The reverse hierarchy

The reverse hierarchy

As Jason descends the ladder of popularity in Maggot, he begins to describe the world of being bullied. It is evident that there are rules for those at the bottom, just like the ones Jason described as the beginning of the book from the top. The politics of middle school go on.

Like with being popular, Jason is also completely aware of the situation of bullying and he clearly already knows how to act. He knows the rules. He repeats the advice he picks up for the reader at various points. The way to be a good victim is the be passive and not react. he demonstrates this when they yell at him, give him the wedgie, and when Ross tries to talk to him. We all know this strategy, but the his level of awareness of it at this age is what is impressive. It is also representative of how everything Jason does is edited and is working towards his self image, even while at the bottom.

The other aspect of the beginning of the book that outlines the hierarchy of the school is when Jason outlines which group he is in. This is reflected in Maggot when he explicitly joins the table filled with “lepers”. These guys are just as cohesive as Spooks, and also have a set of requirements to join, albeit unfortunate requirements. The people that Jason joins at the bottom are just as refined as those at the top. For example, Dean is trained to not even flinch when hit with the chip. He has become a master of nonviolence.

All of this shows how the hierarchy is not triangular, but rather a diamond that has rules governing throughout and how you act determines is always important.

Jason is not the first to visit the doctor

I have talked about the mental health of the protagonists of the books before because it serves for an interesting comparison. However, with the start of Black Swan, another protagonists is identified as having a condition; in this case, it’s Jason’s stammer. This blog post can serve as an addition to a previous one. The timing and the way it is presented offer a different view.

Jason identifies this issue and presents it to the reader at a much younger age than the other characters. It is interesting from a child about to enter the coming of age process and doing so with a known mental hindrance is even more intriguing. Even though he is younger, the timing is a bit different because hangman has been fully realized by Jason and it is easy for him to present to the reader. Jason presents many practical implications of what hangman is doing and this makes it more real for me. However, he also gets treatment from the doctor like Esther does, also without much of a noticeable change. He still has more to learn about this stammer, though. Keeping it hidden among other kids is not going to remain feasible, especially as they grow older.

I am interested to see how his concept of this speech impediment grows with him throughout the novel, because understanding these things is a huge part of coming of age.

Helen the Ice Figure

I know there is a chance that some of you looked at this passage for the notebook prompt last week, but this particular thought by Ruth really stood out to me when out with Silvie:

If there had been snow I would have made a statue, a woman to stand along the path, among the trees. The children would have come close, to look at her. Lot's wife was salt and barren, because she was full of loss and mourning, and looked back. But here rare flowers would gleam in her hair, and on her breast, and in her hands, and there would be children all around her, to love and marvel at her for her beauty, and to laugh at her extravagant adornments, as if they had set the flowers in her hair and thrown down all the flowers at her feet, and they would forgive her, eagerly and lavishly, for turning away, though she never asked to be forgiven. Though her hands were ice and did not touch them, she would be more than mother to them, she so calm, so still, and they such wild and orphan things.

This description of the statue is a great illusion to Ruth’s ideas and ideals of motherhood. This passage does three things: tells about how Helen was and what Ruth has wanted from Helen as well as demonstrate Ruth’s maturity as a part of the coming of age proces.

What we can learn about Helen is that she turned away from them in the eyes of Ruth. I believe this is Ruth’s interpretation of the suicide. She feels abandoned. And at that moment of turning away, she is frozen in Ruth’s mind, thus the statute imagery. However,

However, Ruth shows many things she wishes that Helen had done. She depicts the mother looking back. She imagines and idealizes regret in her mother. She talks about the kids forgiving which shows how she would have forgiven her mother if she got to talk to her again.

Continuing on the ‘what ifs’, Ruth talks about the flowers that cover the figure to show how even if her mother was this cold wanderer, she would still have beautiful qualities. She would have done well for them.

Unfortunately, they did not touch, as Ruth points out, but this passage is still very significant. It shows a her maturity to contemplate all of these abstract concepts about her mother who has been shrouded in mystery up to this point. It is very difficult to think about a suicidal parent, much less articulate it, so this large metaphor demonstrates a step in the coming of age process.

There are so many nuances and symbols in this passage that I could not begin to talk about them all. What did you see in it?