Jason Taylor Becomes a Spook?! (Not Clickbait)

When it comes to all of the books we’ve read in this class so far, Black Swan Green is easily my favorite. Despite the very British dialogue being a little incomprehensible at times, Jason Taylor was my favorite character to read and learn about. Especially because of the ending to this book. When he got revenge on blank and others for all that he’d been through over the course of this book, it felt truly rewarding. Though, his behavior with that scene made me wonder: Jason in a way sort of became a Spook. But not the one he tried to become in the Spooks chapter. The rashness of his actions reminded me of what the Spooks were back in the day, and I think it makes sense to call Jason one of those.

When the Spooks group is introduced to us in the promptly named Spooks chapter, they are described as this kick-ass group of teens (specifically originally farmhands) who enact vigilante-type justice on those who deserve it, doing good deeds in their own way. That’s what the original Spooks were, anyways. The ones that give Jason the invitation to join them though are a newer generation of Spooks, and they aren’t exactly what the old group used to be. Becoming a modern-day Spook is more of a popularity title, rather than actually being part of a group that does right. Jason wants to join them because he knows that if he becomes a Spook, there would be no way he’d be picked on. He doesn’t even think about all of the good he’d be doing, it’d just mainly be for the title. After completing the obstacle course they set for him with just a few moments to spare, he is given the acceptance into their group. However, Jason quickly but sadly abandons that acceptance after he goes to save Dean, who had fallen trying to also become a Spook. While the Spooks tell Jason that if he goes to help Dean, he’ll be revoked of the Spooks title. Jason goes against that, going to do the right thing rather than run away, something that the original Spooks would do. Something that I believe more defines him as a Spook is at the end of the book, where he destroys Neal Brose’s calculator to expose their secret organization.

Surprisingly, something similar to this happens with the current leader of the Spooks, Pluto Noak, when he flips over the car of the art teacher, Mr. Dunwoody for being a pedophile. He and his mates took matters into their own hands, as a large public act would both get the attention of their target, but also the attention of the public, forcing the target to comply. And while Pluto is currently a Spook, this presumably happened a few years ago, assumingly before he became one. This could be argued that once you become a modern Spook, you sort of drop getting acts of justice, and because Jason never actually becomes an official Spook, he keeps his sense of justice. Jason pretty much does the exact same thing with the calculator, knowing that if he wanted to get his revenge it would have to be in some large act that would get the attention of everyone. While he does get in trouble for it, he also successfully exposes them, saving both himself and others from further bullying. Which in a way, earns him the power of the Spooks title he was trying to get earlier in the book. And rather than it being given to him by others, he went out and got it himself, making sure that everyone knew not to mess with him anymore.  Which therefore, sort of aligns him with both the newgen (title-wise) and original Spooks (justice-wise).