Self-Acceptance in Black Swan Green

The town of Black Swan Green has a brutal social life for young boys (and probably girls, too). There's a strict hierarchy among the boys, with those at the top aggressively bullying those below them. Jason starts out somewhere in the middle, mostly trying to stay out of trouble. He desperately wants to be like the boys at the top, but deep down, he knows he’s different. He has a nervous stammer and secretly writes poetry, both things that would be seen as “gay” by those around him. Throughout the book, the bullying toward Jason grows progressively worse, and by the end, he learns that survival depends on asserting his true self, even at the cost of rejection. Jason's growth comes through his experiences with bullying, his friendship with Moran, his shifting view of his dad, and what he learns from the Romani population.

At the beginning of the book, Jason believes that survival means hiding his true self and staying on the sidelines. He keeps his head down, avoiding too much attention while trying to remain visible enough to stay in the middle. Still, by hiding his poetry and lying about his stammer, "Hangman," he never feels truly comfortable and stays confused about who he is and who he should be. Jason also dislikes that he enjoys writing, believing it’s something he has to keep secret: “if they knew Eliot Bolivar, who gets poems published in Black Swan Green Parish Magazine, was me, they’d gouge me to death behind the tennis courts with blunt woodwork tools and spray the Sex Pistols logo on my gravestone” (Mitchell 6). This mindset keeps Jason timid, quiet, and an easy target for bullies looking to walk over anyone they can.

Matters only get worse when Jason realizes that blending in offers no real protection. Grant Burch and Ross Wilcox soon make his life a living hell. Yet throughout these stages, key people and experiences begin to guide him toward the person he wants to become. First, he starts to admire Moran, who doesn’t really care about the bullies and would rather stay loyal to a good friend. Another important influence is Madame Crommelynck, who helps Jason understand that honesty and vulnerability are the keys to good writing, and that he actually has real talent. Through her, Jason grows more confident in being a poet and realizes he doesn’t want to be like the "barbarians" at the top of the social hierarchy. His perspective on his father also shifts. Jason stops seeing him as self-assured and starts noticing how easily he lets his boss walk over him. This change makes Jason realize he doesn’t want to become someone who accepts being taken advantage of. Finally, his encounter with the Romani people leaves a strong impression. They live freely and unapologetically, even in the face of judgment and hatred. Jason admires how they refuse to blend in or hide who they are, and it inspires him to start doing the same. He also sees how people will always find reasons to dislike people who they differ from.

Once Jason really hits "rock bottom" in Black Swan Green, he finally decides to stand up for himself and for others who are being bullied and extorted. But he wouldn’t have had the strength to do this without the experiences and people who helped him discover who he really is. By the end, Jason starts realizes that accepting himself and being confident is the best form of living. Even though he’s scared for the future at the end of the book, everyone around him seems to realize that he’ll be okay, because he’s not who he once was, and it’s “not the end” for him (Mitchell 294).


Comments

  1. MitchellApril 25, 2025 at 2:45 PM

    It is funny--and I've never really thought of it this way before--that for all of Jason's many fears and worries at the start of the novel, many of which are realized, no one ever seems to discover the big secret of his poetry. No one even reads the parish newsletter very much, I'm sure--most of the "articles" are written by Gwendolyn Bendicks, who is depicted as pompous and annoying, and it's not like this photocopied/stapled little newsletter is the hot publishing site for the newest in poetry.

    But still--Jason actively worries about this "secret" getting out (the passage you cite, where it is the WORST of his fears in January 1982), and we recall him leaping to cover the poem in progress on his typewriter when Julia comes into his room. He almost shrivels up and dies when his mother mentions his "poetry prize" at the family dinner, but we never hear about him getting mocked for winning the prize (presumably he can use the excuse that "they MADE us write it!"). And despite his paranoia, hiding the French book under his shirt in case he sees any kids, no one ever learns about his meetings with Eva. We keep expecting this shoe to drop, but it never does.

    So it's maybe significant in his respect when he DOES burn all his poems after stopping his under-cover-of-dark submissions to the parish newsletter (after the disillusionment of Eva's extradition), but instead of quitting WRITING, he actually delves into a MORE "confessional" and truth-telling mode, literally writing his current darkest secrets "in the closet" (significantly?) during "Disco." He's never outed as a kid who likes poetry, and in fact he is now using writing in a more powerful way at the end of the book--in terms of his coming of age, this seems like a good thing. The book we're reading is presumably the fruit of that change in writing style, and it enables Jason himself to produce these compelling and meaningful confessions that reveal his true self more than his "Eliot Bolivar" poetry ever did.

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  2. Rishabh PrasanthApril 26, 2025 at 2:32 PM

    Larissa, great blog! You say that the root of Jason's coming of age was his ability to accept his true self and not hide behind any of the bs that he tried to build up to protect his image. I totally agree. I also think that a major scene in the book is Jason's experience with his father and Craig. He was embarrassed by his father's behavior and did not want to be like that.

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  3. AlyssaApril 28, 2025 at 10:55 AM

    Hi Larissa! I like how you analyzed his hardships and journey as a person. Jason has had a lot of issues throughout the book and I agree that it really has shaped him as a person. I think the most interesting part of him is his poetry and you pointed out that nobody ever discovers it! I didn't think of that. I think that this could be a reflection of Jason that he still has more to accept and discover. Great blog!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kyle FanApril 28, 2025 at 11:04 AM

    Hi Larrisa, great post! I completely agree that the best part of Black Swan Green's coming of
    age is Jason coming fully out as himself. He goes from someone who constantly hides his true identity to someone who learns how to show more and more of himself.

    ReplyDelete
  5. violetApril 29, 2025 at 10:20 AM

    Larissa, this is a really interesting analysis of how Jason's self-awareness affects his coming of age and the way he interacts with the world. We clearly see his personality develop over the course of the novel even if he wouldn't necessarily say that he changed drastically from the start to the end of him being 13. Great post!

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