They break into a police station and steal money. They even dress up as policemen at one stage. Ned tries to force the editor of the local newspaper to print the truth about the full story of his mother’s imprisonment but this backfires. Meanwhile Ned receives a letter from Mary who is now in San Francisco announcing the birth of a daughter. The last section takes place in a pub run by a Mrs. Jones. The schoolteacher Curnow warns people on a train about the Kelly’s and as a result thirty men and twenty horses are saved. There is a shoot out and for a day and a night the shanty is like a fortress. Ned is wounded and his only thoughts are to see his daughter and to free his mother. Dan is shot and dies. Thomas Curnow is given police protection and believes he is a hero because of his action. Ned is condemned to death and his hangman is a seventy-year-old man called Upjohn. He is lead out with prayers proper to the Catholic Church. He is hanged publicly. He had requested two favors that his mother be released from Melbourne Gaol and that his body be buried in consecrated ground. Neither of these requests are granted.
Wow, that must have stunk to have asked for some favors and think they will be fulfilled but then never are. Basically what I am going to tell you about, now that I have finished the book, is the themes, hero, and villain. One theme is violence. There are many graphic descriptions of violence in the Kelly family for savage brutality. Much of this violence is shown in their various attacks on the police force. We witness how Ned’s mother launch into a brutal attack on Fitzpatrick a corrupt policeman. Another theme is corruption. It becomes evident as the story unfolds that there are many corrupt elements inherent in the police force. Some of the members of the police force operate in a corrupt manner and have no hesitation about using forceful methods such as bribery and intimidation to gain their means. Fitzpatrick is an example of a man who will use other people to serve his own corrupt ends. When Ned is outlawed Fitzpatrick threatens Ned’s sister and bullies her into exposing where Ned is hidden. Carey seems to be intent in showing through his story that in many ways the Kelly gang were victims of an unjust and corrupt society. The hero of the story is definitely Ned Kelly. He is seen as a courageous figure a victim of tragic and unfortunate circumstances. The police are shown to be the main villains in this story. Fitzpatrick a police officer is a main villain given that he betrays Mary by getting her pregnant and yet has many different affairs on the side.

The End is Near

Ned meets a woman called Mary Hearn. He falls madly in love with her. Mary has a child from George King. Fitzpatrick is a policeman who wants to marry Kate Kelly even though he has got one girl pregnant and has many women everywhere. Ned’s mother is enraged and attacks Fitzpatrick. Ned is forced to calm her down as he is afraid she will murder Fitzpatrick. As a result of this incident Ned’s mother is arrested and taken to Melbourne Prison while Ned and Dan go on the run. Fitzpatrick tries to threaten the sister Mary to betray the two brothers. She is pregnant with Fitzpatrick’s child at this stage. The mother is sentenced to three years imprisonment. At this stage Ned, Dan and Jo are outlaws from the police. They are on the run and some local people assist them and offer them refuge. The police set a trap for them and in the ensuing conflict several policemen die. Dan is wounded. Ned meets up with Mary who shows him newspapers cuttings with violent accounts of how vicious the Kelly brothers are.
Now the police are in full swing to try and get the Kelly Gang off the streets and behind bars. I think that somehow the police will eventually get them but not for a while. I think that the Kelly Gang is too smart and can get out of their situations so they will be hard to take down. Now violence will be the main focus of the story. The police are going to think of ways to trap them and then use violence if they need to. And the Kelly Gang will use violence to get away form the police and get out of the town. I think that if the police catch the Kelly Gang then they will sentence them to death by hanging or shoot them. I don’t think that they will shoot them on the spot, but if it comes to that they just might have to, to take control of the situation. It’s going to be very interesting to see what will happen to the Kelly Gang now that they have killed a policeman and what will happen if they do get caught.

Revenge

All of Ned’s family begins to believe that Ned has betrayed Harry and they abandon him for a while. Meanwhile a policeman called Hall revenges himself on Ned and as a result he is sent to prison. Ned is only sixteen at this stage and is sentenced to three years of hard labor in prison. He announces how his youth has been stolen from him. We hear about a rat charmer who afflicts the family with rats because they refuse to give him money and as a result Ellen, who is Frost’s baby, dies. The family experiences a number of different tragedies. Meanwhile Ned’s mother marries a young man called George King. She becomes pregnant with him. On Ned’s return from Pentridge Gaol he finds that the land he has labored on previously is now being used by a stranger George King, and that thirty thoroughbred horses have been stolen by Constable Flood of Oxley. Ned is unable to be at peace until he gains his revenge. The story develops by recounting how Ned and his brother Dan spend time in and out of prison for various crimes from lawlessness to robbery to fighting the police.
We are now seeing how the police are really out to get Ned. He had a police man put him away and now he is going to seek his revenge. Tension builds up in the story through the continuous conflicts that are shown between Ned and the police force. Now it is very apparent that the police are the main villain and the Ned is the hero. He has to fight his was out of the battle’s. He doesn’t seem like a hero to many but he is. He fights for his family and his life. Just because he was born into a family that the police don’t like, the police shouldn’t have problems with him. He had no idea what was going on and now that he is older, he has to fight all the time and fend off the police. He is always moving and has no time to really settle down because if he does, the police could set a trap and arrest him. He will either be locked away for a long long time, or given a death sentence. And that is what I think will happen next.

