Spooks: Good or Bad?

            Throughout the novel Black Swan Green, Jason Taylor is entirely hyper-aware of the intricate social structure around him. From the beginning of the novel we see how he has carefully-crafted personas to fit different situations in his life, from spending time with his friend Dean to family time to hanging around the “cool kids”. For most of his thirteen years, playing carefully by middle-school society’s rules gets him barely above the “loser” slot among his school friends. But one day Jason decides to take a risk and winds up playing a prank on Mr. Blake, an old man that the kids dislike. Following his bravery, the cooler kids invite Jason into the “Spooks”, a secret society that guarantees its members friends and popularity. In class we briefly discussed the impact that this society would have on Jason, and I plan to explore this line of thought further.

            The Spooks could easily have an awful impact on Jason. He is already so wrapped up in the popularity game and so focused on following all the unspoken rules and impressing his peers, and being in the Spooks could make this much worse. Where Jason is at the beginning of the novel, not popular but also not at the lowest rank, he doesn’t have much attention on him and yet he is still consumed by making sure his persona lies within the bounds of the rules. It’s entirely possible that if Jason is already this wrapped up in playing by the rules, when he becomes popular and the spotlight turns on him he’ll become even more consumed by it and will lose everything that makes him Jason. We’ve realized that one of his best qualities, yet one of his biggest downfalls when it comes to popularity, is that he cares. Jason cares about what other guys think of him and cares about the people close to him. After being a part of the Spooks for not even half an hour, Jason’s morality is already tested. He is faced with the choice to either save his friend or save his new status, and Jason choses to save his friend. If he had chosen his status, being in the Spooks would have continued to challenge Jason’s morality and best qualities, and perhaps it would have changed him for the worse.

            Ultimately though, I think that being in the Spooks would be beneficial for Jason. Although the way he cares is one of his best qualities, he also tends to care too much. Jason cares far too much about what his peers think of him, and I believe that being in the Spooks could help him realize that popularity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and that the way to get it isn’t by being safe and playing by the rules. I could imagine popularity becoming less of a priority to Jason and as a result he could become himself and stop being so afraid of what other people think of him.

            We’ll never know whether being a part of the Spooks would have been a good or bad thing for Jason, but it certainly could have gone either way. Despite giving up the secret society, Jason ended up becoming himself and learning not to care about what his peers think, so it really was for the best that he stuck with his morals and said to hell with the Spooks.

Embrace your Sylvie

After going through class discussion this week, I have decided to delve into my relation to the two sisters for this blog post. In initially reading Housekeeping, I easily related to Sylvie and Ruth and hated Lucille once she moved out. It wasn’t until class discussion where the general agreement seemed to be on the idea that Sylvie and Ruth are somewhat alien and Lucille is the relatable sister that I realized perhaps my point of view isn’t so common, and I found this incredibly interesting.

Robinson refers to Lucille as belonging to “the common persuasion” and it makes sense that, especially in a place like Uni, Lucille’s way of thinking is shared. The main difference between Lucille and Ruth is that Ruth doesn’t care about what other people think and lives entirely in the present, giving little to thought to the future, while Lucille plans for her future and cares very much about appearing respectable. At Uni, students tend to be very concerned for their future. They want to get into a good college, find a stable career, and make a ton of money. Students also tend to act very respectable, to refer to Mr. Sutton’s “Wheel of Respectability”, in order to set the stage for their ideal future. This dedication to the future and respectability is very much like Lucille, so it makes a lot of sense that most people in our class identify with her.

On the other hand, personally I’ve never even questioned who I relate the most to. That’s not to say that I’m exactly like Sylvie and Ruth—in fact, there are a ton of huge differences between them and me. While they lack emotion and are incredibly passive, I am an incredibly emotional person. Hell, I want to go into psychology. In addition I’m growing into a less passive and more assertive person, and I care more about people’s opinions of me and my future than Ruth and Sylvie do. In these ways, I am significantly different from the niece/aunt duo. However, I still can relate to them in many important factors. I have been raised by the emotional, less dreamy version of Sylvie through my mother, a free spirit who I could totally picture letting birds and leaves and nature into her house. As a result, my sisters and I have grown up as essentially less extreme versions of Lucille and Ruth. I have become a transient, barely caring what people think of me, living in the present and not worrying too much about the future, and kind of just doing what I want and living for experiences. I could very easily picture my mother and me going on the somewhat dangerous boat trip that Ruth and Sylvie did, simply for the adventure and on a whim.

Personally, I think that being a “millennial present” like Sylvie and eventually Ruth is the best way to go. Maybe not quite as far as they have, letting nature into their house and giving up emotions, but I can say that embracing their lack of caring about what other people think and simply living makes me happier. I’m far happier embracing my Sylvie than my Lucille, that’s for sure. I think everyone should give the transient way of life some consideration. After all, aren’t we just a blip in the timeline of the world?