Comparing the social hierarchy of Black Swan Green to my school experiences

 In Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, Jason Taylor explores the life of being bullied in school. He is not very high in the social hierarchy, but not the lowest of low. In this spot, there isn't much you can do to improve or really drop in ranking, but if you start acting cool and confident and make people notice you, then you might shift. 

Just like in BSG, real life has these hierarchies as well. In my years of school, I have noticed certain people tend to "shine" more than others, and it made me really take notice of the social construction around me. At every school, there are those core people who stand out more than others, and everyone seems to know them. In BSG, that is the exact same thing we see. I believe that there are very defined cliques in BSG as well, and in our real life setting of Uni. People tend to stick to their groups, not really branching out to other groups, but with Uni there is a little flexibility. Everyone knows each other, and it isn't like a defined social hierarchy, but more of a subtle one. There are the groups of people that everyone knows, but they don't completely ignore or bully those who may be on the lower part of the totem pole. In fact, I don't even know if I would classify it as a totem pole or hierarchy, but more of a web of interconnectivity. 

Schools here have a lot of similarities to Black Swan Green, but I think Uni stands out among them because of the size we have. If anything, a comparison of Uni to other schools in this area would make more sense in a BSG setting than comparing the social hierarchy of Uni. We are the Jason Taylor's of the Champaign-Urbana schools, and we are proud of it.

Comments

  1. MitchellApril 24, 2023 at 2:54 PM

    Another thing that is very different about Uni than my own high-school and middle-school experience, for example, is that in my experience (and Jason's), there was this odd dynamic where the cool or intimidating kids weren't rich or stylish or trendy--they tended to be the "bad" kids, from broken homes and sketchy backgrounds that made them seem "hard" (as Jason puts it), and who conveyed varying ranges of the "don't give a toss" ethos that defines Pluto Noak. For better or worse, I remember being really compelled by the group of slightly older students who would be tagged as those without much of a future--certainly not on the "college track." It was definitely NOT cool to do well in school, or even to admit that you're smart in some way--and there was an appeal in rebelling against the school system, failing classes to show how little you care. I never went the full-on "fail classes and get held back" route, but there were periods in my life when I was probably too attracted to the kids who did.

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  2. NateApril 28, 2023 at 5:30 PM

    Very thought provoking post. Uni being the Jason Taylor of the CU schools is a interesting comparison that makes sense. We definitely do get called the "Nerd School" along with other things. But we know that we aren't that, and we have more that just good academics. I also agree with your description of the Uni social as a web than I totem pole. I see that as accurate and one of the things that make Uni a very welcoming community. Nice post!

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