Black Swan Green

Black Swan Green chronicles an important year in 13-year-old Jason’s life, the year in which he takes a serious interest in girls for the first time. Initially, most of Jason’s thoughts about girls or sex just bring him shame. He gets embarrassed, for example, when a shopkeeper catches him looking at a pen with a naked woman on it. He feels even more embarrassed when he ends up trapped in a tree, secretly watching Tom Yew and Debby Crombie have sex. Additionally, this experience comes after Jason’s crush, Dawn, seemed to express romantic interest in Jason in a way that was extremely confusing and uncomfortable for him. This frames a young person’s sexual awakening as inherently anxiety inducing. In Jason’s case, part of his anxiety and embarrassment stems from how secretive anything romantic or sexual seems. The problem, in Jason’s mind, is less that he’s interested in girls and sex and more that he’s certain embarrassment would follow if anyone knew he was interested.

Dawn’s behavior remains opaque and confusing throughout the novel—Jason learns, for instance, that she acted similarly interested in his friend Moron at one point. For a while, Jason continues to pine for Dawn, even as she enters into a relationship with Russ Wilcox. But one day, that longing goes away almost as quickly as it appeared, showing how mysterious and fleeting attraction can be, particularly for someone as young and inexperienced as Jason. Eventually, Jason meets the new girl Holly Deblin, who seems to be a better match for him—and, unlike Dawn, is more willing to be open about her interest in Jason. He kisses her for the first time on a day when he overcomes several challenges in his personal life, showing how his growth as a person has also helped him to better understand romance and sexuality. In Black Swan Green, Mitchell depicts how coming of age and learning about romance and sex can be a confusing and even shameful part of growing up, but he also offers hope that time, experience, and openness can help young people to better understand relationships.