Christopher Soutter
1. Gypsy Chapter
In Knife Grinder, Jason gets a taste of his own medicine by
looking down upon the “Gypsies”. Earlier in the chapter, Jason was complaining
about how he does not like being looked down upon by Ross Wilcox and Gary Drake
and hides deep in a forest when he notices them having a “war”. Jason was
scared and intimidated by the site of bullies and went out of his to way to
avoid them. Throughout the story, Jason has yet to figure out why he is always
the one being considered an outcast. However, when Jason encounters the
Gypsies, he automatically classifies the Gypsies as weird people who he does
not want to be with. As the chapter progresses, he realizes they are not as bad
as they seem and that they hide from people like him who stereotype them
without any reason. The irony of Jason turning into the prejudice person is
incredible because now he understands the perception of bullies looking at him
as an outcast and what an outcast looks like to a dominant figure. Jason
learned his lesson about looking down on people to make himself feel stronger
even though he is often the one looked down upon.
2. Goose Fair:
In Goose Fair, Jason finally finds himself a sort of
confidence and larger presence in his town. Early in the chapter, Jason faces
off against Gary Drake in a game of darts and ends up winning. After the game,
Gary Drake says “Y-y-yeah, T-T-T-Taylor,” taunting and shaking off the fact
that he was just beaten by someone who he viewed as a loser. However, following
the comments, a character named Alan Wall stepped onto Jason’s side and offered
to beat up Gary Drake. Jason states, “he
could beat Gary Drake into a Gary Drake omelette.” From Alan Walls help in
intimidating Gary Drake away from Jason, Jason gains a sense of confidence and
comfort when he finally finds someone to support him. From this moment on,
Jason comes out of his loneliness and begins feeling more confident. Later in
the chapter, Jason has the nerve to return Ross Wilcox’s wallet to him, the
same person who has been bullying him the whole story. In the act of returning
the wallet, Jason matures and does not take any money from the wallet, even
though he could. Jason resists his
temptation of theft and is respectful by returning Ross Wilcox’s wallet to him.
3. January Man:
January Man marks a checkpoint in Jason’s life where he
learns how he has fixed himself throughout the year. The quotation “Either you
suffer the consequences of not noticing your fault forever or, one day, you do
notice it, and fix it” from Black Swan Green reflects Jason’s self-awareness
and confidence boost in the last year. Since Jason noticed his weaknesses, he
has pulled himself out of being bullied and gained the confidence to overcome
the bullies, Wilcox and Drake, by confronting them himself. Compared to the
beginning of the story where Jason struggled to talk to others, Jason has
improved his self-esteem and continues to ignore the negativity towards him
from others. Also, Jason’s maturity is reflected when he observes the
unfairness in the world. On page 285, Jason states “They fall out of love, Julia moves of to
Edinburgh, Mum to Cheltenham, and Dad to Oxford with Cynthia. The world never
stops unmaking what the world never stops making.” Jason is describing his
family’s current situation and observes the confusion within his family, yet
realizes the world is not a perfect place.
4. Disco:
An important message in the chapter disco comes from Jason’s
teacher Miss Lippets who connects “Ethics, Batman’s Real Name Is Bruce Wayne,
and Reputation”. Miss Lippetts elaborates on the fact that all three topics
discussed are connected to each other. However, these three topics are a
reflection of Jason in the story. Ethics reflects Jason’s struggle to “with
what you should and shouldn’t do.” Throughout the text, Jason is confused with
who he is as a person; who are his friends? What is wrong with his family? How
is he viewed? From these questions, Jason’s struggles to determine his ethic.
Then, with “Batman’s Real Name is Bruce Wayne,” this scenario is similar to
Jason, except for that Jason’s secret is out, his stutter. With Batman if
people found out his real identity, people would “Blow Bruce Wayne’s mansion to
smithereens.” For Jason, people have found out his secret and have bullied him
into a point where he feels insecure about the misfortune. Finally, for
reputation, the awareness of Jason’s stutter has caused a permanent label on
Jason. With a reputation, it is extremely hard to change people’s minds from
what they originally thought. Once Jason is labeled for his stutter, people,
such as Drake and Wilcox, point out his weaknesses to others and pick on him.
Overall, the struggle of Jason’s ethic, secret, and reputation have lead Jason
to becoming apart of the lower social class.
5. Poem:
Must’ve picked up a nasty stutter from somewhere
Then it’ll be back to five more days like today, worse than
today, far worse than today
You’re not a maggot. Don’t let dickheads decide what you are
What’re yer smiling about,
yer oily fuckin’ maggot
Or c-c-can’t y-y-yer get the w-w-words out, yer st -st-
stuttery bugger
The bride and back! Go!
Where d’ you think
you’re going, Maggot?
Yer a laughingstock, Taylor
A piss-flaps toss-pot laughingstock
Well wakey fucking wakey,
sunbeam! Life’s a Borstal!
6. Overall:
Over the course of Black
Swan Green, Jason has used his weaknesses and turned them into his
strengths. For instance, in the beginning of the story in the chapter Hangman, Jason’s weaknesses of stuttering
and the hangman are brought to his attention. By the end of the story, Jason is
not perfect with his stuttering, but he has dramatically improved his ability
to speak without hesitation and with confidence. Also, Jason’s weakness of
being an outsider has helped him understand what he really looks like and how
he has prevailed to improve himself from a social standpoint. If Jason had not
encountered the Gypsies, Jason’s understanding of outsiders would not be
complete due to his lack of self -recognition. From the Gypsies, Jason
understands that he is in the “Gypsy” group of his school and is considered to
be irrelevant. However, Jason’s ability
to grow over the course of the book is in response to a long period of time. In
this period of time, he figures himself out and uses Wilcox and Drake’s hate to
motivate himself to improve himself.
