Stephen Dedalus isn't happy with his society and where he lives, Holden Caulfield is just generally unhappy with society and the people (phonies) who are a part of it, Esther Greenwood is going through a serious mental breakdown partially prompted by her unhappiness with American culture, and Ruth Foster has issues with fitting into her culture, ultimately becoming a hobo.
Jason Taylor is a completely different story. He is dealing with lots of bullying from his peers, both in school and out, as well as watching his parents' marriage fall apart. We're always hearing in the news that bullying is on the rise, and I think that's why coming of age novels have changed their focus over the years. Instead of characters grappling with their own issues, they have to overcome challenges brought on by outside sources. Jason definitely experiences this, through the bullying of Ross Wilcox, Neal Brose, and their cronies.
Even Ruth Foster begins to feel it. She doesn't fit in with the kids in Fingerbone, and while she isn't outright bullied, it is evident that they make fun of her and don't like her very much. Esther Greenwood and Holden Caulfield don't really experience bullying. They both hate their culture and its' values, but both have friends and aren't ostracized by their peers. Stephen Dedalus experiences a little bit of bullying at the very beginning, when the older kids are making fun of him, but besides that he seems to be in control, popular yet disillusioned with his society and holding a general distaste for Ireland.
It will be interesting to see how Sag Harbor plays out, as Benji Cooper is growing up around the same time that Jason Taylor was. If Benji experiences bullying, his race could also play a role in it. All of the other characters we've read about have been part of the majority, but Benji is a minority and definitely could be the target of some 1980s American racism.
The problems that teenagers face have been changing as our society changes, and coming of age novels have to change to reflect this. This could be part of why many high schoolers today feel more of a connection to Jason Taylor than Holden Caulfield, because Jason goes through bullying and a parent's divorce, which are much more relevant to most kids today than the thoughts and struggles of a rich boy who hates his society.
I never really thought about this before - that the later a book is published, the bigger role bullying seems to take in the formation of the character's story. It's interesting because I felt like with Esther and Holden, their peers were trying to suck up to them and make friends with them, and they were the ones who shied away from it, while with Ruth/Lucille and Jason, it's the other way around. They are trying to fit into the society, but others prevent their doing so.
ReplyDeleteYou said that the problems teenagers face change as society changes, but I don't really think so. Bullying probably always existed, just in such different forms that when we read about events of bullying which took place further in the past, they don't really stand out as much. For example, now that I think about it, the scene where the "fellows" make Stephen talk to the teacher could be seen as bullying (peer pressure). But the first time reading the novel through, it didn't stand out to me as anything more than Stephen being brave.
So I think that bulling has always been a problem, but we are too unfamiliar with the forms it took in the past to call it out as well as we are able to with Black Swan Green.