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 succeed academically. He has a lot of expectations set for him, and he tries his best to meet them, but one can only do so much before they crumble.
Jason’s environment and life is also a lot like that of an average 13 year old. He goes to school, hangs out with friends, gets into conflict, and tries to find love. Black Swan Green isn’t nearly as elaborate and character-driven as something like the Catcher in the Rye. Instead, it is a more plot-driven and realistic depiction of the average middle schooler’s daily life. If you were to tell me that this was a completely nonfiction novel, I might believe you.
In some ways, I can see a little bit of Esther Greenwood in him. Although they are far apart in terms of age, they still both face societal pressure to hide or suppress parts of themselves. In Jason’s case, that means hiding his stammer. And in Esther’s case, that means being expected to settle down rather than pursuing a writing career. But in the ending of Esther’s novel, it’s unclear whether she has fully recovered. She will still continue to face pressure from society to settle down, and she must fight through it. On the other hand, after having initially lost popularity when he let out his stammer, Jason has regained his popularity by the end of the novel and the bullying has stopped. This means Jason no longer has to worry about hiding his speech impediment because he has already been accepted by the rest of his classmates despite it. Thus, I see a much more clear development in Jason’s character than I have in Esther Greenwood and even the other protagonists we have read about thus far.
ReplyDeleteI think you made some really good connections between this book and other novels. I especially like the differences and parallels you made between Esther and Jason. It is interesting how both have a problem with society and how that effects them in different ways. While I agree that Jason seems to have reached a more satisfying and better position in the book, I think that like the Bell Jar, Black Swan Greens ends with some uncertainty as to how Jason will end up. I belive this is especially true, since Jason is moving to a different place and Julia says this is not the end. This new situation will most likely present new challenges and a new society to struggle with, to which we can only hope and assume he will adapt to.
Great Post! I liked the connections that you made with other books. I can definitely see some Esther in Jason. And while their stories are completely different, they are also kind of the same. The ending of both books are really similar and we don't really know how the story continued after the book ended. They both had similar struggles with gives them a connection.
ReplyDeleteI feel like Jason has some of the most character development of any protagonist so far, even though Black Swan Green doesn't even focus that much on character. Compared to Holden and Esther the changes are a lot clearer, and well it's harder to track the changes in Alison, it does seem like there's more of a marked change with Jason than with her.
ReplyDeleteI think you captured the aspects of middle school pressure very well. Everyone's trying to do the same thing, pretending to be the same fake person by using slang and trying to be "cool". As a society, it seems we're not even interested in embracing our own identity and being proud of our differences. We want to fit into social groups so much that we change ourselves to do so. I also like the similarity you made with Esther. They're both told they have to follow some preexisting path, but neither of their true passions lie on that path. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good post. A lot of the driving forces behind the novel's plot is Jason's desire to fit in. I also remember us discussing that maybe the bullies picked on Jason harder because they sensed his desire to fit in and be a "popular" kid, which made some sense to me.
ReplyDeleteOut of all the books we have read so far, I think Jason has evolved the most compared to characters like Holden Caulfield, who basically stays the same throughout the entire book. Looking at the other books too, we do see other characters evolving and changing, but none more striking than Jason. Good post!
ReplyDeleteI think Jason is the most childlike also because he's the youngest, but that definitely plays into his lack of maturity regarding his insecurities. I think it's great how Jason finally learned to not suck up to the popular kids by the end of the novel, which gives me confidence that he will succeed in whatever knew middle school he's going to in his new town.
ReplyDeleteI agree that _BSG_ is more "plot-driven" than a book like _Catcher_, but I'd maybe describe it as "structure-driven" instead. I tried to emphasize in class how much is going on with structure throughout this book--the "calendar" arrangement of chapters, organized around Jason's 13th year; the "poems" we see him writing "about" the previous chapter in the next; all the internal symmetries and repetitions and unique structural dynamics in each chapter (e.g. the "hero's journey" in "Bridle Path"). The culmination of this tendency might be the second "January Man," which both repeats an earlier chapter's title AND suggests that Jason is on the brink of a new beginning, a new school year, *another* January. This chapter makes allusions, direct and indirect, to every other chapter in the book, and we see Jason moving through Black Swan Green and "saying goodbye" both the the place AND the book we've been reading. And if all of these structural elements are taken to be JASON'S inventions, then we're also seeing the culmination of his artistic coming-of-age, as he moves from writing poetry based on his experience to something more like a "confession" (which we see him begin to write in "Disco").
ReplyDeleteI love how you connected Esther and Jason although they are strikingly different in many regards they share the same feeling a pressure due to societal standards. and are both able to come of age by letting go of their compulsions to follow societal standards. I also agree with you that Esther's coming of age was very vague in comparison to Jason, when comparing the beginning and end of the novel Jason changes and makes clear developments while it is unclear whether Esther will stay healthy ( mentally) or if she will fall victim to the bell jar once again.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Luke! I really enjoyed reading. I think you make a lot of good comparisons between Black Swan Green and the other novels we have read this year. Societal pressures are a part of everyone's coming of age and the process of letting go of these has been different, but present in every novel.
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