Black Swan Green is a great coming-of-age novel, especially when it comes to a trope associated with the genre: role models. Throughout the book Jason gets helpful (but sometimes questionable in the case of the bus driver Norman Bates) advice from many different people. However, these people are not Jason's role models. That role, for lack of a better word, is reserved for a small group. I will examin the characters of Eva, Hugo, and Julia as role models for Jason. While learns from all of them in different ways, he does not become them, by the end of the book he realizes he must use what they say to become the truest version of himself.
Eva is the most obvious example of a role model for Jason, as she offers instructive lessons to Jason on a regular basis. Jason seeks her approval and is rocked by the observations she makes about him life. The ending of the book can be seen as a result of Eva's teaching, as Jason's actions show he no longer cares about his reputation with his classmates, and/or that he realizes there are more important things. Jason's writing at the end of the book is also greatly influenced by his talks with Eva, he begins to recognize and focus more on the truths of his life. Eva encourages Jason to pursue the things he enjoys, rather than the things that other people tell him he should enjoy.
Hugo is the opposite of Eva in almost every way. Jason looks up to him, and Hugo knows that and abuses that power in the name of helping Jason. Hugo is such an enticing role model for Jason because in his eyes, Hugo has made it, he is everything Jason aspires to be. Hugo offers Jason a chance to work within the social system and become the who bully him now. However, Jason can never emulate Hugo exactly, but he does learn from Hugo's confidence with other people.
The last perspective role model for Jason is Julia. At the ending of the book, she seems the one Jason looks up to and values the most. She has a been role in Jason's life for the first half of the book, helping him process the fights between his parents, which he seems reluctant to do. Julia influence Jason the most out of his role models, for example, in the chapter "Rocks" it is Julia who helps Jason come to the conclusion that the Falklands war is unjustified (along with other circumstances). Julia is responsible for much of Jason's music taste, an important part of the book. It is Julia who delivers the final line of the book hopefully. However, Jason knows that she'll soon leave (again) and he'll have to make his own way. This is a theme of his role models, and ultimately influences Jason to make his own way, but he doesn't forget what they have taught him.
I really enjoyed the role models in Black Swan Green as well. It was really interesting to me that each role model had their own flaws, such as the old poem lady having evaded taxes or something. Additionally, this complexity in role models is fueled on by Jason's occasionally poor taste (in the instance of Hugo).
ReplyDeleteHugo is a really interesting example, because you're right that Jason tends to view him as a role model (literally trying to will himself to *turn into* Hugo while looking in the mirror at one point), but the reader can see throughout "Relatives" that Hugo is not the best choice for Jason to emulate. He does gain some good things from his worship of Hugo (the idea that being into poetry can be cool, or that standards of cool are often local, so a guy with a name like "Hugo" can be cool in Richmond even though he'd be seen as "too posh" locally), but he also sees a particularly pernicious form of bullying and emotional manipulation, and we see him becoming hip to Hugo's game by the end of the chapter. I sort of introduced this idea in our final discussion, but I see Julia as "displacing" Hugo as Jason's primary role model at the end (driven home by the repeat of his cool "half-wave" from the upstairs window). She too is verbally adept, witty, killer in a verbal argument--all things that Jason admires. But she also has ideals (she wants to study environmental justice), and she is willing and able to challenge adult authority and bigotry (as she does so well with Brian). I love the way we see her subtle influence grow over the course of the novel, to the point where she's giving Jason a makeover that gets him to show up at the dance looking all stylish and mature ("NO piano tie!"). This simple exchange over the phone represents a real coming-of-age moment for him, and it does result in his memorable first kiss.
ReplyDeleteI like how you don't mention Holly. We've discussed in class her influence on Jason, and I certainly think there's an argument to be made as to why she's a role model for Jason but I don't buy it. Julia, Hugo, and Eva all show Jason how to act. Eva is everything Jason isn't. She's loud, unapologetic, and uses long flowery sentences without a stammer in sight. Hugo is the epitome of what Jason wants to be, and yet is still somehow a horrible guy to be around. Julia is the golden child who constantly knows what to say. We never really see a personality from Holly. She doesn't lead by example. She has no qualities that Jason admires. She just shows up for advice and leaves.
ReplyDeleteJULIA IS MY FAVORITE ROLE MODEL IN THE BOOK. I love how in the beginning of the book especially, Jason and Julia had typical sibling conflict with an underlying sense of respect for each other. I definitely feel as though part of why Jason clicks so well with Julia is because she's very logical and matter of fact. She knows exactly what to say, whether she's coming up with some smart comebacks or comforting Jason about their parents' divorce. I especially think that Julia was great at being an uplifting role model that didn't make Jason doubt himself. Even though role models like Eva were generally positive, Eva's critiques of Jason seemed pretty harsh considering they barely knew each other. Meanwhile, Hugo just sucks as a role model and, like you said, is looked up to by Jason because he's "made it," not because he's a person of great character.
