Julia and The Difficulties of Thirteen

Arguably thirteen is the worst year of childhood; you are too young to be taken seriously for anything, but too old to be babied. Of course, Black Swan Green follows Jason through this rough year which supports the point even more. Throughout his trials of being a thirteen year old boy Jason’s older sister, Julia, develops a stronger bond with him. At the beginning of the book, in “January Man”, Julia refers to Jason as “Thing”. Honestly, as an older sister myself, this isn’t that crazy of a nickname, but the evolution to his nickname “Jace” just a year later shows them both maturing through their relationship. Not only does Julia turn to accept him more as a friend and less as a pesky younger sibling, but the building of their relationship while their parent’s relationship is failing keeps a constant bond in both of their lives. 

To me, an evident turning point was in “Rocks” when Mrs. and Mr. Taylor had an explosive argument that stemmed from the new landscaping Mrs. Taylor wanted, but had an underlying argument, likely on the basis of their relationship, the whole time. Julia and Jason turned to each other after their mother stormed away rating the argument a ⅘ stars. Instead of complaining about each other to their parents, they turn to each other for comfort amidst the uncomfortable and likely anxiety-inducing time of their parent’s marriage collapse. Shortly after they automatically turn to the sink to do dishes together, assuming the partnership rather than taking the task on individually. You would have never caught Julia doing dishes with her “Thing” of a little brother at the beginning of the book, but when the time came for her to be there for Jason she was. 

Jason reciprocates this relationship building later in the book, or at least identifies it within himself, when time comes for Julia to move away for college. He discusses how she had ben gone for a few weeks leading up to her official departure, but this time it was different. Maybe because he would be alone with his parents for the first time in the middle of their impending divorce he would miss Julia, or maybe he truly came to appreciate her company and the support she gave him. After she is long gone Jason takes a vinyl from her player and blasts it at full volume. Some may see this as an act of rebellion, which it likely was in part, but he always had Julia to inspire his music taste and give him a background track. I see this as a moment of him missing her music, and indirectly her, using the music to replicate her presence. 

In the final chapters of the book Julia was told to call home by her mother but ends up talking to Jason, or Jace as she then called him, on the phone. They catch up on life discussing her new boyfriend and potential suitor for Jason. We would have never seen this at the beginning of the novel, but now they shared life experiences and were there for each other greater than ever before. I’m not sure if I would credit their relationship development to their parent’s relationship failing, or if it was just a part of Jason going through the difficulty of thirteen and maturing throughout it. Regardless, Julia’s “adoption” of Jason in this time helped him through this year and hopefully continued to be a constant support in Jason’s life.