The Black Swan Green : Cruelty Among Jason

(27 Mitchell) “By the end of first break my life won’t be worth living.” (27 Mitchell). This quote shows that if people find out about Jason’s stammer, then Jason doesn’t think that his life would be worth living. The fact that Jason thinks death would be better than people

In the incident when Jason appears with the police after the school shooting, the officer tells of the events, Jason’s apparent heroism, but the fact that Jason had killed another, despite the reasons behind it, he states “What I understand is that my son experienced murder in his heart, and chose not to rise above that impulse. I understand that my son is a murderer.”- Quote, Reg (Coupland, 2003, p.77)

the big idea: cruelty leads to dehumanization (either by idolizing someone as a hero: ‘the undefeatable’, ‘god-like’, or villainizing someone: ‘tyrannus villain’, ‘hell-creature’, ‘earth-razer’)

Though Jason knows his children will leave him, he still makes sure he provides them with a little assurance so they do not initially suffer after they leave him.

When hunger games start the tributes (participates) pick up their packages and run. Katniss however, does not pick up her package and run just as Haymitch had advised her. She goes deep into the forest and tries to stay hidden from other tributes for fear that that might kill her. She’s afraid but she was also a skilled survivor so she tries to work on a plan of winning the games. She contemplates the odds of her survival, as an ally she had befriended earlier dries. During this journey she discovers her true self and the battle she was once having within herself changes to resentment towards the Capitol. She realizes that true enemy in the Capital. “Rue was death has to forced me that confront by the own fury against the cruelty. No way is

In William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies, Jack and others use their acts of cruelty towards the other boys to show a sense of power and role on the island higher than everyone else’s. In the book, Jack and his choir are obsessed and driven to find and kill a pig. While killing the pig they chant, “Kill the pig! Cut its throat! Kill the pig! Spill her blood!”. These words are evidently an act of cruelty because they could have simply killed the pig quietly and civilly. However, by chanting and frolicing about, they were given the power they had desired through cruelty. After successfully killing a quantity of pigs, the author states, “The Compulsion to track down and kill was swallowing him up”, meaning that he desires to kill because

Jason is described as very smart. His knowledge extends from the military to how to build something in a new way. One example is the snow-kart, which also shows how determined he is. He spent many hours trying to make the kart work, and he always had new ideas for it. When Pete decided to use it one day, Jason was hesitant to let him use it. He did not want to risk Pete’s life because he knew the kart was not quite finished. Another person the author characterizes as smart is Scotty. He knew a lot about the “nor’easter” when it was mentioned on the radio. He also proved to be correct when he suggested where to put the fire. Of his friends, he is the most athletic. Scotty is only a sophomore and he is on the basketball team already. The last way Scotty was characterized was as brave and loyal. He was willing to risk his life for his friend, even though he was already likely dead. Both of the people that I evaluated have great

Equality and fairness is something that people have always been striving for and hoping to receive. The novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, by author Khaled Hosseini displays the journey of two Afghan women during rough times due to the religious extremists known as the Taliban. These two women, Mariam and Laila, faced cruelty throughout their lives even at the hands of relatives and their so called loved ones.

The novel “Night” shows that there is great inhumanity and cruelty displayed from this personal journey of Elie Wiesel. The Nazi are the ringleaders behind it all gradually making the Jews feel like nothing and only pawns for work. The Germans strip the Jews to nothing and take away everything close to them, separation from loved ones, isolation, transportation and the ruthless, cold actions towards them in the camps such as starvation, selections of the fittest and the struggle of survival becomes essential for their own self. However there are humane acts within the book which help Elie overcome some struggles and survive the brutality of the camps and war.

I hypothesize when utilizing reexperiencing with Jason it would benefit him regarding being able to fully assess the traumatic event he experiences while in combat. I would hypothesize Jason never fully assessed his feelings regarding the situation because during the event he was in combat which is a highly stressful situation. Being in combat would not have provided him with the opportunity to process what he just experienced.

Jason is a Korean and he came to America when he was 13 which mean English is not his first language. He had to face many challenges during his high school years and college and those challenges helped him to be success in his career back then.

of Darkness: the chain gangs, the grove of death, the payment in brass rods, the

This presents another challenge. On the other hand, his rich clients spend tons of money on trying to get help for their children, and are most times taken for granted because that child is completely brain dead, and the reality of it has not sunk in for them. From this perspective, Jason sees SES for the poor as a factor, but it does not have to be a defining factor. He views parents as being the catapult to change. The resources are there, one just has to look, and be receptive to change as well as the well-being of their child. Priorities are at times eschew in certain cases. Gary’s mother never got that table chair combo, just a table, but was able to buy a new car.

“Black Swan Green” is a story about a highschool boy, named Jason Taylor. Jason has a stammer unlike his other peers at his horrible high school. He’s the kid that dreads talking in front of the class because he sees himself as different. He’s afraid to be judged for his flaws. Also, he has a love for poetry he must hide from everyone. He can’t express his feelings for poetry or anything because he's too scared to be himself. In this story, his mentor, Madame Crommelynck teaches him to accept himself and show the world the real Jason Taylor. Jason has many conflicts throughout the story, especially with himself. On the contrary, Madame Crommelynck relates Jason’s high school peers to hairy barbarians. She asks Jason, “So you want a double life. One Jason Taylor who seeks approval of hairy barbarians. Another Jason Taylor is Eliot Bolivar, who seeks approval of the literary world. Is that so impossible?” (Mitchell, 154). Jason wants to fit in at his school, while Eliot Bolivar wants to be accepted in the literary world. Jason thinks to become a good poet he needs to be accepted by his peers but poetry is for yourself. It’s your thoughts and feelings. Poetry is not for an audience to criticise. To be a poet, you need to be yourself and then you’ll truly be accepted.

“All cruelty springs from weakness,” said Lucius Annaeus Seneca. To me, this quote means that cruelty comes out from a person who is feeling weak. A big question people ask each other is “Why are people cruel to each other?” In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, there are many incidents of cruelty. Cruelty appeared in the book when George yells at the mentally handicapped Lennie in the beginning of the book. This trend of cruelty continues throughout the book. Characters that were notably cruel in the book are Curley, Curley’s wife, and George. The three things that motivate people to be cruel in the book are: when people feel they are powerless, when a person wants a feeling of short term enjoyment from