From Moron to Moran
David Mitchell has brought us an amazing novel, Black Swan Green, providing us with interesting growth of Jason. The growth of Taylor and Dean Moran friendship is the one of the most profound that came from this novel. Jason initially proves to be a poor friend to Dean; at the start of the novel, Jason is deeply concerned with fitting in and avoiding the ridicule of his peers, especially the school bullies. He is desperate to avoid being labeled as “unpopular” or “gay” or “weird” by his classmates, especially by Ross Wilcox and Gary Drake. To maintain his fragile social standing, Jason usually distances himself from Dean, even though Dean has always been so kind to him.
At the beginning of the story, he doesn’t even refer to him as Dean but Moron, “Or if I called Moron “Dean” in front of everyone, it’d damage my own standing. So you’ve got to watch out.” (Mitchell 6). In the early portion of his novel, he values his reputation more than his friend whose been there for him. Another example is when Jason is at the tryouts to join spooks—”Confusing ’cause Dean Moran’s just not Spooks material. Disappointing ’cause what was the point of joining the Spooks if losers like Moran’re being recruited too?” (Mitchell 133), he calls Dean a “loser” in his own head. That alone shows he’s looking down on someone who’s been nothing but loyal to him. Instead of being happy for his friend or standing by him, Jason is embarrassed that Dean is in the same group. A genuine friend would be proud or at least supportive. After that, Dean gets into a terrible accident during the tryouts and everyone is making fun of him: “That dozy fuckup,” “I knew he was a mistake.” (Mitchell 142). Jason just lets it happen, making him complicit. He’s protecting himself from being targeted, but in doing so, he’s betraying Dean. As he regrets that he didn’t do anything, “If I’d fallen through Mr. Blake’s greenhouse and not Moran, Moran wouldn’t be abandoning me to that psycho. He just wouldn’t.” (142).
After this, Jason begins to see through the cruelty and superficiality of the popular crowd. The breaking point comes when Jason himself becomes a target. Once ostracized, he understands firsthand what Dean went through for a while. Which shifts his perspective on how he should treat Dean. Finally calling him by his name, standing by Dean more openly, walks with him, chats with him more freely, and no longer cares as much about who sees them together. It marks Jason’s growth with not only himself, but how he treats others like his relationship with Moran. At first, Jason is a bad friend—selfish, scared, and shallow. But through his own personal trials, he learned the value of true friendship.
I like the topic you've chosen for your blog, as Jason's friendship with Dean changes dramatically throughout the book, corresponding to Jason's own personal growth. I think another important detail is the lunchroom scene where Dean has the chips thrown at him but couldn't care less. In that scene, Jason sees how Dean is more "true" to himself; he acts the same way and doesn't submit to others thinking he should act differently.
ReplyDeleteSome interesting food for thought is the fact that Dean might not be as low-standing as Jason thinks; after all, he was invited into the Spooks as well. In a sense, during the beginning of the novel, Jason intentionally tries to depict himself as higher-status than Moran through a narrator bias. However, it's interesting how, through his CoA, Jason goes from calling him Moron to Moran to Dean (a sign of increasing respect, as illustrated through the start of the book).
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my favorite character arcs in the entire book. It's a really subtle detail, but it shows us how much he changes over the course of the year. Obviously he is lower socially, but he has finally come to understand the importance of real friends and puts Dean above his hopes of popularity. Not only does he care about him more, he finally learns that respect is important in relationships too.
ReplyDeleteHey Jessie, I really liked how you structured your blog to lead to the conclusion that if Jason had fallen into the greenhouse, Dean would’ve been the one to save him. This obviously shows the hypocrisy of the bullies Jason is trying to emulate, making him shy away from that group and become more respectful to Dean as one of his true companions. The Spooks chapter marks an important moment of realization for Jason that eventually leads to his social freedom.
ReplyDeleteThis was one of the more subtle developments throughout the book. This really does symbolize Jason's growth through the book, from a nervous conformist into a person who doesn't care about who he associates with anymore. I like how you connect Jason's progress to his eventual worst day of his life, and this is where he truly bonds with Dean, no longer afraid of being caught. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you chose to zoom in on good old Dean Moran for this blog post, and I agree that the arc from Jason calling his good pal "Moron" to US in his narration, to the point where he's just "Dean" at the end of the novel, is super important. There are so many moments when Jason gets little "lessons" from Dean in how to handle himself in the midst of persecution and oppression--like when he sees how Dean manages to "not be bothered" when the kids throw chips at him in the cafeteria. I hope that everyone noticed how, in "Goose Fair," Jason is now openly hanging out with the "lepers," and he seems to be having a good time. His happiest, simplest moments come when he is hanging with Dean and relieved of the pressure to be cool--he can just be a nerd with his nerdy friend, talking trash about who's going to get in the newspaper for "discovering" the end of the legendary tunnel (I love the fact that they both had the SAME idea for their walks on that day!). I also love the scene where Jason gets a glimpse of the Moran household, and it's funky, weird, definitely not "cool" in a traditional sense--but actually FUN, unpretentious, full of laughter and pranks and good humor all around.
ReplyDeleteJessy, I think it is interesting how you choose to analyze this book by looking at how the way Jason treats others changes towards the end of the book. Another way I read this is how he treats his "oppressors," going from passive to very much confrontational in the Neal Brose/calculator scene. I agree with your claim that the changes regarding how he refers to Dean reflect how he changes as a person.
ReplyDeleteThough Dean and Jason's development sort of happened on the side, I definitely agree that it was one of the most striking parts of the novel. I think it really serves as a really clear example of Jason's "coming-of-age." The section about how Jason only truly understood Dean once he went through the same thing showed how much crowd mentality plays a role in the story. It takes a lot to be broken away from being clouded (I feel like this was especially apparent when the other students were saying they were afraid to speak up), and it's kind of upsetting that you'd have to experience bullying first hand to fully get there. Great blog!!
ReplyDeleteHey Jessy, I liked how you connected Jason's appreciation of Dean to losing his social status. It brings the intention behind him appreciating Dean into question though, as he only cared for his friend after he lost everything that mattered to him. Nonetheless, we do see Jason as a truly better friend in the end, so there was change for the better. Great post!
ReplyDeleteBecause of this distance from Black Swan Green's social hierarchy, Jason is finally able to view his relationships from an unbiased perspective. I completely agree that this is the reason why Jason realizes it's totally fine to be friends with Dean and that he was treating him pretty rudely. Jason always bowed down to the higher up kids because he was scared of how they would treat him, but he learned from Dean, which also helped him realize that Dean was respectable after all.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how the evolution of Dean's nickname represents the maturity that Jason gains throughout the novel. Without Dean, Jason would definitely still be getting bullied like in Maggot because it seems like no step is obsolete in Jason's reconciliation with himself.
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