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.
I don't know if I entirely agree with you opinion on the Spooks. I think that in his brief experience with them, he has already realized that it's not all that it's cracked up to be, and I would fear that if Jason joined the Spooks then he would get trapped in the social hierarchy and in the desires to obtain more and more social influence. But also, I don't know if it does us much good to wonder about the possibilities of Jason being in the Spooks because I think that his personality and moral values wouldn't have allowed that decision.
ReplyDeleteI can see where you're coming from, and I do think it would be really interesting to think about how being in the Spooks could affect Jason. Like you said, it could teach him that popularity isn't all that great, but I think that would have to happen in a "you have to hit rock bottom before you truly learn" sort of way. That is, he'd have to realize that he's giving up his moral values in order to look cool, and then come to terms with that. And then, eventually, leave the Spooks (if he really did learn). Though, like Anna said, it wouldn't be something very probable, since Jason's morals were too strong and wouldn't let him join in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI think that if Jason had stayed with the Spooks he would constantly be facing more decisions like the one he had to make with Dean. The reason he is at the bottom of the hierarchy in the first place is the fact that he does have morals and he does care. Being in the Spooks would constantly challenge that and Jason would have to continuously make harder decisions to balance the erosion of his morals and the increase in his social standing.
ReplyDeleteThis is a pretty cool post. I feel like if Jason stayed with Spooks, he would've had this major life realization/meltdown one day because he's just pretending to be someone else. That would've been cool to read about (not that cool for him though).
ReplyDeleteI think that having Jason joining the Spooks would require Jason to ignore his sense of moral values-- the reason he's at the bottom of the hierarchy is because "he gives a toss".
ReplyDelete