The world never stops unmaking what the world never stops making
In "January Man", Jason states the following as he tries to grapple with the changes happening in his family after his parents' divorce: “What’s left of Tom Yew’s Suzuki’s being picked apart to repair other Suzukis. The world won’t let things be. It’s always injecting endings into beginnings…The world never stops unmaking what the world never stops making” (285). Although this quote is originally meant to help process his parents' relationship and the family breaking apart, the idea of the world being a dynamic body of things constantly emerging and breaking apart rings true for many other aspects of this book.
One obvious example is the idea of departing from one place to arrive at another: Jason's farewell with Black Swan Green marks his beginning in a new community, like how Julia moving away from her family initiates her new journey at Edinburgh. The physical act of moving is similar to the encounter of a new challenge after overcoming another challenge, which Jason aptly summarizes at the end of the book: "once you get it to your brain about that hidden step and think, Hey, life isn't such a shithouse after all again, then BUMP! Down you go, a whole new flight of hidden steps" (291). One example of this idea is the re-emergence of the social dynamic among adolescents in the adult world, shown in the book through the persistence of a bully figure in Jason and Michael's life.
The idea of one thing breaking apart to be made into something else is also present in the structure of this book. The events from a previous chapter manifest in the next chapter in the form of Jason's poem or as the premise of Jason's re-engaging with his memories from earlier in the year as he reminisces about playing Bull Dogs on the lake (285) and visits Mrs. Gretton (288).
The progression of the book also presents the continuous shift of Jason's (and the readers') perception of each character. As the chapters progress, the readers are presented with new information about the life or background of each character that adds further depth to their story and makes their actions much harder to judge as right or wrong. For example, although our initial encounter with Uncle Brian made him seem like a condescending, elitist jerk, Michael later comments that it's "best not to be too judgemental. Maybe there's stuff going on you don't know about" (283). This quote captures the essence of one of the main ideas of this book. Every person is trying to grapple with their own internal struggles, which doesn't always come off as obvious to other people interacting with them. Therefore, you never know what a person is experiencing underneath, and just as you think you understand a person, you actually don't.
As individual characters undergo their internal growth and transformation, the relationships between them change as a result. For example, when Helena finally breaks out of the pressure to be a housewife and reemerges as a successful curator at a gallery, Michael loses his job and is burdened by the guilt that he had destroyed his family. As Jason begins to form his own set of principles for navigating the world and dealing with the bullies at his school, he realizes that he has almost reached his dad's physical height (which could also symbolize the narrowing of the intellectual gap between them).
Finally, as new characters are introduced throughout the book (some only appearing in one or two chapters), certain aspects of some characters are integrated into another character. For example, the Jason that we see in "disco" as he crushes Neal Brose's calculator in retaliation and eloquently steers his conversation with Mr. Kempsey is analogous to Pluto Noak and Julia (or even Ross Wilcox in p. 201) from earlier in the book.
I really like this idea of these journeys as being more cyclic, as opposed to peaking and then being resolved forever. Even in the end of novel, it is clear that Jason has undergone tremendous growth over the past year in being able to stand up for himself against bullies and even reflect on the mob mentality behind the bullies. Still, the novel doesn't end as if all of Jason's issues are just over and it is smooth sailing for the rest of his life. He acknowledges that him moving to a new school and having divorced parents is only going to start a new arc of challenges for him, starting the cycle all over again. But, maybe that is a part of life. Each time, he is better equipped to handle what is thrown his way.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of the plot of Black Swan Green existing in a constant cyclic loop is a really interesting concept and after reading your blog I wish we had discussed it more in class. I managed to pick up on some of the cycles such as Jason becoming more and more like his father as the story progresses, but other examples you pointed out such as Jason learning to steer conversations like Julia completely flew over my head. My favorite example of yours is Michael losing his job shortly after Helena grows more independent and finds work as a very successful curator as their relationship drives a lot of the plot and ultimately determines Jason's fate at the end of the novel. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis whole post could be read as a detailed explication of Julia's "last words" in the novel: "That's because it's not the end." It IS (or course) "the end" of the book, the year Jason has been narrating, but the end of this book is full of new beginnings as well. This is good AND bad news: Jason is really feeling the melancholy ache of a permenent goodbye (the empty house scene chokes me up every time I read it), and he isn't feeling so optimistic about his imminent role as "the new kid" in the Cheltanham schools; he is baffled about how he's supposed to act around his father, much less his father's new partner. Julia has a new boyfriend, with an even cooler car, and she's off doing college stuff. There's a whole new novel about to start just as this one ends, and there's no indication that Jason (or the rest of his family) is "done" with this complex growth process.
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