In the chapter Goose Fair of Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, Jason goes into the Hall of Mirrors and sees reflections of himself in four mirrors. While looking at these reflections (this is my theory on what the italic words are) they talk back to him, saying some pretty interesting things.
In the first mirror, Jason describes seeing himself as an “African tribesman” who asks “Can a person change into another person?”. I think this question is something that Jason asks himself throughout the novel, specifically in relation to social hierarchy. In the beginning of the novel, Jason looked up to “cool” kids and aspired to fit in with them. He wants to be like them, change into them.
In the second mirror, Jason sees himself as a “gelatinous cube” who says “You can only change superficial features. An inside you must stay unaltered to change the Outside-You. To change Inside-You you’d need an Even-More-Inside-You, who’d need an Inside-the-Even-More-Inside-You to change it. And on and on.” Initially I was pretty confused by this quote (actually I still am), but I think it’s saying that you on the inside have to stay the same to change you who are on the outside, meaning, a person is only capable of changing the way that they look; to change who they are on the inside, you need to keep changing yourself further, which because the cycle goes on you can never actually change the way you are. Your status can only be determined by who you are not your “superficial features”.
In the third mirror, Jason sees “Maggot” who says “Don’t listen to them. Ross Wilcox and Gary Drake and Neal Brose pick on us because you don’t blend in. If you had the right hair and clothes and spoke the right way and hung out with the right people, things’d be fine. Popularity’s about following weather forecasts.” The message I received from this mirror was that Jason has no hope because he can’t change superficial things. Jason can’t just blend in with the cool kids; he can’t just buy new clothes and get rid of his stammering. This is the way he is, and because of that he is picked on and will always be picked on unless what being popular is changes.
In the fourth and final mirror, Jason sees an Upside-down Jason Taylor who says “What good’s Maggot ever done to you?... How about an Outside-You… who is your Inside-You too? If people like your One-You, great. If they don’t, tough. Trying to win approval for your Outside- You is a drag Jason. That’s what makes you weak. It’s boring.” First of all, I took the structure of each mirror as sort of this Goldilocks advice: mirrors one, two, and three told him advice to change himself while the fourth mirror is telling him how about you stay the same, inside and out. A completely different idea is given which goes along with the completely different mirror, which keeps the same image of Jason (opposing to the other mirrors which morph his image in some way) by just turning him upside down. The advice given by this reflection reminded me a lot of the advice Madame Crommelynck gives to Jason in Solarium: be truthful about who you are. Why should Jason seek the approval of the hairy barbarians? If they don’t like his true self, “tough”.
I’m not completely sure about this, but I sort of thought that each mirror mirrors the overall arc of Jason’s character in this whole novel. His shift from wanting change himself, change his inside self, his outside self, but then in the end, ultimately realizing that he shouldn’t create a distinction between the two and behave how he wants to, is described by each of these mirrors.
*Note I confused myself a lot writing this post and a lot of it is pretty unclear I apologize*
This scene is super interesting and I'd say is a watershed moment in the book. Although Jason has come to accept that he is picked on before the chapter "goose fair", I think that this scene symbolizes his final departure from caring about popularity and what others think of him, as we can see in the following chapter "disco".
ReplyDeleteI also found the hall of mirrors scene pretty perplexing, but I think I agree with everything you said (especially the part about the fourth mirror - "Goldilocks advice" is a great way to describe it). The mirrors reflected different aspects of how Jason thinks and acts throughout the novel, and I think it would make sense if they represented his development throughout.
ReplyDeleteI think the "gelatinous cube" quote is really striking because it stresses how Jason can't change who he is on the inside no matter what. Ultimately Jason makes the realization that he has to be an outside and inside you, and to stay true to himself.
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