Hangman's villain role in Black Swan Green
The Antagonist of Black Swan Green: Hangman
There are multiple antagonists in Black Swan Green that serve a different obstacle for Jason Taylor to beat in his coming-of-age narrative. Neal Brose, Ross Wilcox, his dad, and even Badger are all external forces that Jason eventually overcomes, making him more confident in the process. But more complex are the internal antagonists that Jason experiences: Maggot, Unborn Twin, and most importantly, Jason's stammer, 'Hangman'.
There are multiple antagonists in Black Swan Green that serve a different obstacle for Jason Taylor to beat in his coming-of-age narrative. Neal Brose, Ross Wilcox, his dad, and even Badger are all external forces that Jason eventually overcomes, making him more confident in the process. But more complex are the internal antagonists that Jason experiences: Maggot, Unborn Twin, and most importantly, Jason's stammer, 'Hangman'.
The first time the reader is introduced to Hangman is without any context; Jason brings it up in the narration without explanation, "I wanted to say "Nothing" but Hangman decided not to let me" (Mitchell 5). Jason doesn't explain his inner voices until later, which I believe is a narrative choice to show that he's been dealing with them for a long time, and in his "post-Hangman" life he's become used to fighting his stammer. 'Hangman' is an appropriate name for this inner demon because Jason is physically unable to say the stammer-words that Hangman blocks, like there's a noose tightening around his neck. Jason's stammer becomes a prominent antagonist, being personified as a villain he has to defeat and outsmart in order to not risk being ostracized.
Initially, he can defeat Hangman, even if in a small way, through his poetry as Elliot Bolivar. He doesn't have to worry about stammering or the ostracization of other people. He looks through the dictionary both for poetry and to speak around stammer-words. But that doesn't stop Jason's crushing fear of the possibility that his classmates will find out about his stammer. In the chapter named for Hangman, he grapples with the inevitable reading he has to do in front of the whole class with dozens of stammer-words in it. He says his life "won't be worth living" after people discover he has a stammer.
Ms. de Roo is able to step in and excuse him from the public speaking, but later in the book, Ross Wilcox finds out about his stammer. This is Jason's low point in the book, and essentially where Hangman "wins", even if Wilcox is the person bullying him. Jason's deepest fear is coming true, the thing he said would end his life if it ever happened. His "stutter" is constantly mocked by Wilcox, and he gets ostracized in the ways he feared at the beginning of the book.
At this point in the narrative, Jason seems to have lost his battle with Hangman. But after Ross Wilcox and Neal Brose get their comeuppance, Jason has a realization about his stammer while talking to Mrs. Gretton towards the end of the book. "S'pose it isn't Hangman
who causes it? S’pose it’s the other person? The other person’s expectations" (Mitchell 294). Jason's conversation with Ms. Gretton essentially allows him to understand his inner demons and figure out how to defeat them. He is able to become a "nonstammering stammerer", as Ms. de Roo puts it, by realizing that the social expectations he is pressured to conform to by others in everyday conversation are what create 'Hangman' (Mitchell 31). He realizes the stammer that had humiliated him and made him feel insecure for so long was not because of a personal fault but because of the pressure he feels from other people's expectations. Through this realization, he's able to defeat his main antagonist.
Dear blogdrian; I write to inform you of your blog post's utmost excellence. Hangman being defeated was a very impactful—yet quiet—moment in BSG. It's really interesting to me that Jason had to go through what he thought would mean his life "won't be worth living," as you quote, in order to grow and overcome this long-held fear of his. I feel like that feeling is incredibly relatable in middle school—having this small mistake you harbor for forever and lament, only to realize it actually doesn't matter much at all (like Jason with his fancy watch). But Hangman isn't small, and Jason standing up to his mortal enemy is admirable and super satisfying. Great blog, sir blogdrian.
ReplyDeleteHi Adrian! I like the way you explain this internal battle with "Hangman" as an antagonist for Jason because it really is deeper than just a stammer, but a force that impacts his entire life. I also found the end to be very powerful as he discovered what drove his stammer because it externalized the enemy that Jason thought to be himself. Rather than simply a "defect" that he had to persevere through, it was a circumstantial occurrence outside of his control. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Adrian! I liked the way you described the seriousness of Hangman for Jason and how even though there are many antagonists in the novel, Jason was eventually able to overcome those obstacles in his coming-of-age journey. With Hangman, he saw it as something he couldn't escape, since it was in his head. He reaches his lowest point in the novel when his biggest fear came true (Wilcox finding out about his stammer), but he was also able to realize what really causes his stammer and how he can avoid it. After not thinking so much about the pressure of being validated by others, he was able to defeat his biggest antagonist. Overall, great blog!
