Theme Of Innocence In Black Swan Green

In the book Black Swan Green, Mitchell uses the motif of innocence to show that everyone has to go through making decisions that could lead them affecting their innocence.
Jason Taylor is known to be a very typical school boy who really cares about what people think of him, just like any other kid growing up. He is seen having internal conflicts throughout the whole book due to this issue, but while having his conscious tell him that he shouldn’t he listens to the side that is telling him that he wants to be accepted.“‘Not Today’ is the blind slave of every petty rule. Even the rule that says” - Hugo did this bleaty voice-” “No, smoking is BAD! Don’t listen to naughty Hugo Lamb!’ Jason, you have to kill ‘Not-Today’” (65). Mitchell is using Hugo to portray what our conscious tells us when we are put in a decision that we don’t think is good and could cause us to feel guilt afterwards. This is the

But Jason is not the only one who is trying really hard to fit in, it is basically any teenager starting to make decisions that could affect them. They all go through the feeling of guilt, but they continue the act of breaking their innocence. But it doesn’t only have to be drugs, alcohol, and sex that can cause someone to lose their innocence, Mitchell uses the scene of the Spooks test to show that, that to is a way teens will lose their innocence. “ Yer gets a leggy over this wall, then yer legs it to the green. Swinyard ‘n’ Redmarley Ll be waiting’ under the oak. If yer in time, welcome to the Spooks. If yer late, or if yer don’t show, yer ain’t no Spook and yer never will be” (132) In the scene it shows Jason really doing anything to be accepted to be “popular”. He is willing to get caught and lose all his reputation around the town, and be known as a trouble to