The Unconscious Forces in Jason’s Mind
The Unconscious Forces in Jason’s Mind
When reading Black Swan Green, it is impossible to understand Jason Taylor without the voices who constantly cloud his inner voice. The ones we hear the most about are Maggot, Hangman, and Unborn Twin, all of whom have some influence on his actions and words. They all play a unique role in influencing him, and together they create chaos and unity inside Jason’s head. These voices seem to take the places of the id, superego, and ego in Jason’s consciousness, a Freudian categorization of the unconscious forces that influence people’s behavior (Lilienfeld et al. 515). Interestingly enough, Jason seems very aware of these internal voices, showing his immense emotional depth in comparison to others around him.
The main unconscious forces are id, superego, and ego, each of which parallels with a different internal voice for Jason. The id is the completely unconscious force that operates on pleasure, doing whatever it wants regardless of what is socially acceptable (Lilienfeld et al. 515). For Jason, this seems to be Unborn Twin, evidenced by many times when he says some socially unaware things to Jason like “stick darts into their eyeballs” (Mitchell 245). This comment is Unborn Twin’s response to the bullying Jason faces at school and while this feels like it would be a good choice to get back at the bullies, it is morally wrong, so even though it is suggested to Jason, he doesn’t go through with it. The superego is the mostly unconscious component that is grounded in societal and moral conduct (Lilienfeld et al. 515). The internal voice that best matches the superego is Maggot. Often, Maggot expresses the insecurities that Jason has, especially ones that have formed through the bullying of the people in his school. One particular instance in which Maggot shows up is when he sees the girls stealing. Maggot tells him to keep it to himself, as he would likely stutter if brought to court which could really embarrass him (Mitchell 192).
In this scene though, Jason still tells his mom about the stealing, which brings us to the ego. The ego is the component that satisfies the wishes of the id while allowing for the societal norms of the superego (Lilienfeld et al. 515). Basically, it's what creates a middle ground. For Jason, there isn’t a clear internal voice that portrays the ego which honestly makes sense because Jason’s external persona is really the ego. Instead, Hangman, his biggest adversary, actually works conversely to his ego. Despite Jason being relatively aware of the things he must say to maintain decent social standing while staying true to himself, Hangman always gets in the way. Sometimes, this even causes Jason to have to say words that are grown up or dumbed down, convoluting the real things he wants to say. As he tells his mentor (for a brief time) and us (throughout the book), this is the real reason he likes writing poetry. Jason sees poetry as his only way to channel what he really wants to say, expressing his ego without Hangman impeding on it.
This ability to work around Hangman’s attacks on Jason’s ego is one key example of Jason’s emotional awareness. He has found a way to look past Hangman, framing everything the exact way he would like without being stopped. And even within this, it's interesting that Jason can pinpoint different parts of his consciousness. He is familiar with each one, with their input truly affecting what he says. He knows how influential each voice is on his external persona, even if they don’t really encompass his whole personality, which makes us keenly aware of what is going on inside his head with very little explanation needed from him.
Work Cited
Lilienfeld, Scott, et al. Psychology in Your Life. 4th ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2023.
Mitchell, David. Black Swan Green. Random House, 2007.
Hi Praachi, I also found his inner voices to be particularly interesting. I found it really interesting how the voices in his head would just randomly pop up and Jason would barely even acknowledge those thoughts. I really liked this interpretation of Jason's inner psyche!
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting topic! I think you're totally right about the different voices in his head acting as these different Freudian categorizations. I like how you point out that he doesn't specifically have a voice acting as his ego yet, and that hangman is the antithesis of his ego, because I think it's something that he is developing through his coming-of-age. We see hangman becoming less prevalent and more controllable towards the end of the novel, hinting at a possible emergence of his ego.
ReplyDeleteI've heard Unborn Twin and Maggot described as something like the angel and devil on someone's shoulder in an old cartoon, representing something like conscience ("Do it!" / "Don't do it!"), but I like this psychological reading a lot more. I hadn't fully grasped how well the trio maps onto id, ego, and superego once you add Hangman to the mix. Unborn Twin is often especially ambiguous--at times it seems like "intrusive thoughts," often proposing something Jason *really* should not do (like sticking darts into eyeballs). But then the "Disco" chapter, when Jason smashes the calculator while blocking out the consequences, represents UT completely in charge, banishing Maggot almost completely (in contrast, the bleak "Maggot" chapter represents Maggot completely in charge). One arc in the novel has to do with Hangman losing his power over Jason--by the end, he's still pausing conspicuously to edit his sentences, but he's not as *worried* about it, and he's not trying to *conceal* it. In some ways this seems like a victory of the id, but sort of merged with the superego: he accepts that he will sometimes hesitate when forming a sentence, but he's not nearly as worried about the consequences of allowing his struggle to be evident.
ReplyDeleteYou made a really great connection here, Prachi. I think that the inclusion of the unconscious forces in Jason's mind really add a lot of depth to his character. It shows exactly why he makes the decisions that he makes, and we get to understand him on a different level. We can see what he wants to do vs. what's stopping him vs. what he actually does. I think that's a really unique yet overlooked part of this book.
ReplyDeleteHi Praachi!! I think you wrote about one of the most captivating elements of this book! I think the way Jason personifies his struggles and thoughts by giving them names really adds to the complexity of what he is experiencing. It adds a level of uniqueness to his Coming of Age, as towards the end of the book not only is he overcoming social struggles in the real world, but he is overcoming this mental battle with almost like these "characters" that only exist in his mind. I really enjoyed reading your blog! :)
ReplyDeleteHiya Praachi!! This is such an interesting dissection of Jason's inner voices. Honestly, the concept of them at first was a bit odd to me (Not so much their existence, but rather how they were portrayed in the novel. I feel like there aren't too many better alternatives though.), and this really helped piece everything together. I've never heard about the whole concept of id, superego, and ego, so this was quite cool to learn about! Great post!!
ReplyDeleteYay psychology!!! For real though, thanks for the lesson on Jason's mind. The roles you've assigned to Jason's voices make so much sense when I think about them. I wonder if David Mitchell was consciously thinking about the Freudian side of these voices when he wrote them into the book. I doubt Jason himself was thinking of his inner consciousness as these subgroups, but I also like how he created respective personas that reflect different parts of himself.
ReplyDeleteHi Praachi! I love your take on the true psychology behind Jason's inner insecurities and how those actualize into something real inside his head, such as "Maggot" or "Unborn Twin". The aspects of the id, superego, and ego are something that I think gets overlooked when we analyze characters and why their emotions may be so heightened or fixated on one aspect. Great post!
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