I'm the only one who can be mean to you

          Sibling relationships have played a large role in several of the books we've read so far this semester. I think the reason for this is that they play a large role in real life coming of age as well. You're around your siblings all the time, and they influence how you grow up and who you grow into-- whether you're trying to be like them, or trying to be as unlike them as possible.
          Black Swan Green is no exception, as it showcases Jason's relationship with his sister Julia. I definitely relate to Julia a lot and see a lot of myself in her. Not only do I relate to her specifically, but I can relate my relationship with my brother to hers with Jason. Jason is somewhat envious of his sister's privileges and abilities to speak up for herself, as well as respectful of her talents and skills. However, he gets mad at her. He knows when she's going to try to get him in trouble, etc. My brother too, gets frustrated with me for correcting him, getting him in trouble, and for being right. At the same time, he has affection for me and the few times I share things that are going on in my life with him, he seems to be very proud and impressed. I recently turned eighteen and he was very excited that "Juju is now an adult."
          I'll admit that I probably do pick on my brother more than I should, but much like Julia, I'm not as mean to him as I could be. I think all things considered, I'm pretty fair. When Julia gets mad at Jason for eavesdropping and stealing her music, she had the right to clobber him, to blackmail him, to do so many things that she didn't do. However, she just told him off and threatened him a little. As an older sister, I can vouch that while little brothers are super annoying, we still have affection for them deep down. This also connects with the "I can be mean to you but no one else can be" dynamic. Julia can tease Jason as much as she wants (which she doesn't really seem to do too much), but when Jason's mom brings up his poetry at dinner, she sticks up for him, knowing what he must be feeling. Siblings may not like each other, but they always love each other, even if they also hate each other.

Illusion of confidence

          In class the other day I made a comment that Hugo reminded me of Antonio from Despicable Me 2. I'd like to expand on this comparison and extend it to discussing not only Hugo's actions in general, but also Jason's interactions with him.
          Antonio is an antagonist, but fronts as a protagonist. He gets Margo to fall for him, and puts on this indifferent, bad-boy facade. He knows exactly how to manipulate her, similar to how Hugo knows how to manipulate everyone around him. An example of this is when he gets Jason to smoke a cigarette. He knows exactly what to say to get Jason to do it-- even after Jason has already said no. He says that Jason's stammer is probably due to his attitude of reserved attitude-- saying "not today." This hits the nail right on the dead from Jason's perspective. However, I completely disagree. Hugo is just being a little asshole for no good reason, but because he's so confident, everyone believes everything he says.
          Jason's problem isn't saying no. Jason's problem is his utter lack of self-confidence. All the "higher ranked" boys in his social sphere, and especially Hugo, have something in common; they have, or act like they have, confidence in their words and actions. This illusion of confidence gives them power over the other boys who are less confident. This being said, if Jason weren't so blinded by his crush on Hugo, and abandoned his qualms about speaking up, he'd strip Hugo down to the little prick he is for everyone else to see. In the garage, when they're playing darts and Hugo reduces his brother to tears, if Jason had confidently stood up to Hugo and put him down for putting down his brother, then he'd take away Hugo's illusion of coolness and make him look stupid. This also goes for when Hugo stole from the store, and when he got the high score on the arcade game and stole from one of the boys. Hugo isn't actually all that he's cracked up to be, he just makes himself seem that way because he asserts himself over everyone else.

Sister sister

            Throughout Housekeeping, and more so during later chapters, I saw a lot of similarities between Lucille and Ruth and their relationship, as well as that between me and my sister. Obviously Lucille and Ruth's interactions are a lot more exaggerated than my personal experiences, and our relationships aren't exactly the same as Lucille and Ruth are very complex characters, but I did find myself comparing my sister to Ruth and me to Lucille.

            Being the oldest, I'm definitely a little more independent from the rest of my family than my sister is. And, I'm a lot less reserved which means that I hold back less when it comes to speaking my mind if I don't agree with someone else. Lucille makes it very clear that she disapproves of a lot of Sylvie's ways of doing things. The most obvious illustration of her independence of from the family is that she takes the initiative and just leaves. This is, I think, both detrimental and positive for Ruth. It allows her to become herself more, without her very vocal sister overshadowing her. It's also never easy to lose such a close relationship when you don't know how to be on your own and you don't have a lot of other options to fall back on. When Lucille and Ruth are in the principal's office, and the principal is concerned about their "attitudes" for the new school year since they missed half of the previous year, Lucille does all the talking for Ruth, as noted by the principal. However, it seems like she's not just putting words in Ruth's mouth. She's actually expressing what Ruth would want to say. I think Ruth doesn't want to have to formulate her thoughts and convey them to the principal so she appreciates having Lucille there to do it.

            Once my sister and I were at a moving away party/sleepover for our friends who were sisters (I was friends with the older sister, Laura with the younger, and they were having a joint party). A girl at the party was making fun of my sister in some way that I don't remember, but I stepped in and yelled at her and made her back the fuck off and feel really bad (she was a bully in general). Laura probably would've wanted to say something similar, probably in a less aggressive manner, but was too timid. She was extremely grateful that I did that and still looks up to me for it. The only reason I know the story is because she still brings it up-- I have no recollection of it actually happening.

            I could talk about Laura and I vs. Ruthie and Lucille for a very long time, this is just the tip of the iceberg, but I wanted to jot down some thoughts that seemed interesting.