Morality in "Goose Fair"
Our discussion on the chapter “Goose Fair” left me pondering many things, specifically morality and adolescent morality. In this chapter Jason at first decides to keep Ross’ wallet, but eventually chooses to give the wallet back, as he learns Ross will most likely be beaten to a pulp by his own father. For a moment in the chapter, Jason knows Ross will get beaten by his father, but still wants to keep the wallet, as he feels he will be giving Ross what he deserves through Ross’ father. I felt disappointed by his desire here, because I didn’t think anyone could wish that on another person. However, Ross has tormented Jason mercilessly throughout the book, so I can’t completely criticize him.
One of the biggest questions that came up during our discussion was about whether or not Ross is evil. I don’t believe he is evil. He’s only a child, and a child that clearly does not have good role models at home. He’s experienced physical abuse and watched his mother get sent to the hospital as a result of his father’s rage. I’m not saying this justifies his tormenting of Jason, but this is an explanation for why he believes this behavior is acceptable. He doesn’t know any better. That same logic is why Jason’s decision to keep the money even after knowing Ross will face physical consequences doesn’t make him evil. Jason is very young and hasn’t had the same life experiences as Ross. He just doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation.
I then began to wonder at what point does a person go from an immature child to an evil adult? Is it when they turn 18 and legally become an adult? I’m almost sure nobody (except the justice system *eye roll*) would say that. Is it when their prefrontal cortex fully develops? And what is evil, anyways? Ross’ experiences could just be part of his villain backstory, and because we know of his trauma, would we still consider him to be evil even as an adult? I guess that would depend on his crimes. I don’t really think there’s one answer to these questions, but I know for sure that neither Ross nor Jason is pure evil.
I definitely agree with you that neither Ross or Jason is completely evil, but that's from the perspective of us as readers. I think from Jason's perspective though, it's completely justifiable for him to think of Ross as being evil given all the horrible things he's endured from him. I'm pretty sure if Jason kept Ross' wallet, Ross would view Jason as evil too, and that would also be totally justifiable. As outsiders with all the information of both Jason and Ross' backstory, I think it's a lot easier for us to sympathize and understand why both of them take the actions they take.
ReplyDeleteWe could interpret Jason's decision to return the wallet as a kind of realization that Ross is not inherently evil, despite the way he acts throughout the novel. When Jason says (to *us*, not Ross) "poor kid" after Ross *still* can't simply act cool and thank Jason for saving his ass, it represents a profound leap in empathy and conscience: he sees Ross (and Ross's crappy behavior in this specific scene) as symptoms of his status as a victim of abuse, and he takes pity on him. Given how truly evil Ross's behavior is throughout the book (Jason does fantasize about killing him at one point), this is a remarkable moral development, with Jason being the "bigger man."
ReplyDelete(It is a curious fact that, in his 2014 novel _The Bone Clocks,_ Mitchell does depict Hugo as quite literally inherent evil--he is an actual demon who has taken different forms on the earth over the centuries, which more or less checks out with Hugo's behavior in "Relatives"! No "poor kid" for this rich boy!)
I love your interpretation of that moment, and I think it's a really excellent example of Jason defying the Law of Reciprocity (sorry for getting all moral-philosophy, I've been watching The Good Place). The LoR is basically the concept of doing good with the expectation that you will get a reward, and this is something Jason does not inherently ascribe to when he returns the wallet. Jason doesn't think Ross will suddenly be nice to him because he returned his wallet, but he does it anyway because he decided Ross didn't deserve to be hit because of his actions. Jason contemplating keeping the wallet as revenge was a disappointing moment, but I was ready to forgive him when he decided against it. Considering he told us his exact train of thought concerning the wallet, it would have been weird if that thought HADN'T crossed his mind.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that we can't completely judge Jason based on his want to get revenge on Ross, even if it's through his father. Of course from the reader's point of view, it's a terrible thing to do but also putting myself in Jason's shoes, experiencing half of the things he has would probably make me want to get revenge on Ross just as badly. However, I also felt super uneasy during this chapter because I just felt that this deviated from the Jason that we followed all the way throughout the novel and quite honestly, I just felt like it would backfire and something worse would happen to Jason. For that reason, I was really glad when he decided to be the bigger person and give it back, even if he didn't really receive the thank you that he deserved from Ross. In the end though, I think Ross's own temperament was his downfall and it was much more satisfying to see because Ross gets his lesson AND Jason has no connection/consequences.
ReplyDeleteI agree and I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I definitely don't think that Ross is evil; he is a poor kid that unfortunately experienced physical abuse and takes it out on others. Ross's actions were never right, but I do feel bad for him because in many ways, he's a victim of circumstances. If Ross bullied people just because he liked seeing others hurt rather than because he has a violent father, I don't think anyone would be saying "poor kid", but since he's so young and has a terrible home life, he's just dealing with the cards dealt to him by life how he can.
ReplyDeleteI agree although there are some moral gray areas in Jason's and Wilcox's decision making, they are both not inherently bad kids. I think that every kid should be given the chance to change, and I hate it when adults especially put labels on kids rather than on their actions. when Jason steals the wallet and destroys the calculator. Those acts are not "good", and I would argue that they were "bad" but for the right reasons. So while the actions are not morally justified, his anger is. And yes, I was very happy by the results.
ReplyDeleteYou make a lot of great points here! It's really easy to label kids based on the ways they present themselves in public. While I don't think the way Ross treats Jason is ever justifiable, I do think learning about Ross' background introduces an important layer to why he is the way he is. Like you said, Ross doesn't really know any better. I did always hope Jason would stand up for himself, though, because otherwise Ross would never bother changing his behavior.
ReplyDeleteDetermining whether someone is "evil" or whether they are just a product of their childhood environment is definitely tricky. I don't think anyone is pure evil. In fact, I believe that you aren't truly defined by anything when you are first born. The majority of what makes a person is their environment in combination with their reactions. As long as the person has the chance to learn their mistakes and does in fact learn and grow from it, they are just like every other person who has made mistakes in their past. However, if the person has been given numerous chances to learn from their mistakes, and continues to do it even though they know it's wrong, I think they would be straying further away from what we would consider a good person.
ReplyDeleteThere is absolutely the question of how far down the line we place the responsibility, and answering that question creates some serious grey area. Do we place the bullying behavior with Ross? Maybe, but maybe we place it with his father for abusing him. Then do we place it then with his father? Or is it likely that his father did something similar? I think the simplest way to go about it is to look at the situation as Jason would have seen it, because we are scrutinizing his actions, and when we put it that way, I think he ended up doing the right thing but his internal conflict was entirely justified. Good post, this was a really interesting passage !
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said and find it to be a really interesting concept. It's hard to know when someone goes from child to adult and it's been really interesting to examine these changes in the book. I have a lot of empathy for Jason and Ross both even though they did things I don't agree with. The only person in this situation who I might call evil is Ross's abusive father. I loved your post!
ReplyDeleteI like the ideas you contemplated in this post. I don't think there is a direct answer to your question of when a person becomes evil. Each person experiences life differently, which is why we see, out of two people with seemingly identical backstories, one turns out normal and one is a serial killer. I don't really think there is a good way to tell across the board. I think you're right that neither of the kids are evil. Seeing as we didn't walk in their shoes, I don't know if we'd be good judges of such matters anyway.
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