Jason Navigating Bullying

        The discussions in class about how Jason dealt with bullying in the moment stood out to me as I feel like it’s not something that's usually talked about. At least from my experience, people only tend to talk about bullying after the fact, so it’s not often you hear the victim’s perspective and thought process as it’s happening. Bullying tends to have a direct relationship with response, and it can only continue if it has a reaction to feed off of. It can’t be that simple though, and I think Jason’s experience helps convey that nuance. 

        The relationship between bullying and reaction was particularly seen when Jason fell in a puddle. Ross Wilcox and everyone else around laughed and pointed at him, and it humiliated Jason, causing him to lash out: “‘Oh really blinking funny Wilcox’ … ‘that’s pathetic–’ But on ‘pathetic’ my voice squeaked like my balls haven’t dropped. Everyone heard. A fresh bomb of laughter blew me into tiny bits” (Mitchell 162-63). Jason gave the bullies the reaction they wanted; they laughed in his face, and he retorted back. But, Jason’s response did the complete opposite of what he wanted. It only gave them more material to bully him with, not to mention his voice crack. In an effort to defend himself, he inadvertently continued the cycle of the last thing he wanted at that point.

        But, when the bullies aren’t rewarded, the act doesn’t seem so worth it anymore. During the scene where Jason was given a grundy, he didn’t give his bullies the reaction they were looking for. He seemed to realize that his bullies were driven primarily by the idea that they would get something out of the bullying; they were only in it if it resulted in a rewarding reaction or a boost in their social standing. He said that “grundies’re only much fun if the victim squeals and tries to fight … [his] attackers pretended to find it funny, but it was heavy, unrewarding work” (Mitchel 216). In contrast to the puddle scene earlier, where Jason was provoked and fed into it, he actively went against what he now realized was unproductive. Instead of giving his bullies what they wanted, he let them have a tiring and unexciting experience. I think it’s noteworthy that he didn’t try to avoid the grundy; If he didn’t let them do it at all, they wouldn’t know whether it’d be “fun” or not. He let them know in the moment that he wasn’t going to let them enjoy his mistreatment.

        Jason ignoring his bullies in contrast to proving their efforts futile resulted much less in his favor. When Ross Wilcox was making fun of Jason’s stutter, he discussed his two options with the reader: “Answer, and he’ll twist your reply so that it seems only a total twat could’ve said what you just said. Don’t answer, and it’s like you’re admitting it’s okay for Wilcox to be ripping into you” (Mitchell 119-20). Wilcox continued to ridicule Jason’s stutter for the rest of the paragraph. Jason didn’t have an option similar to the one he had during the grundy scene— where he let the bullies torment him, just not in the way they expected. This situation conveys how the advice to “just ignore it” doesn’t really hold true. His silence was only a green light for Wilcox to keep going. Ignoring bullying won’t put an end to it; bullying only stops when it becomes too arduous to continue.

Comments

  1. JessyApril 22, 2025 at 7:03 AM

    This was such a thoughtful look at the complexity of bullying and response, specifically how Jason’s reactions either fueled or deflated the situation. I liked how you contrasted the puddle scene with the grundy scene to show Jason’s growth in learning what kind of reaction actually gives him power. I think your nuanced take on bullying that acknowledges how there’s no perfect response, only smarter choices was great.

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  2. PraachiApril 22, 2025 at 7:10 AM

    I completely agree with you that this is a unique perspective on bullying. We really never see the ways in which someone thinks to combat bullying in the moment, and the flawed ways in which Jason does are especially telling of how certain things play out in real life. Obviously in class we are one step ahead of him, talking about the ways he could combat bullying, but we actually get to watch this process in real life which is such a cool perspective on it.

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  3. Ruby MitchellApril 22, 2025 at 9:06 AM

    This is such an interesting topic! I hadn't really stopped to think about how we usually see people dealing with bullying versus what we see in black swan green, but it definitely is interesting the trajectory of Jason realizing that not responding to his bullies is better than responding. Usually, someone ignoring their bullies is seen as a sign of weakness, and they are told to stand up for themselves, but I think Jason's tactic is much more realistic.

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  4. MitchellApril 25, 2025 at 1:53 PM

    To be clear, Jason doesn't just "fall" into that puddle--Ross shoves him as he steps off the bus, and he slams down into the puddle. There's nothing accidental about it.

    His reaction in this scene is a great contrast to his reaction to the "grundy" at the end of the longest school day of his life: he DOES seem to have learned something by this point, with larger implications. If he can "ride out" this grundy/wedgie, and it doesn't actually hurt him physically as much as he'd feared it would, then maybe he can "ride out" this entire "Maggot" phase until it blows over and another victim is singled out. (We kind of see him "riding it out" in the next chapter, when he acts all bored as Ross gets less and less witty making fun of his stammer.)

    I wish I could remember the name of the student who coined the phrase in this class maybe 12 years ago when we discussed this book, but we were breaking down the nonviolent-resistance dynamics in this scene, as Jason's passive-resistance exposes the moral bankruptcy of the violent oppressors (see: King, Martin Luther, Jr.). This brilliant student suggested we call it the "Gandhi Grundy," since Jason is essentially applying Gandhian nonviolence to a British tormentor. You are welcome to use this handy phrase when referring to this scene!

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  5. violetApril 29, 2025 at 7:24 AM

    Sandy, I also found it super interesting that Black Swan Green led our class to talk about such a seemingly taboo subject as bullying. It was nice to read a narrative from the perspective of someone experiencing bullying, and I think it spoke to a lot people's experiences in middle school, whether they were bystanders or involved in the bullying. Great work!

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