Societal Pressure in Black Swan Green
In my opinion, Jason Taylor is the most child-like character that we have read in the class so far, and I think part of the reason for that is because of his deeply rooted insecurities. It’s very understandable why he has them, given that he becomes relentlessly bullied after letting out his stammer. As a result of societal pressure, Jason wears a mask for all of the novel to pretend he is someone he is not. As someone who is forced to deal with my parents’ friends’ kids every so often, I can attest to the accuracy of Mitchell’s depiction of a 13 year old boy. Jason's constant usage of slang and attempts to come across as “cool” is painfully true to life. But underneath the façade, Jason becomes more interesting. Throughout his life, he attempts to hide his speech impediments and writes poems under a pseudonym. But he tries to hide these parts about himself because they would be seen as “uncool”. In addition, he also faces pressure from his parents to succe...