2nd blog entry

As the book continues, Alex and Anne get married. During the reception Ned’s mother was dancing with Bill Frost and saw him looking at her. She came over and asked him what he thought of him. Ned said that he didn’t like him very much then she questioned him about Harry Power. Ned said that he liked him very much. Ned and Harry go out and Harry is secretly teaching Ned his new trade. They travel to Wangaratta and the Ovens River. They ride 10 hours a day and Ned is wearing no boots. They stop and go to Lardner’s Countryman’s hotel. There Harry gets Ned some new elastic sided boots with Cuban heels. After the first night, Ned wants to go home and return to his mother, but harry states that his mother doesn’t want him back anymore. When they go back out Harry has Ned hold the horses while he robs a coach. They say they have no gold but Harry doesn’t believe them. Then Ned returns home. Harry begins an affair with Ned’s mother. The mother has a series of different affairs with various men. She becomes pregnant with Bill Frost. Meanwhile Ned is arrested for highway robbery and he is told that his sentence will be death by hanging. A solicitor called Zinke arrives who announces that Harry has paid him to fight for Ned. Bill Frost abandons Ned’s mother and Harry and Ned go in pursuit of him. Ned shoots Bill and thinks he has killed him. Ned lives for a while in fear of imprisonment and becomes more and more indebted to Harry. Ned is arrested and brought to Benalla. He is interrogated for stealing the Magistrate’s watch and the police try to force him to betray Harry.
Now the book is really starting to pick up. I like to see all the twists and turns that happen like Ned shooting Bill Frost. I think that there will be more shootings either having to deal with Ellen Kelly’s affairs or with the police. I also think that Ned is going to become a famous bushranger, even more famous than Harry. Ultimately I think that Ned will become stronger because of this. He will fear no police or anything. I think he will grow distant from his family as well. The only one who will go along with him could be Jem. Maybe that is where they come up with The Kelly Gang. Maybe it is Ned and his brother who just go around terrorizing the country. I think that more mischief is to come with the gang. Ellen might leave Harry and he might not like that. He might try to get her back but Ned might have to step in. I think that Ned will kill Harry and want to be known as one of the most dangerous men to walk to earth. So far in the book I think one major theme is violence. Instead of talking out their problems, violence always comes into play. Ned shooting Frost, Harry saying he will shoot the coach driver, and there are many more examples. So I think that violence will play a bigger role as the book goes on.

True History of the Kelly Gang

As the book starts Ned Kelly is just a young child. He is going through some tough times because his father is never there. Some kid said something about his family and he beats him up. Then his father gets sent to the gaol for killing a cop. One day when Ned was walking home he sees a boy drowning in a river. He dove in and saved him. The boy was Dick Shelton and now Mr. Shelton is grateful. He gives Ned a sash for his duty. Ned’s father then kills himself at the end of the chapter. Now the Kelly’s are mourning. They move to Greta and are now visited by Uncle James. Uncle James tries to “get with” Ellen and Ned steps in and tries to tell him off. James leaves and then in the middle of the night he burns their house. The Constable comes and arrests him. He gets sentenced to be hanged by the Assizes. Now they move to section 57-A. They farm the land and begin a new life. Now Harry Power and Alex Gunn come and Harry wants Ellen and at the end we learn Alex Gunn will be marrying Anne Kelly.
So far this book is getting more and more interesting as it goes on. With each turn of the page a new twist comes around. I also like that there is action galore. They impression that I get from Ned Kelly, is that he cares for his family very much. He beat up some kid just because he said something about Ned’s family. Ned isn’t going to take any crap from no-one. I think that he will be getting into more trouble in the future, either with the “traps” or with his mothers “friends” because he is so protective. I think it’s too early to tell what exactly will happen but I think the Kelly’s wont be making friends with the police in any way. I also think that by meeting Harry Power, who also has trouble with the police, they will form a stronger bond. I think that the title suggests the Ned and Jem are going to start a gang soon. Harry Power also might be in this gang because he doesn’t get along with the police as well. But its too early to tell so ill keep reading to find out.