A Comparison Of John Rex And Rufus Dawes On Comformity To Law In For The Term Of His Natural Life

Marcus Clarke’s colonial convict novel For the Term of His Natural Life is one of the few Australian novels that have been internationally recognized as classics,with a focus on the sufferings of a wrongly-convicted British gentleman Richard Devine in penal colony Australia.Based on Clarke’s investigation of convict records in Melbourne and his research in Tasmania,this book is a brilliant piece of historical documentation that opens the reader’s eyes to the colonial phase in Australia’s history.It is also a challenging book about justice and injustice in a closed system,a novel about the powers of human endurance and the redemptive power of love,which makes it shine with the light of humanity.Despite that many researchers out there have probed into this novel from various views,this paper employs Hirschi’s Social Control Theory,aiming to find out the reasons why the two main characters-John Rex and Rufus Dawes-show different level of conformity to lawsFirst of all,this paper finds that social control theorists defines "conformity" as being conforming to laws.By listing out details,this paper proves that Rex and Dawes do have difference in terms of their conformity,with the former being a treacherous felon who is plunged into prison for counterfeiting and commits himself to escaping and imposture while the latter being an honest,trustful and noble man who is wrongly convicted of robbery and refrains himself from committing a crime Although Dawes does attempt escapes for seven times,he is still no criminal due to the lack of Anticipated Possibility.Secondly,this paper compares the three elements-Attachment,Involvement,and Belief-presented by Social Control Theory to account for their discrepancy in conformity.Through detailed analysis,this paper finds that(1)in terms of Attachment,Dawes has a strong emotional ties with his mother,Sylvia and his friends while Rex has little affection towards those who are devoted to him;(2)in terms of Involvement,Dawes is often undeservedly punished with heaviest toils while Rex suffers less from degrading labors;(3)in terms of Belief,Dawes has a high level of moral sense while Rex has no principle at all in order to achieve his purposesTo conclude,their discrepancy in conformity could be attributed to their affection to significant others,their different level of involving in heavy work and their varied acceptance of moral validity.