How Jason grows in the chapter Goose Fair
In the chapter Goose Fair in the book Black Swan Green, the main character Jason is presented with a complex moral dilemma that involves his personal sense of what's right and his desire for revenge on his bully. Jason is out with his friend Dean at the town fair when he spots a lost wallet sitting on his bench. He plans on returning it to a fair worker, when it flips open and is revealed to be the wallet of Ross Wilcox, the kid who has been bullying Jason for the past few months. Jason freezes, unsure if he should stick with his original plan or pocket the wallet. He ultimately decides to take the wallet as a form of revenge on Ross. Jason watches with glee as Ross panics about his lost wallet. In his panic, he insults his girlfriend Dawn Madden and she ends their relationship. At this point Jason is set on keeping the wallet when he hears from a 3rd party why Ross is so upset. Apparently Ross's dad gave him a ton of money in order to illegally launder it. Jason also learns that Ross's dad has a history of domestic violence at the slightest provocation. And that Ross suspects that he will be extremely abused if he doesn't find the wallet. Jason contemplates his circumstances, one the one hand he'd basically be kicking Ross's ass through his dad, but on the other hand Ross could legitimately be in mortal danger. Jason decides to give the wallet back to Ross. After Ross gets his wallet back, he goes to find Dawn, only to find that she is with another guy. In a rage, he steals the guy's motorcycle and drives off. He accidentally goes over a gap, crashes the bike, and looses his leg.
After these events, Jason struggles with his role in Ross's fate. He feels some degree of guilt from not telling Ross initially about the wallet. He feels like he had some responsibility to tell Ross ahead of time. Because even if what Ross did was still his fault, it doesn't change the fact that Jason's actions were a part of something terrible happening to Ross. Jason also feels guilty for his violent thoughts towards Ross. How he felt some sort of glee thinking about how he could be hurting Ross through his dad. These emotions, while they may not be entirely justified from a readers pov, heavily affect Jason and his sense of self.
During class discussions, a lot of people seemed to be surprised and sympathetic to Jason during these events. They (myself included), thought that Jason was reasonable to take Ross's wallet. At the very least they weren't too sympathetic towards Ross. They also thought that it was mature of Jason to actually give the wallet back when he realized how much trouble Ross would be in. The consensus was also that Ross dug his own grave with his actions like stealing the bike and being rude to Dawn, and that Jason didn't make him do that. So why is Jason so conflicted when from an outside perspective it seems like he has his hands mostly clean? I think it is because of Jason's struggle with action vs inaction. When we see Jason act, like when he takes the wallet and when he returns it, it causes him to feel upset and worried about consequences. But when we see him not act, he becomes frustrated with himself. This idea is reflected earlier in the book, specifically when Jason feels frustrated in his inability to talk back to his dad like Julia can. He envies her confidence, but even when Jason is able to make meaningful choices of his own free will, he still doubts himself and feels regret. Jason's immediate thoughts after giving the wallet back are how Ross will just go back to Dawn and apologize, and Jason's actions probably won't stop the bullying he is experiencing. An important lesson I think Jason learns from this experience is to have confidence in your actions. It isn't enough to make the difficult choices, you have to have confidence that you also did the right thing. This is what has been separating him from Julia. We see Jason embody this ideal in the following chapter, where Jason is able to deal with his bully Neil Brose by blocking out the consequences and breaking his calculator to make a point. Instead of constantly being worried about the consequences, Jason moves forwards with confidence. He is able to restore his reputation and stop being bullied through taking decisive action and moving forwards no matter what.
I enjoyed your analysis of the emotions that Jason faced when he was dealing with Ross' wallet. I definitely agree that Jason was not responsible for what Ross did. Ross was entirely at fault for the things he did to Dawn so Jason shouldn't feel guilty at all. But honestly, in some twisted kind of way, it's sort of a good thing that Ross ended up doing what he did. We already know he wasn't a great person for bullying Jason, but Ross then showed he can't even treat his loved ones right, helping Dawn realize that they needed to break up. Basically, he had it coming.
ReplyDeleteInteresting analysis! I like how you tied his question of morality to his own development of confidence. I definitely think this was a pretty pivotal moment for Jason, where he gained some distance from his bullies and really matured. It was a meaningful choice, which he kind of later regrets/feels guilt for because of Ross' terrible outcome. I also agree that he kind of has a very different stance on the calculator incident later on and grows in confidence. I think maybe this is another example of the author making change and development seem realistic in that it's not always linear and perfect.
ReplyDeleteI really like the direction that you took with this. I definitely think the whole situation was very revealing as to what Jason's character is like, and what he would do when in a situation of power above his bully. In the end I think you are right in that he learns about the confidence of his actions as well. I think this is also part of his greater coming of age arc, which is learning that he needs to have confidence in himself and his actions.
ReplyDeleteI think that this scene shows home much more mature Jason has become as the novel has progressed and how much more mature he is than other characters like Ross Wilcox. Jason even pities Ross when Ross can't gracefully accept his returned wallet and instead acts in the biggest asshole way possible. Jason is able to feel empathy for Ross which Ross is not capable of. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteThe action vs inaction perfectly describes some of Jason's anxieties in this book. This chapter along with the next are very crucial in Jason's coming of age. We see him struggle with making decision to progression to smashing Neil Brose calculator. Thinking from Jason's character I never saw him as that one to never give Ross his wallet back and take it as his own. Despite whether he took his wallet for his own or not I see Jason feeling that regret and anxiety surrounding the whole situation. This is a very important part of Jason's coming of age and your analysis is great at describing Jasons struggles of action vs inaction.
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