The Madame's Message

We had time in class the other day to think about the most important thing Madame Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck tells Jason in the chapter "Solarium" of Black Swan Green. What I immediately thought of was the Madame's emphasis of truthfulness above anything else.

There are a few ways in which the Madame discusses the importance of focusing on the truth, not the least of which is related to Jason's identity. She tells Jason to focus less on hiding his true identity as a poet in fear of what others' impressions might be. What I gathered from this is that she not only thinks Jason is being deceiving (to others and himself) about his personality and identity by writing poetry under another name, but that the Madame also wants to tell Jason that you can never entirely predict how people will react to your actions, so you might as well be upfront about them. I think this advice is something Jason should really internalize because in the end, others' ideas about his poetry will not change the fact that Jason is a good writer. It is also evident throughout the novel that hiding the fact that he writes poetry doesn't make Jason's life perfect in the slightest, so I think the Madame's idea that masking your true identity is deceitful and pointless is something Jason needs to hear.

Another instance when the Madame emphasizes the importance of being true is when she asks Jason about the writers he is familiar with. Though she may come off as slightly harsh when criticizing the type of literature Jason reads, her message about being familiar with authors who write about what is real makes sense. On page 161, after Jason mentions that he likes reading fantasy, sci-fi, and Stephen King books, the Madame replies:

"'Fantasy'? Pffft! Listen to Ronald Reagan's homilies! 'Horror'? What of Vietnam, Afghanistan, South Africa? Idi Amin, Mao Tse-Tung, Pol Pot? Is not enough horror? I mean, who are your masters? Chekhov?"

She makes a pretty clear argument for why she doesn't see much importance in writing about what is untrue, like fantasy. The Madame doesn't think there is a need to make things up when there are already so many unbelievable, exciting, horrific, true things taking place in our world already. I agree with her idea that writing about what is true can often be more compelling than a completely invented story, and can have more of an impact on readers who can relate.

Lastly, the Madame's focus on what is true continues into her discussion of defining beauty. She tells Jason that you can't define a concept like beauty, so don't worry about trying to. Instead, just know that beauty is true and that it exists, and that's what's important. Similar to her point that Jason should accept his identity as a poet and stop hiding himself, the Madame's idea that simply knowing that something is true--without trying to define or change it--can be enough. Like the way beauty exists but cannot be clearly defined, Jason should know that he is a writer and not try to limit himself by being defined as something he isn't.