Jason's Coming-of-Age in Connection to his Parents

In the first chapter of Black Swan Green, Jason Taylor's life seems as though it's controlled by the oppressive forces of British secondary school. He seems hopeless, desperate for the approval of others yet hindered by his "posh" background and infamous stutter. By the last chapter, the tides have turned entirely as Jason is no longer trying to be submissive in an effort to "look good" to the popular kids and failing, he's acting in defiance of them -- and succeeding. As a coming-of-age novel, this massive shift in Jason's personality is quite significant, but what exactly caused this transformation? While there are certainly a plethora of life-changing events throughout the story, Jason's parents, or perhaps their absence, has a direct connection to his social behavior.

Early on in the book, Jason's parents are quite present in his life. When Jason goes to play outside with Dean, his mother is right there at the door keeping her eyes on him, and he later returns home to a complete family meal. Later in the book, there are much less of these type of scenes as his parents' relationship starts to take a tumble. His day at home alone also marks a turning point in his growth. He embarks on a journey with Dean Moran in which he comes to many new experiences and realizations, such as being witness to Tom and Debbie's "necking," falling in love with Dawn Madden, or finding a true friend in Dean. In a single chapter where Jason is left to his own devices, a remarkable amount of events occur that wouldn't have if he had been stuck at home with his parents.     

The dinner with the Lambs is a profound experience for Jason. All of a sudden, his parents start self-editing their behaviors to seem increasingly "posh" in an effort to impress the Lambs. Jason picks up on this, and makes several sarcastic and judgemental remarks, including, "When the Lambs visit, salt and pepper magically turn into 'the condiments' (Mitchell 47). Additionally, when uncle Brian makes a toast with his dad, Jason notes how "Dad pretended to find that rather amusing" (Mitchell 47). Despite being aware and critical of his parents' behavior, this same submissiveness is soon reflected in Jason's own behavior around his cousin Hugo. He desperately wants to impress others, but he simply doesn't have the kind of personality and background that they admire. When playing darts, he caves in to Hugo's pressure to bet money, regardless of the potential consequences, "If I lost I wouldn't have any money until next Saturday. 'Oooooo,' crooled Hugo. 'Don't chicken out on us now, Jace.' I heard Hugo talking about me to other Hugos in his rowing club. My cousin Jason Taylor is such a space cadet. 'Okay' " (Mitchell 58). Jason is clearly more responsible than Hugo, but as a British teenager among other British teenagers, that's not what matters if you seek approval. By seeking the approval of Hugo (and the other Hugos, whoever they are), Jason readily gives up his responsibility simply to earn whatever respect he can. The main driver of acting in contrast to his beliefs is his fear of being seen as a loser, which is quite difficult for him to manage given that, to many kids, he fits the description of a loser quite well. Jason's behavior toward his corresponding Lamb relative is identical to his parents' behavior around theirs. Throughout the Lambs' visit, his parents appear quite feeble, all in an effort to present themselves in a way that is favorable yet different from how they actually are. Jason can't be expected to grow into an upstanding and confident person if his primary role models act this way. 

The trip to Cheltenham, as well as the aftermath, is another turning point in Jason's relationship with his parents. First, the encounter with Craig Salt on the beach gives Jason another firsthand view at the spinelessness of his father. When Michael teaches Jason about the fossil, Jason is impressed and admires his father's knowledge. In this moment, he feels a strong sense of attachment to his father, however this potentially wonderful bonding experience is suddenly obliterated when they encounter Craig Salt. The rude, entitled Mr. Salt says to Jason, " 'What's this? Bit of a fossil collector, are we? May I?' Craig Salt just took my ammonite. 'Nice little trilobite, that.' ... 'It's not a trilobite.' [said Jason] ... 'It's a type of ammonite, isn't it, Dad?' Dad wasn't meeting my eyes. 'If Mr. Salt's sure, Jason--' [said Dad] 'Mr. Salt' -- Craig Salt plopped my ammonite back-- 'is sure.' Dad just had this weedy smile" (Mitchell 183). In one instant, Jason's dad went from a proud and respectable fossil connoisseur to a pitiable and submissive slave to Craig Salt. Jason confides in his dad more than Mr. Salt, still referring to the fossil as an ammonite even after Mr. Salt declares it to be a trilobite, but his dad completely crumbles. In this scene, like in the dinner with the Lambs, Jason's dad is an embodiment of Jason's greatest fear: being socially downcast. His frustration with his dad is evident when he reveals that, 'I nearly biffed his hand away and flung my shitty 'trilobite' into the shitty sea.' (Mitchell 183). Again, Jason wishes the people he could look up to provided him with a better example of self-confidence and social aptitude, but with his dad that is simply not the case. His mother, however, amazes Jason with her confident response to the girls attempting to steal from her store. Jason admires her for this response, yet being around her still takes a toll on Jason later on. 

Immediately after spending time in Cheltenham with his parents, Jason returns to school having seemingly negated all of his earlier popularity progress. As Ross Wilcox and his gang taunt him endlessly about going to the cinema with his mother, Jason feels lost at how to respond. He was aware that being seen around his parents wouldn't look great for him, but not to this extent. For a while, he uses nonviolence to deal with Wilcox, but eventually he feels as though he's at rock bottom and things can't get any worse, regardless of what he does. This feeling is reinforced when he speaks to Norman bates, the bus driver, " 'What yer need is one of these little beauties.' A lethal Bowie knife suddenly rotated in front of my eyes...  'But if I sliced Wilcox's tendons, I'd get sent to Borstal.' 'Well wakey fucking wakey, sunbeam! Life's a Borstal!' " (Mitchell 217). Right as Jason feels hopeless and ponders violence, Bates adds fuel to the fire, seriously encouraging Jason to stab Wilcox. Thankfully, Jason never directly uses violence on Wilcox, though the situation does escalate after Jason finds Wilcox's wallet, which is a rather significant episode for him. While concealing the wallet, he's in a position of tremendous power over Wilcox. However, once he finds out about the consequences he might be causing, he comes clean and returns the wallet. In that situation, he gained the maturity to be the bigger person, despite all that Wilcox had done to him in the past. While he spends a ton of time pondering what to do with Wilcox and considers every option, he ultimately came to the morally correct decision and escapes the situation as the one in the right. In the case of Neal Brose, he musters the courage to not only act in defiance by smashing Brose's calculator; he also "grasses" to Mr. Nixon about the extortion being committed by Brose. As with the Wilcox resolution, Jason came to a wise decision about how to go about solving the problem, and he once again emerges successful; Brose is expelled while he is admired by the other kids (including Floyd Chaceley's menacing older brother).        

His parents' divorce right as Jason seems to emerge as a fully formed, capable new person symbolizes how gaining independence from them is what caused him to "come of age." In the later stages of the story, Jason is forced to grow more independent as his parents' relationship takes several blows and they become less present in his life. Experiencing the world on his own is a major transformative force for him, as he is forced to find his footing at school while his parents are too preoccupied to be there for him. He has an incredible recovery from the "maggot" incidents, entirely due to social skills he developed all on his own. When he reveals some of what he's been through to his dad at the end of the book, his dad is shocked that Jason had never involved either of his parents, but impressed at how Jason handled everything. By ultimately coming clean, Jason becomes more honest and true to himself. Diverging from the ways of his parents is what allowed him to discover himself and find his place in society at last.   

Rico Duursma