The Role of Perspective in Jason's Coming of Age
At the beginning of Black Swan Green, Jason’s world is narrow. The title of this book being Black Swan Green –the name of Jason’s childhood town–emphasizes how Jason’s small marshy town in the middle of rural England is his all-encompassing universe. He refers to a lake nearby his house as “THE lake,” he knows all of his neighbors by name, and the social structure among his school peers consumes him. His world is not only physically small, but mentally as well. He accepts what he’s been told by the limited number of people in his life–that writing poetry is gay, that it’s weird to have a stutter, that England is the best and most honorable country, and that Romani people are polluting his civilized neighborhood with their savagery. To me, one of the main arcs of Black Swan Green is Jason becoming aware of different perspectives and growing out of his town, both physically and mentally. While following the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina, Jason is initially comple...