January Man and January Man
One of the things that stood out to me immediately was that the first and the last chapter were both called January Man. While this book was basically talking about Jason developing over the span of an entire year, those chapters were probably the most meaningful ones.
In the first Chapter Jason talked about a lot of different events happening and while a lot of them unfolded more with the months passing by, he didn’t discover his Dad’s deepest secret until 12 months later.
Jason's character had an amazing development over the span of 365 days and while that is a normal age to go through changes, his personality developed impressively. In the first chapter Jason had this interaction at night with this elderly woman because he sprained his ankle on the lake, while he was skating. Somehow over the next 11 Chapters we didn’t get more information about the strange happenings during that night, but in the last Chapter Jason found the courage to go back into the forest and face the son and the elderly women again.
This scene just proved again to me how much Holden's character changed and how much more courage he got in that one year.
In the last Chapter of the book, Jason went through all of the memories he saved from the past 12 months, and while he was going through that I realized how much he went through. Being bullied in school for his stammer, being embarrassed of publishing poems, having his sister move out, and in the end finding out that his dad had an affair. All of these things had a big impact on how Jason turned out. And while the book mostly focused on those negative experiences, one positive thing I noticed was that Jason and Julia became so much closer at the end.
Seeing how Jason developed during those two chapters, which were pretty much 12 months apart is impressive to me.Not only seeing him develop a stronger character but also how he developed a closer relationship to Julia was making me very happy.
The connections between January Man and January Man were really important, and seeing how differently Jason addresses similar situations just one year older, shows how much everything can change in one year and how your experiences change your views.
I agree, Jason has really grown throughout the novel, especially his ability to free himself of his "obsession" with the social hierarchy. In my opinion, his coming-of-age narrative is one of the most clear developments out of all of the novels we have read this semester--maybe because he had a satisfying finale when he destroyed Neal Brose's calculator. As you also pointed out, it was interesting that everything around him--his family, the war--were also changing, which highlighted Jason's growth as well.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I agree that Jason's growth is really impressive, and his experiences throughout the novel really toughened him up. I really like how Mitchell emphasizes this development by using matching titles. Not only does Jason go through a lot of changes, the environment around him completely changes too. Jason's home life changes as he is not longer living with his dad and is about to move out of town.
ReplyDeleteJason's growth throughout the novel was really cool to watch, especially with who and what he surrounds himself with. The matching titles would usually mean coming full circle back to where he started, but I think it is just the start of a new chapter in his own life, not a return to the past. The growth he achieved in one year is amazing. Good post!
ReplyDeleteWe didn't have time to go over it in ample detail in class, but I love how the second "January Man" contains subtle references to something from every chapter in the novel--and at the same time, there's this sense throughout that not only has Jason changed as a character, but that his perspective on Black Swan Green has altered irrevocably. At the start, this little village is the entire world to him, and these guys leading the charge in British Bulldogs are the most important people in that world to Jason--even though he claims to "hate" the game and finds it brutal and arbitrary. By the end, in the second January chapter, he is realizing how SMALL the woods really are ("it ain't Sherwood Forest," as the "Brummie" tells him). And he is also aware of how small HIS world really is--at the start of the novel, when Dean uses the term "Brummie," Jason assumes it refers to something sexual and probably also something homosexual, so he'd better not say anything, but there's no one to ask what it means. By the end, when the guy refers to his "Brummie" accent, Jason straight-up asks him what a Brummie is, and he learns the prosaic answer (a guy from Birmingham).
ReplyDeleteThere really are a lot of parallels between the two January Mans. The mysterious calls to his dad's office (1 had the calls, 2 explained the reason for the calls), the weird old lady near the lake, Jason interacting with his neighbors, and more. While not all of the chapters have clear endings to the various mini-stories contained inside, having a second January Man allowed Jason to go back through and tie up those loose ends, and it makes for a great end to the novel.
ReplyDeleteI agree a lot with your post. I remember being similarly confused when the chapter just seemed to jump back to normal life after Jason's mysterious encounter in the forest, and it was really satisfying finally getting answers at the end of the novel.
ReplyDeleteI never looked at the to January Man chapters in relation to each other, but you're right when you compare the two chapters they show everything Jason went through in and how he's developed in a very clear manner. I also love how the chapter just wraps up the book in a very satisfying manner.
ReplyDeleteWow, I didn't even notice that the first and last chapters of Black Swan Green had the same name! You make great points about Jason's growth in the year the book takes place during, and how him returning to the mystical elderly woman and the chapter title represents him coming full circle. I feel like him revisiting memories from the first chapter through his year older self and seeing them differently shows how his perspective has shifted and become less narrow in his 'coming of age.' Great post!
ReplyDeleteIt's so cool how the first and second January Mans both come full circle while also having a tremendous amount of development in between. Jason is technically in a much harder situation at the end of the book - leaving his town, starting at a new school, and his dad being with another woman. However, it's so cool to see him reflect on how he's grown this year, revisiting down memory lane and actual physical lanes around Black Swan Green. While a lot of things in the town may have stayed the same, his perspective has matured greatly which reflects in how he perceives things around him.
ReplyDeleteI sort of forgot about the House in the Woods scene in the second January Man, so I had to reopen the book which I conveniently laid at my desk to look at it (horrifying). And now that I've read even more Black Swan Green, I see how Jason's gotten more mature in this scene than in the first House in the Woods scene. Pretty cool.
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