ReplyDeleteJason's visual imagining of Hangman's appearance certainly supports this reading of Hangman as a primary "villain" or antagonist in this novel--he *looks like* a cartoon villain, eager to torment children for the sadistic pleasure of it. Especially the way Jason describes him as deliberately toying with Jason--going away during certain months, letting him get a few words out here and there and then arbitrarily yanking back another letter of the alphabet. Hangman isn't just a personified "impediment"--he is a *malicious* presence in Jason's consciousness.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd say this novel does a great job of showing just how consequential this antagonist is. It's not merely that Jason's disability will be detected and he will be ostracized: more importantly, he is unable to communicate much of anything about who he really is. As a result, he comes off both as smarter AND stupider than he wants to be; he has great comebacks, on par with Julia's sarcastic wit, but he knows he can't speak them aloud. Throughout this novel, I'm always reflecting on how different OUR picture of Jason is than how everyone else sees him, including his family and closest friend. This is entirely due to the fact that he is entirely uninhibited and real when he writes, while he's entirely inhibited and therefore artificial in his actual social conduct.
Howdy Adrian!
ReplyDeleteI love how you portrayed Hangman as a villain Jason is desperately fighting in battle throughout the whole book. I never realized before that both get to take turns throwing punches, first Hangman via Wilcox, then Jason in his realization of a stammer as the pressure he feels from other people's expectations. I would also like to argue, however, that Jason never actually defeats Hangman, he only takes a new view on how to cope with Hangman's perpetual existence.
I don’t think that Jason completely overcame Hangman, but he is definitely heading in the right direction. As you put it quite well, He realizes the stammer that had humiliated him and made him feel insecure for so long was not because of a personal fault but because of the pressure he feels from other people's expectations. The pressure that he felt throughout the entire novel was such a struggle, and I think that, in a sense, he sort of created expectations for himself that were kind of reassured by the people that he was around. For the first half of the novel, he was trying to rise in the ranks of the school. But he still was struggling with hangman at the end of the novel; it just wasn’t his central focus.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that hangman is a major antagonist in the book. What makes hangman especially worth mentioning is as you said the consequences, but also hangman being a rather omnipresent antagonist, being internal means Jason can take it with him everywhere it goes. You brought up a great instance of hangman grabbing a word, and this happens constantly throughout the book to the point where its just a thing that happens. Great Blog post.
ReplyDeleteHi Adrian! I like that you describe Hangman as an “inner demon” who finds ways to choke Jason’s words and utterly humiliate him despite all his efforts to avoid stammering. I agree with your analysis that embracing his authentic self, rather than forcing himself to conform to social expectations, is the real remedy to Jason’s stammer. That realization explains why Hangman disappears when he is with Mrs. de Roo but flares up again when he’s around Ross Wilcox, Neal Brose, and the other goons. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Adrian! You did a super good job laying out a lot of the various ways in which Hangman torments Jason's life. I think it's also important to note, when we're talking about how "Hangman" is an apt name for the personification of his stammer, that he viewed his upcoming reading in front of the class specifically as his public execution. Hangman, or his stutter, would be his executioner and he would die---socially, which is as bad as real death in his mind (at least at this point). Once he loses the fear of social death/execution, as he has already had his social death, he is able to overcome Hangman because you can't exactly execute a dead man.
ReplyDeleteHi Adrian! This was super interesting. I agree 'inner demon'. is the right word to describe its role in Jason's life. I wish there was a second book to read to see the after life. Nice work1
ReplyDeleteI really like how you emphasize Hangman as an inner demon. I Jason would agree, as I take him personifying his struggles to be a way to legitimize the struggles he's facing. Most issues especially at this time had the solution of basically 'shut up and be a man'. By Jason personifying his stammer, he is able to explain it as if it was a force outside himself, not something he has control over. I also like how you highlight that while Jason found ways to avoid Hangman, he was still very much present, and still holding significant power over him
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