Benji and His Lady Friends

Benji hasn't always been lame like he thought he was. At the end of the book once he's actually been with a girl he actually remembers a bunch of times girls made moves on him that he didn't understand at the time. The girl at the roller rink wouldn't just hold his hand for no reason, ice-cream scooper girl wouldn't just "accidentally" brush her chest against him (I don't really think that would happen accidentally every shift).  Benji, to me, epitomizes the oblivious teenage boy. There ware stories all over the place of people making assumptions about other people's intentions only to support their own insecurity.

Benji has always taken the back seat (literally in the book) instead of believing in his worth. I can't fault Benji for this habit because it's only human, but it is my hope that after the time the book is narrated in, Benji flourishes. I'm sure he does, otherwise it wouldn't be a coming of age. No matter what progress Benji makes though, it will be partially because of the ladies in his life. When Benji reflects he sees all of the missed opportunities he could have taken, leading up to the success he had. Getting a summer sweetheart will hopefully give Benji the confidence to pursue his interests and take what he wants.

This idea even starts to be fulfilled before the book ends, with the club. All of Benji's friends ditched him with regards to the club because they didn't want to drag him along, so he devised a way for himself. The ability to do what he wants without other people is going to be the deciding factor in where Benji goes from the end of the book.

Catcher in the Rye vs. Black Swan Green

Mr. Mitchell mentioned an article in class that suggested that high school teachers substitute Black Swan Green into their curriculum instead of Catcher in the Rye. I absolutely adored Catcher in the Rye and I would be really sad if it were removed from the school curriculum. That being said, Catcher in the Rye is a classic, and I have no doubt that people would read it outside of school at some point. Black Swan Green on the other hand, is not as famous as Catcher in the Rye so it might not be read.

While reading Black Swan Green, I became so attached to it, and it's by far my favorite book from this quarter. At other schools, people might not read it outside of class because they haven't heard of it and in my opinion Black Swan Green is too important and too insightful to be neglected. The lessons this book teaches are more easily absorbed than in Catcher in the Rye because the time in which it's set it more familiar, and the culture is more present in our minds. Therefore, I do think that Black Swan Green should be subbed into the popular high school English curriculum because the likelihood of a student reading Catcher in the Rye on their own is higher than the likelihood of a student reading Black Swan Green.