I love Juliađź’— (as a sister)
In Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, Jason goes through a tough time trying to get through school, dealing with school bullies as well as a tough time at home as his parents are getting into constant arguments. At the beginning of the novel, Jason often portrays common brother/sister bickering between the two, calling her names and saying how much she hates her. However, as time goes on, the two begin to bond over new things and Julia kind of takes Jason under her wing. By the time Julia goes off to college, Jason actually realizes how much he misses Julia. Julia actually plays a huge part in Jason's coming of age and proves to be a good role model for older siblings in my opinion. With Jason's issues with his dad, Julia fills in a really important role for Jason, which ultimately leads him to become a more mature version of himself by the end of the novel.
The first instance we get of Julia being a positive influence on Jason is when she teaches him that the war isn't all sunshine and roses like he initially thought. Jason loves reading his news from the Daily Mail if I remember correctly which is a notoriously conservative news outlet. Jason raves about how much he loves Margaret Thatcher and how great the war is. However, Julia goes out of her way to show Jason that the war really isn't a good thing and begins to plant seeds of doubt about what he's reading into Jason's head. She doesn't try to force her own beliefs on him, but rather just tries to show him to think twice about the media he is consuming and to think for himself rather than blindly following what the Daily Mail is feeding him. To me, Julia shows great maturity here and this is one of the best instances of her being a great sister to Jason.
Julia also puts Jason on to some good ass music, one of those being the record she gives him before she leaves which she was originally mad at him for stealing. This record is really important to Jason and is a prized possession of his which shows how strong their bond really is.
Julia's best moment though is when she gives him great pointers before the school dance and basically gets Jason his first kiss with the new girl. This scene shows a really wholesome sister-brother moment, where Julia gives him important tips on how to put on cologne, how to dress, and how to style his hair. This leads to Jason being able to kiss the new girl which helps spur his newfound ability to take more risks and be a more confident person. Especially with the problems with his own father, Jason being able to learn the basics of being a presentable guy from his sister is very important. Although his father fails to teach him this stuff, he has a great sister who is willing to go out of her way to make sure her younger brother isn't going out looking like an idiot.
Julia also comforts Jason when the divorce is passed through, and also tells him that she knew the poet was Jason the whole time. She encourages him to continue writing his poems and not listen to what anyone says about them. Having someone you look up to say something you do is great is really impactful, especially when Jason describes his father as always having a face of disgust or disappointment when Jason's around.
I think Julia plays an instrumental part in constructing the new and improved Jason that we see toward the end of the novel. Compared to the beginning of the novel, Jason is significantly more confident and critical-thinking, as well as willing to take more risks that have unexpected consequences. Julia planted the seeds for these things throughout the novel, and I think she proved to be the most positive influence on Jason throughout the entire novel.
This book wouldn't be anything without Julia. Having that older sibling dynamic represented so well and without making it seem like they are the best of friends and instead having their battles depicted really helps Jason grow as a character. Good post!
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to looking fly and managing to act so cool with Holly Deblin, Julia is a far better mentor for Jason than Michael could have been anyway--given how we see Michael managing his marriage throughout the novel, he's maybe not the first person you want to turn to for advice about romance. In lots of ways, as this novel proceeds, I think we see evidence that Jason simply needs to pay closer attention to the girls and women in his life, and pay less attention to the men and boys: Mrs. de Roo, Mme. Crommelynck, Rosamund the American woman, Miss Lippetts the English teacher--Jason is surrounded by strong female mentor-figures who give him very good advice throughout the book. And Julia is at the top of this list.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how Julia progressed throughout the novel. She sort of seemed to be annoying to Jason near the beginning of the novel, but she developed into a great mentor figure for Jason and we got a lot of wholesome interactions I really enjoyed. Good post.
ReplyDeleteI loved seeing Julia throughout the novel and how their relationship seemed to go from bitter, immature, and filled with a slight sense of jealousy to a caring friendship that played and instrumental part in Jason's coming of age. You hit a lot of great point in this post and it really shows how Julia helped Jason, great job!
ReplyDeleteJulia was such a pivotal part of the novel and it was realy cool to see the sibling relationship develop as Jason also developed. Julia was a dream older sibling of sorts and seemed to play more of a role in Jason's personal development than his parents may have. She was definitely responsible for Jason's social success more than their parents were. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I like how you've explained how their sibling relationship changed throughout the course of the book. I also find it interesting that Julia seems only able to tolerate Jason after he gets some character development, and is more confident in himself. I get the feeling that she would be endlessly irritated if she could have heard his inner monologue of the social rules that he 'has' to follow.
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