ReplyDeleteI also loved seeing how Jason’s role models influenced his personality and actions throughout the novel and how they shifted throughout the book! I think you make a super interesting point and analysis that Jason has several role models throughout the novel, and they change as he develops and discovers who he wants to be in the world, and most importantly, how Jason doesn’t become his role models but rather uses them to become the best version of his unique self. I absolutely loved Julia’s character and her role in Jason’s story too!
ReplyDeleteI also found it so interesting that you chose to examine Hugo’s character and the positive impact that he has on Jason! I hadn’t thought about this before and only saw him as kind of an anti-mentor, but after reading your post, I agree that he taught Jason valuable lessons on confidence (which reminds me too of Jason’s admiration of Dean not caring about the bullies at school). In our class, I thought it was so cool that we talked about how at the end of the novel, Jason reflects his peering/waving out of the window scene with Julia, just as he did before with Hugo when he was still Jason’s role model (potentially demonstrating a shift in mentors). Really awesome and interesting blog post!
Yeah, I think it was very interesting how he kind of goes through these role models (you could even add the kids at school at some point), but it turns out the true example was there all along. We could even see how he looked up to her at the beginning, but he didn't really notice it.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the set of people you chose to highlight as the main role models in Jason's life, and although I was surprised at first at the inclusion of Hugo, I do think I agree with you. Something that struck me about these role models though was how fleeting they seem to be. Often times, I tend to think of role-models as people who are always there to give advice, to help out, to guide (think the Giver in The Giver). But both Hugo and Eva were present in the book for all of one chapter, and even Julia is often preoccupied or off at college. However, I don't think it diminishes their impact, and the fleeting nature might even have made it more impactful and important to Jason's journey. I think it's a good thing that he's not constantly surrounded by these people, all of which have strong personalities, as that would limit his ability to still be himself, and not just copies of them, as you pointed out. Their brief appearances and quick exits require him to think over their character and their advice on his own, and make his own decisions and conclusions based off of them, choosing what to integrate and adapt into himself and what just doesn't fit him. It means he has to grow a lot on his own. Still, Julia has an uncanny ability to reappear when it seems like she's needed most and drop a nice bomb of advice, then go back off to college again.
ReplyDeleteI never really thought of Hugo as a role model. I just thought of him as another bully. But your post reminded me of this quote from Hugo, right before he left Black Swan Green: “This ‘Not Today’ attitude of yours is a
ReplyDeletecancer. Cancer of the character."
Honestly this was a good piece of advice. Although Hugo was sort of savage, he was giving Jason a wake up call, and Jason actually took this to heart. Hugo was trying to elevate Jason, he didn't find "joy" in knowing his cuz has been getting beat up at school. I definitely misread Hugo's character from the beginning.
I loved Eva and Julia! Eva's "hairy barbarian" lines completely sold me. She was the perfect mix of a no-nonsense, tough-love, and genuinely caring role model. Even if Jason didn't completely listen to everything she told him, I think it was super helpful to have Eva there to tell Jason to step back and look at the bigger picture. As for Julia, she always showed up for Jason when he needed help. Even if she wasn't as likable in the beginning, I think she's proved her worth more than enough times and is always there for Jason.
ReplyDeleteYay! We love strong female role models! :)
I'm a big fan of Hugo's character and how much he did to teach Jason as a "model," despite being so flawed. You mentioned that Hugo teaches Jason confidence among other things, but in a lot of instances, instead of being a completely trusted mentor that teaches by telling him what's right, he introduces some sketchy ideals that Jason has to learn to identify and avoid. It's a pretty unique and interesting way of teaching things to Jason through a character.
ReplyDeleteHugo is definitely an interesting "role model" to Jason. Jason definitely looks up to Hugo as his role model of what he should be like in order to be popular and fit in the social hierarchy. However, of the influences Hugo has had on Jason, many have been negative. Not only does Hugo try to teach Jason how not to be himself, Hugo probably makes Jason insecure. This is because Jason constantly compares himself to Hugo, thinking that his identity is not enough, and that he needs to be exactly like Hugo. Although Jason may have gained some confidence from Hugo, his confidence in his own true identity may have declined more than it was increased.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting concept and you pinpoint really great examples! I think that Black Swan Green in particular was one of those books that really focused on role models and the process of coming of age in relation to and with the help of others. Some other books we've read this year like the Bell Jar and Catcher in the Rye focus on the internal elements of coming of age, so this was cool to see fleshed out. Personally, I did not see Hugo as a role model until you mentioned it here, but it makes sense! Great job!
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