Black Swan Green: The Best Bildungsroman Yet

“Bildungsroman”, translated to Coming of Age novel, refers to a narrative that focuses on a character’s journey from childhood to adulthood, usually exploring their psychological and moral growth. In this class, we have read multiple novels from a complex range of characters from J D Sallinger’s Holden Caulfield to Alison Bechtel’s autobiographical through a graphic retelling. Most of these novels are critically acclaimed or are icons in the YA coming of age genre, but dare I say our most recent read Black Swan Green, truly is the first book we’ve read that actually has a character to come to age. Black Swan Green, a semi-autobiographical novel written by David Mitchell, tells the story of 13-year-old Jason Taylor through thirteen chapters, each representing one month from January 1982 through January 1983. Mitchell crafts a narrative where the protagonist doesn’t just survive adolescence, but rather grows from it. 

At the beginning of the novel, Jason Taylor opens with his experiences as a teenage boy in school. Like many others in middle or high school, Jason is preoccupied with how others perceive him. The invisible rules and hierarchies of middle school govern everything he does and affect the way he thinks daily. Even the small act of addressing classmates by their name reflects the complex social scenario Jason has to grapple with. He says that ““Kids who’re really popular get called by their first names, so Nick Yew’s always just “Nick”. Kids who’re a bit popular like Gilbert Swinyard have sort of respectful nicknames like “Yardy”. Next down are kids like me who call each other by our surnames” (5). These microdetails show how cautious Jason has to be daily to fit in. He doesn’t have the liberty to speak or think freely, he’s always performing for an invisible crowd, making sure he keeps the act going and doesn’t slip. Even when describing his best friend Dean Moran, I noticed he follows these unspoken rules as he uses Moran whenever Dean is mentioned or speaking. 

Another defining feature of Jason’s early struggle is his stammer, which he calls “Hangman”. Hangman is not just a speech impediment– it’s a deeper notion to all the ways Jason feel’s trapped to speak his mind and be himself. He can’t speak his mind at school. He can’t speak his mind at home either. There’s no safe space for Jason to voice his thoughts without a fear of being judged. Even when Jason speaks, Hangman controls him, dictating what words he uses and how he should respond to draw the least amount of attention. At school, he switches words on the fly to avoid stammering, limiting his vocabulary and also his academic potential (as he usually has to answer wrong to avoid certain letters and sounds). He struggles with his lack of voice throughout the entire book until the end, where Jason finds the strength to face his stutter and literally claim his voice. Jason’s repossession of his voice and his growing realization that the worst that could happen really isn’t that bad allows him to care less about other’s approval and become his authentic self. He no longer lets Hangman control him, and in doing so, starts living a life that isn’t controlled by how others will perceive him or these invisible rules, but rather his own thoughts. One small detail of this change is actually how Jason starts to address Dean. In the beginning of the novel, he used to follow the rules of his middle school hierarchy and only called him Moran. However, as the novel progresses, Jason starts using Dean’s actual name in dialogue. I found that interesting as it shows how he changes mindsets unintentionally but also how this seemingly small detail means a lot more once you look at it from the novel’s beginning to end.