Hugo as a Mentor
The hero's journey framework is often used in coming-of-age novels. The idea of a protagonist overcoming hurdles to beat an ultimate challenge applies naturally to the universal struggle of kids trying to find their place in the world. A key aspect of this hero's journey is the mentor, usually an older, wiser figure that guides the hero on their way. But Black Swan Green uses a much more complicated interpretation of this mentor figure. Rather than being absolutely morally pure facilitators, the book's mentors are flawed, offering a much more realistic take on how other people influence the coming-of-age process. The first major "mentor" figure, Hugo Lamb, reflects Jason Taylor's ideals in the exposition of the novel. He vehemently obsesses on how he fits into hierarchies, both with his classmates and in his household. Hugo seems to have a much easier time navigating through the world, so Jason naturally looks up to him. But later in the chapter, he comes to realize the failings of the way his cousin lives life.
When his relatives come, specifically his older cousin Hugo, the status quo is upset. From the moment he is introduced, Jason describes his serene aura: "Last came Hugo. Hugo fits his body like a glove. He's two years older than me. 'Hugo' would be a cursed name for most kids but on Hugo it's a halo. (Plus, the Lambs go to an independent school in Richmond where you get picked on not if you're posh but if you're not posh enough.) Hugo wore a black zip-up top with no hood and no logo, button-fly Levi jeans, pixie boots, and one of those woven wristbands you wear to prove you're not a virgin." (43). It's clear that Jason admires how confidently Hugo wears attributes that Jason thought would get him bullied. In the first chapter, Jason writes, "But this morning any kid who denied loving British Bulldogs'd've looked a total ponce. Specially kids from up Kingfisher Meadows like me." (7). This quote reveals how he is constantly trying to disprove a reputation as some rich, weak, "ponce" from the suburbs; he makes sure not to miss an opportunity to make himself look tough. He also takes special care to curate the perfect personality through fashion, as shown when talking about his outfit for his afternoon at the lake: "Truth is, black means you fancy yourself as a hard-knock...Wooly hats're gay..." (5). In contrast, Hugo doesn't seem nervous rocking a more "old-money" look: he knows what he's going for and owns it.
Initially, as readers, we hoped Hugo could be a good influence. His confidence would hopefully translate to Jason's own life. In fact, he gives a speech that Jason might need to hear: "'This 'Not today' attitude of yours is a cancer. Cancer of the character. It stunts your growth. Other kids sense your Not-Todayness, and despise your for it. 'Not today' is why those plebs in the Black Swan make you nervous..." (64). The root of Jason's problems is his lack of confidence. The characters "Hangman", "Maggot", and "Unborn twin" are products of his anxiety; they subside when he becomes more confident at the end of the novel. Unfortunately, a lot of Hugo's facade eventually wears off by the end of "Relatives." Jason becomes less convinced about Hugo's perfection in light of his sinister behavior. On page 61, Hugo tries to smooth talk Julia's best friend Kate Alfrick, but ends up failing embarrassingly. He attempts to impress her with talks of wine, but she says, "could be you don't know your types as well as you think you do." He tries to continue, saying, "Hope we'll bump into each other again, sometime." But she coldly responds, "I shouldn't pin your hopes on it." The scene ends with dialogue interspersed with subtle indications of Jason's thoughts: "Kate left, cross. 'How,' Hugo said, reminding me of Uncle Brian, 'appetizing'" (61). Although Jason takes a passive role narrating this scene, he hints at his opinions of Hugo by saying "reminded me of Uncle Brian". He initially praised Hugo for being different than his family members, being somehow above his uncle and father, who are still victim to childlike insecurity. But now, the mask is slipping and he realizes Hugo is no different.
Hi Linden, I wrote a similary blog post on what Hugo's role was in Jason's coming of age and I agree about Hugo's role being this mentor role. I like how you thought of it was the mentor's role in the heros journey I never thought of it that way. I like how you show Jason intially idealzing Hugo's confidence and then slowly re-evaluating him as the masks starts to slip. The contrats between Jason insecurity and Hugos outward confidence is what makes them both very different form eachother. I do agree at the end Jason does realzie Hugo is not as perfect Jason thinks he is but I also do think Jason realzies he can maybe become like a Hugo someone who still popular but also knowledgeable and likes poetry. Great post!
ReplyDeleteYou're right that *Jason* seems pretty eager to see Hugo as a mentor, in large part because he wants to BE Hugo, to have his verbal dexterity, his ability to manipulate others, to use WORDS in order to charm or overwhelm people and exert his will on them. (Julia embodies a very similar kind of verbal acuity and wit, and I'd say she's a MUCH better candidate for mentorship, but at this point Jason seems to believe that he must model himself after another *boy*: there's the sense that Hugo holds the "answer" to Jason's issues with the kids in his community, and indeed we see that they are duly impressed by his skills at Defender. It probably would do Jason some good, in this community, to be a little more like Hugo--as indeed, he capitalizes on Hugo's "cherry-knocking" technique a few chapters later.
ReplyDeleteKey to this dynamic, I'd say, is that the reader can clearly see that Hugo himself has no interest in being anyone's mentor or role model--he is never genuinely trying to HELP Jason; he's hustling him and manipulating him from start to finish, simply for his own amusement. So what COULD be a valid inspirational mentor-type speech ("kill Not Today!" etc.) is in fact a joke, an effort to manipulate Jason into smoking the cigarette, so he gets nauseous and vomits. Hugo doesn't really care about Jason's confidence either way--he's manipulating him with the "Not today!" speech just as he manipulates him into putting up all his pocket money as a wager on the darts game (money that, significantly, is very valuable to Jason but meaningless to wealthy Hugo--it's just for the "fun" of messing with his younger cousin!). Maybe Jason can still reap the benefits of Hugo's inspirational speech, even if the giver of the speech is not sincere or genuine in his intentions. He does say some things that Jason maybe needs to hear--but more importantly, I'd say, he needs to learn from this experience *not to listen too closely to people like Hugo when they give advice*!