Jason's Ride Up From Rock Bottom
Throughout the book, Jason struggles with numerous pressures in his life including social opinion, and his greatest insecurity, his stutter. However, in the second half of the book, Jason faces all of those pressures until they eventually have little if any effect on his life. How and why did that happen? In order to let go of those pressures, Jason had to face those pressures, and in doing so he was able to start living the life he wanted, starting by gaining his confidence back and by spending time with the people he actually valued.
When Jason was forced to face all of his fears: exposing his stutter, being made fun of by his peers, and ultimately ending up at the bottom of the social hierarchy, he had nothing else to lose. However, by having nothing else to lose, he had nothing else that could stop him from doing or being whatever he wanted. He stopped caring about what others thought about him and become more confident because he no longer cared about what happened to him as all of his worst fears already happened. In fact, Jason talks back to Ross Wilcox for the first time, acknowledging how he wasn't afraid of him, especially like how he used to be (Mitchell 215). By being forced to face his worst fears, he was able to feel confident in himself and not be afraid of what anyone thought about him.
Jason was also able to focus on himself. Now that he no longer tried to fit in the social hierarchy, he no longer had to try to do things or befriend people he didn't actually like. He, therefore, is able to focus on things that are actually important to him. For instance, he starts focusing on his friendship with Dean, knowing that he is his only true friend. For example, when he was walking home from school, he was relieved when it was Dean who came up to him because he knew that Dean didn't care, and wouldn't bully or tease him because of where he was on the social ladder or because he had a stutter (Mitchell 213). Additionally, when he spends time at Deans's house, it seems like one of the first times Jason is genuinely having fun, most likely because he doesn't have to worry about what games are considered "cool" to play and which aren't. Before sinking to the bottom of the social hierarchy, Jason viewed Dean as below him and most likely wouldn't have spent a lot of time with him because he would have been afraid of ruining his status. However, now that he doesn't care about the social ladder anymore, he finally spends more time with Dean, knowing that Dean is his only true friend.
I think this is a really good point you're making. I think he progression of his friendship with Dean throughout the book matches really well with his progression of going outside the social norms and social hierarchy. He starts the story calling him Moron, but even towards the beginning of the narrative we see little flashes of him breaking social norms to hang out with Dean. For example, the scene on the bus when Jason is thinking his life is going to end because he has to read out loud and he's genuinely thankful Dean is with him on the bus. Obviously there are still many times where he thinks about betraying Dean in front of the popular kids, but this is still Jason's first step on his journey to forget about the constraints of the social hierarchy.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you describe Jason's maturing and coming-of-age process as a cause-and-effect relationship with his declining popularity. It's something that I noticed throughout the story, but I never thought of the two things as being directly correlated until reading your blog post. I also like how you mention Jason hanging out at Dean's house and how he's truly happy for once. I think this can be heavily contrasted with Jason spending the day with Hugo, when all he cared about was how cool he appeared.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Since Jason cared so much about his standing among his peers, it was important for him to fall so that he could learn that it doesn't really matter. By rising to the top of the hierarchy (when he joined Spooks) and then falling, it made Jason realize that being popular wasn't all that he thought it was. He learned that he wasn't willing to sacrifice his friends and his kindness for a group of bullies. I'm really glad that Jason noticed this because this allowed him to develop much more, and I would have been extremely disappointed if he had become popular and a bully like Ross.
ReplyDeleteI like how you point out that Dean "not caring" about Jason's stammer is an important element of their friendship (Jason never worries about Hangman when he's talking to Dean, it turns out), and this is another way that Dean comes to represent a new and different model of "not giving a toss" that Jason embraces as the novel comes to an end--not the antisocial and almost sociopathic Pluto Noak model, but more of a studied indifference to trends and popularity, which makes Dean a much less appealing target for bullying. In some ways, Jason learns that he is bullied in part because he care's too much.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I wonder if Jason had remained even semi-popular, if he would have developed and changed the way he did. Maybe he wouldn't have broken Brose's calculator in fear of dropping lower on the social ladder. It's sort of unfortunate that it takes a person to have "nothing left to lose" to actually change/stand up/ take control. I guess that's just a part of the process.
ReplyDeleteGreat points! I think it's generally agreed upon that people are most afraid of their first time doing things, which is Jason exposing his stutter in this case. Once it happens, he isn't AS anxious about it because most people already know. He definitely has a broader outlook on life by the end of the novel-- which is especially evident during the chapter where he's reminiscing about memories from Black Swan Green. I did really like that Jason wasn't as "ashamed" to hang out with Dean! He seems genuinely happier when he doesn't care as much about what others think.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you described Jason's struggles and then his fall as it reminded me of the hero's journey present in so much of our modern popular media. By going through his own personal hero's journey Jason finds himself in a place where he is happy with himself, acknowledges he's not perfect and has overcome the his struggles, such as Hangman.
ReplyDeleteThe way you were able to discuss Jason's experiences was really nice. Like Aryan said, it reminded me of the Hero's Journey. His ultimate reveal with the stutter, could be the ultimate boon which allowed him to grow immensely as a person. Him no longer caring about the social ladder is what made him a hero. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteThese are all great points, I especially like when you talk about Jason's friendship with Dean. In the first half of the book, Jason can be pretty mean to Dean and that was something I really didn't like. Jason also acknowledges that what he's doing is wrong a few times. So toward the end of the book when they get closer and Jason stops caring about the social stuff, it was very satisfying.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Dean's acceptance of Jason and Jason eventually accepting that Dean is the best friend he could have really shows Jason's growth. He has gotten over a lot of the social worries that he had before and has moved on to what matters more, his real friendship. Jason's triumph over social problems and his bullies at the end of the book was very exaggerated and cinematic so I like looking at it through his relationship with Dean.
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