The Whole Business With Kiffo And The Pit Bull By Barry Jonsberg

TEXT ANAYLASIS: ‘The Whole Business with Kiffo and the Pitbull’ – Mrs. Mitchell
‘The Whole Business with Kiffo and the Pitbull’ by Barry Jonsberg is a tale that depicts the hardships and the evolution of the two main characters, Calma Harrison and Jaryd Kiffing’s, friendship. Written and published by Jonsberg in 2004, the storyline covers numerous adventures of Calma and Kiffo: two daring and troubled friends who are overcoming personal difficulties and learning to cope with strict expectations from their new English teacher, Miss Payne. Jonsberg uses a number of literacy techniques that make the reader feel connected to the characters personal problems and portrays the progression of the student’s friendship that engages the reader. Calma

Calma and Kiffo have little in common; however they bond over their past experiences. This novel depicts how complete opposites attract; Calma being the creative, independent and potentially high achieving student whilst Kiffo is the polar opposite – rebellious and destructive. Somehow they are drawn to each other and form a strong trustworthy friendship. Calma and Kiffo first meet in primary school when Kiffo is found crying over the death of his older brother. This first encountering was what then developed their ongoing friendship and lead to many other incidents where Calma and Kiffo were both there to help each other out. Both Kiffo and Calma were raised in a single parent household and use their family situations to connect and strengthen their friendship. Calma does not see much of her mother due to her working conditions, referring often throughout the novel to her mother as the ‘fridge’ due to the fact that they mainly talk through post-it notes that are stuck on the fridge. Kiffo has a similar parental situation, being raised by a father who has an alcohol addiction and this is responsible for majority of Kiffo’s poor traits in his personality. Kiffo and Calma bond over such circumstances and often refer to these experiences in their

Although Calma and Kiffo form a strong relationship throughout the novel, there are incidents in which Calma and Kiffo have disagreements due to mistrust and misunderstandings. These incidents don’t downgrade Calma and Kiffo’s relationship in anyway but instead influences their friendship to grow and develop in a positive way. For example, Calma and Kiffo’s first disagreement was when Kiffo was furious at Miss Payne after the dentation both Kiffo and Calma had to attend to, Kiffo had the idea he was going to trash her house. “I’m going to trash her house. I’m going to destroy everything that bitch owns”. (Jonsberg 2004, pg.42) Calma was traumatized by his statement and in her mind, was no way letting Kiffo take part in any of that. But soon later Calma confessed that she wasn’t letting her mate get into trouble without her and wanted to take contribute in whatever he was doing. “I am not about to let a mate get himself in all sorts of strife without me there to help out”. (Jonsberg 2004, pg.47) This one time argument was also a key incident that resumed Calma Harrison and Jaryd Kiffing’s