Spooks

Jason's Spooks adventure, if you will, is a huge chance for development  If he would decide to join up with the Spooks he could climb the social hierarchy. This could lead to one of two ends: he could be  more free to be himself expressing his poetic side and nerd-ing out, or he could become more introverted in an effort to maintain his more popular position. My hope is that neither of these situations occurs. I hope he completely rejects the Spooks and becomes more of a Hugo figure. Like it's been said in class, it's completely different to be invited into the Spooks then rejecting them, and not getting invited at all. In the best possible scenario, Jason rejecting the Spooks will make him appear bad-ass, which would make anything he did bad-ass. No longer would he have to hide his poetry or hurriedly take down his middle-Earth poster--he could flaunt them because he was the kid who was too cool for the Spooks.

Like I said these would be optimal outcomes. It's more likely that he would fall apart, given the tendencies he's displayed already in the book. Jason seems to me to be too scared of social repercussions to embrace the opportunity presented before him to flourish. At first it seems there's no hope in sight, but I'm hoping any social hardships he will face will just make him stronger.

Boy on the Lake

When Jason skates on the lake, once everyone had gone, he sees/hears a little boy directly across from him. Keeping in mind that Jason is still a kid and is very lonely and insecure, this "ghost boy" seems to be an imaginary friend. Jason is constantly creating physical manifestations of his issues to make them easier to deal with--this is where Hangman, Unborn Twin, Maggot, and the ghost boy come from. Hangman personifies Jason's stammering, Unborn Twin and Maggot are his general social anxiety (always telling him not to screw up and the like) and the ghost boy was just keeping him company so he wouldn't have to be alone.

Creating manifestations to cope with difficulties is completely reasonable, especially for a someone of Jason's age.  Personally, I keep forgetting how young Jason is, which is incredibly odd given how important his age is to the story line. If he were older, he would be dealing with school, stammering, and "secret societies" differently. Instead of trying to break into social groups he would probably have the sense to just get through--that's what most kids in today's society do.

I Can't Stand Up for Sylvie Anymore

Until the very end of Housekeeping I was quite defensive of how Sylvie was raising Lucille and Ruth, and later just Ruth. She had no idea what she was supposed to be doing and dropped everything to take of some unfortunate kids which I respect a great deal. Sylvie seemed to be bringing her transience into the home--as opposed to forcing the kids to acclimate to her chosen lifestyle, she conformed to theirs'. I lost my respect for her at the end. She made many decisions I can find no ways to agree with. When raising a teenager, never telling them no is not an option. The girls were able to skip school, but that wasn't my gripe.

Ruth becomes a transient, but not solely of her own accord, in my opinion. The only mother figure Ruth ever really attached to was Sylvie and for a long time Sylvie was a fabulous companion for this lost little girl; but, as Ruth aged she became too attached to Sylvie as she was the only person she steadily socialized with. Under this influence she was easily coerced into crossing the bridge into transience. I am quite sure she wouldn't have chosen this on her own so early because of her trip to the island with Sylvie. Ruth didn't like being ditched and alone with her thoughts and she didn't talk the entire time. If she felt that way for a day, how would she feel being that way the rest of her life.

Also, just another tidbit as to Sylvie actually taking care of Ruth at the end: what's going to happen to Ruth when Sylvie dies? Because Ruth has become another part of Sylvie and has attached herself to her. She'll be utterly lost and have nowhere to go without Sylvie. To not consider that before running off, or worse, to consider it and disregard it, is truly cruel and irresponsible. Ruth will be a child no matter how old she gets because she's never had to grow up.