34 pages • 1 hour read
David MitchellBlack Swan Green
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaChapters 9-10 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary: “Maggot”
Jason’s suspicions were wrong: He was spotted going to the movies with his mother, and his classmates won’t let him forget it. Ross Wilcox, Gary Drake, Neal Brose, and Ant Little tease him mercilessly, imitating his stutter. The entire class seems to turn against Jason, laughing at jokes made at his expense, mocking him when he gets a math equation wrong on the board, affixing stickers that say “Maggot” to the back of his shirt.
In PE, Ross Wilcox, Gary Drake, and another boy are punished for illegally tackling Jason. They are made to run to the bridge and back but decide to take off on a little adventure and return 40 minutes later. As they await the punishment from their substitute PE teacher, the boys compose a song about their teacher with dirty lyrics. The headmaster steps in to punish the entire class, which is made to gather in the old gym during lunch. Jason reflects that the old gym is the scene of a suicide of a boy who was bullied so badly, he hung himself by his necktie. The punishment is a week’s detention, but Jason feels only relief: This is a week where he won’t be bullied during lunchtime.
From Moran, Jason learns that Debby Crombie is pregnant, carrying dead Tom Yew’s baby.
Later, in class, Jason is called to read from Lord of the Flies, and his stammer is painful and obvious. Gary Drake reads next, mimicking Jason’s stammer. A teacher, Mr. Kempsey, sends Jason on an errand to fetch his whistle from the staff room. On his way, he meets Holly Deblin, a new girl, who says he’s not a maggot and tells him not to put up with the bullies. In the staff room, Jason finds the whistle, but he also sees a Xerox copy about dealing with bullies. Figuring it’s meant for him, Jason folds the paper and puts it in his pocket.
After Jason gets off the bus that afternoon, he runs into his tormentors, who have been waiting for him. Led by Ross Wilcox, one of the other boys tosses Jason’s backpack on top of the bus. Jason stands up for himself, even though five others surround him. He points out that Ross has spectacularly bad breath, and Ross threatens and slaps him.
Jason chases the bus and the driver stops, retrieving his bag for him. To the bus driver, Norman Bates, the solution is simple: Get a bowie knife and slice Ross’s tendons. Jason objects: If he slices Ross Wilcox’s tendons, he’ll end up in Borstal (prison). Norman Bates replies that life is a Borstal.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Knife Grinder”
When Jason is home alone; his parents are working, and Julia is off at school in Edinburgh. He reflects on the day’s torture at school, mostly at the hands of Ross Wilcox, and answers the door when the bell rings. The man identifies himself as a knife grinder and says he sharpened knives at this address last year. Jason doesn’t allow the man inside. Later, he mentions the conversation over dinner. Jason’s father is adamant that the man is a Gypsy, and Gypsies aren’t to be tolerated for any reason. Jason’s mother admits that the man sharpened their knives last year, which makes Jason’s father furious. Upstairs, about to begin his homework, Jason finds the head of a mouse in his pencil case and realizes just how much his classmates must hate him.
A neighbor stops by and invites Jason’s dad to an emergency meeting in the village hall to discuss a proposed permanent Gypsy encampment in the area. Jason attends too. The hall is flooded with villagers, several of whom give impassioned speeches with overt or vague racial references. The fire alarm goes off, and pandemonium ensues. Jason’s father holds him tight to protect him.
When Jason visits Moran the next day, he is surprised to learn that the Morans weren’t at the town meeting, and that Mr. Moran has Gypsy blood in his veins. On his way home, Jason takes the long route to avoid Ross Wilcox and a large group of boys. When a dog snatches his backpack, Jason follows, coming up on a Gypsy camp at the old quarry. Jason loses his balance and tumbles into the quarry, so the Gypsies are convinced he’s a spy. In the conversation that follows, Jason learns how wrong his father was, and how wrong everyone at the meeting was: The Gypsies may be different, but they’re just people too.
While they talk, one of the Gypsy boys carves Jason a head out of a piece of rubber. It’s Jason’s face, his mouth open and nostrils flared.
Chapters 9-10 Analysis
These chapters mark the height of Jason’s torment in the book and the beginning of his turning point. Although he wants the constant stream of abuse to end, Jason no longer wants to be part of this group, which has grown increasingly reckless and violent. Since no one seems to be punishing these bullies (at least, not effectively), their behavior continues unchecked. When three of the boys ditch most of a PE class and then later sing a raunchy song about their substitute teacher, the headmaster reacts by punishing the entire class. One teacher does seem to understand; he arranges for Jason to find a written manifesto about bullying. Holly, the new student, also encourages Jason to stand up for himself.
Jason’s pain here is palpable, and it’s clear that the daily bullying and torment will soon be coming to a head. Remarkably, Jason begins to stand up for himself rather than caving in or giving up. When being pushed and slapped by Ross Wilcox, Jason relies on his wit, remarking on Ross’s halitosis.
In Chapter 10 Jason is again jolted out of his own misery long enough to understand something else about the world at large. Most of Black Swan Green is adamantly against the proposal for a permanent Gypsy settlement, for reasons based mainly on prejudice and ignorance. Jason’s father opposes the Gypsies, but his mother does not seem to, and Dean Moran’s father is part-Gypsy. It is not until Jason stumbles on the Gypsy encampment that he considers the issue for himself and really sees the Gypsies as individual people. His sympathy partially stems from his own identification with them: Jason does not see how he fits into the world either.
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