The last statement in Black Swan Green comes from Julia who responds to Jason complaining that his world does not feel “alright” at the end of the novel, “that’s because it’s not the end” (Mitchell 300). This idea that endings are beginnings and beginnings are endings is something that Jason contemplates earlier in the day, when he returns to the lake a year after the start of the novel in the chapter “January Man”. This is something that we see Jason coming to terms with at the lake as he realizes that beginnings don’t happen without endings and vice versa. As Jason looks back on all the changes the past year has wrought, he considers his mother and father’s marriage in terms of ending and beginning. He says
The world never stops unmaking what the world never stops making,
in this case because his mother and father created a family, and then took it apart (290). Earlier he even considers what would have happened if his father had never decided to settle down with his mother, which would be a new beginning for his father but the ending of Jason’s potential existence as he is right now.
Although this concept is pretty difficult to think about for too long because there are infinite “what ifs” in the world, it does get to a deeper point: Jason discovers that he has no control over many of the “what ifs” in the world, like his father’s decisions or something bigger like the outcomes of a war. However, he has control over the decisions that he makes in his life, and therefore is responsible for their outcomes to a certain degree. This can be agonizing when Jason realizes that he did have a small part in cause Ross Wilcox’s accident (although the blame lies on many more people than Jason, his decision did have consequences even if they were mostly unforeseen), or anxiety inducing when he has to choose between becoming part of the Spooks or helping his friend, or even freeing when he decides to end the torment that has followed him all year by exposing the extortion scheme at his school. All of these are examples of how decisions create beginnings and endings, like how going back for Dean Moran is the beginning of a closer friendship and the ending of his (very short) time as a Spook. When he is standing in front of Mr. Blacke’s door Jason even thinks “this is just the beginning”, probably referring to both his closeness to Dean and the beginning of his outcast status at school (143).
So at the end of the novel when Jason is facing the end of his time in Black Swan Green and the beginning of his new life in Cheltenham, when Julia says that “it’s not the end”, she is reminding Jason that his life will continue and that his end is also his beginning. And we as readers are also reminded that the end of the book does not mark the end of Jason’s growth and development. He will continue to make decisions that change the course of his life, creating infinite “what ifs” along the way but also infinite possibilities for the future.
This is so well written! I think you bring up a really good point about how Jason realizes that he can't control or predict what will happen in the future with other people. Like when Jason exposes Neal Brose and his bullying to the teachers, he thinks his popularity is going to plummet even further, but the exact opposite happens as he actually gains popularity from that. I also like how you said that Julia's words remind us readers that Jason's life and coming-of-age process continues on after the story. I think it's really easy for us to think of books as just beginning and end, but Black Swan Green was just a single year out of Jason's life.
ReplyDeleteWow, I really liked everything you wrote in this post! I think a lot of Jason's coming of age journey centered around acknowledging what he can and can't control. This certainly came with a sense of responsibility, because as you said, Jason has to learn how to deal with the consequences of his actions. However, I like how you point out that in some cases, this can also be liberating. Jason knowing that he can only control himself led him to being much less obsessed over popularity, as he felt more comfortable with living life by his own rules. Especially since the people he idolized weren't very good people to begin with, it was relieving as a reader to see Jason listening to himself.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I think this definitely illustrates the fact that Jason is much more mature than he was at the beginning of the novel. While at the beginning of the story, Jason over dramatized everything and made it seem like small things could result in the end of his world, he learned throughout the story that the world is constantly changing, and he should accept this and deal with it instead of worrying. This seems like a pretty complex thought for a 14 year old, but to me, this definitely showed that he has grown as the novel progressed.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many "beginnings in endings" as this book draws to a close, and we see a bunch of them scattered throughout the second "January Man." When he makes his comment about the world injecting endings into beginnings (which is how novels typically work), he is thinking of Tom Yew (whose life ends during the year that Jason has just narrated), and Tom Yew's child (Debbie Crombie is being rushed to the hospital to deliver the baby during this chapter, according to Mervin/Squelch), and Tom Yew's beloved Suzuki motorcycle, which Ross has crashed and which is now being stripped for parts to repair other bikes. "It's not the end" can seem like an optimistic statement--this is how Julia means it ("it WILL be alright in the end, we're just not there yet). But in this novel, Jason's more sobering realizations (the sad story of Tom's baby never knowing its father, which earlier Jason describes as a sick joke the world plays) about endings and beginnings tempers the optimism a bit. We do feel that he is well-equipped for the challenges of his new school, but we also know that it won't be easy. Jason's growth as a person in this novel is reflected in the fact that he too knows it won't be easy, that the world will continue to "work on his faults," but that he is in a much better place to experience this new beginning in light of his experiences over this year.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great perspective! I agree that the last line of the novel is paradoxically interesting as while from our perspectives there is no real ending to our stories, once we turn the last page Jason's does. The importance of what if's is also a great point to focus on - I think that understanding the lack of control we all have as individuals over many aspects of our lives and society as a whole is an extremely import part of coming of age.
ReplyDeleteI really loved reading your post! I think it's interesting to think about these things as beginnings and ends. After all, this story could be seen as the beginning of the rest of his life or the end of his childhood. I thought that the ending of the book was an amazing ending for Jason after a really awful year. I also liked how you talked about when he saved Dean. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteThe ending of your post is extremely insightful. Even though the book does end, it's only natural that Jason would continue to progress after, creating the infinite "what-if's" what each and every one of us create every day. I also appreciate your inclusion of the quote, "The world never stops unmaking what the world never stops making" as it's really a beautiful saying. In all honestly, it's got to be one of my favorite lines I've read in an English class.
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