Jason's Inner Personas
Throughout the story, Jason acknowledges three different inner personas he possesses: Hangman, Maggot, and Unborn Twin. Hangman symbolizes Jason's stammer, Maggot represents an infestation of Jason's desire to fit in with the 'cool' kids, and Unborn Twin represents an impossibly ideal version of himself.
In the beginning chapters of the novel, all of Jason's inner personas seem to be working against him, hindering him from being the person that he desires. Most notably, Hangman blocks countless words through Jason's stammer at the most inopportune times, such as when he's trying to say the answer to a ridiculously simple math question, or when he has a fire comeback against Ross Wilcox's historically incorrect statement. However, due to Hangman, Jason just appears like a stupid loser to all his classmates. Meanwhile, Unborn Twin constantly degrades Jason for not being perfect at everything, even telling Jason that he shouldn't have been born, and Maggot forces Jason to do things against his judgement just to appear cool. For example, despite knowing that he should console Nigel after Hugo verbally abuses him, Jason chose not to because "Maggot didn't" (56). Much like how Madame Crommelynck observes that the words of Jason's poems "are still the master" of him, and not vice versa, Jason allows his inner personas to completely control him and dictate his every action.
However, as the novel progresses, Jason begins to gain a greater understanding of his inner personas. Rather than seeing them as bothersome inconveniences that only exist to hinder him, Jason learns to accept his inner personas as a part of himself, while also realizing that he can live alongside them without being manipulated. A passage that starkly exemplifies this growth was when Holly Deblin notices Jason destroying Neal Brose's calculator and Unborn Twin tells Jason, "I think she likes us" (259). Not only is Unborn Twin saying something positive to Jason instead of his usual insults, but most importantly, Unborn Twin uses the word "us", which demonstrates a sense of comradery between Jason and Unborn Twin. Moreover, Jason describes himself as moving past his "Maggot Period" where all he cared about was being cool, showing his awareness of what Maggot stood for and his conclusion that Maggot wasn't something he wanted to become (262). Finally, in the last pages of the book, Jason comes to a realization that Hangman, the inner persona that has definitely been the most troublesome to Jason, disappears whenever he stops caring about the listener's expectations. By the end of the story, Jason understands how to work around his inner personas and is in completel control of his own life.
One thing I found really weird/interesting about maggot is that his name is used throughout the story before the origin of his name is introduced. To be honest, while interesting, I found the multiple voices in his head a bit weird. While "Loony" isn't a very nice word, I think Maxine was right, if he actually hears these voices inside his head he may want to get checked out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statements! I'd even say that coming of age means learning who you are and accepting all parts of yourself, which Jason has done in the end of the book. I guess you could say maggot was more phased out than accepted, but I'd argue that Jason accepted himself for who he really was, which meant he no longer needed to make pretenses of being who he wasn't (the maggot persona).
ReplyDeleteI really love your interpretation of the "i think she likes us" line. It mark's Jason's eventual camaraderie with Unborn Twin, which, if we think about it, is a metaphor for Jason's growth as a person: his persona of the ideal person is working with him instead of against him, showing that Jason is slowly becoming the ideal person in his own eyes, therefore negating the need for Unborn Twin entirely.
ReplyDeleteI really agree. I thought the fact that he realized "Maggot wasn't something he wanted to become" was really awesome, as he kind of forged his own idea of what "cool" is. Mitchell really seems to be pushing this idea of not living to please others, as all of Jason's inner troubles start fading away when he finds his own way of not giving a damn.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blogpost, nice work! I find it interesting how Jason has all of these voices in his head. They not only guide him but help us, the reader, understand him more. Just as Jason is living for others like his "friends" and peers he is also living for the voices in his head. By the end he is living for himself and all of the judgmental voices, real and imaginary, seem to mean less to him.
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