Upon first meeting Hugo, Jason descriptions and obsession with him had placed my standards pretty high. The way his cool nerd-ness was described reminded me of an British Nic Scoby from White Boy Shuffle. However, unlike Nic, Hugo is just a jerk. His manipulative capabilities and personality, as well as his apparent charisma and obvious malicious use of his talents reminds me of a sociopath.
However, viewing Hugo linearly as a "villain" or an evil character isn't right, simply because 1. he's been present for little of the book, 2. generally characters have more depth than just "good" or "bad".
Despite all the bad things I've said about him, I feel like his presence as a model for Jason as he comes of age would be important, at least from Jason's point of view. They both have interests in literature, with Jason having charisma and wit he dreams of having. Jason even says he dreams of becoming Jason, so he asserts his influence over Jason's ideals for the person he wants to become. I think personally Jason has the ability to become a version of Hugo that's less of an asshole, especially after seeing how strongly empathetic he is in "rocks". But, the biggest question is will Hugo actually appear in the book again? If I'm going to be honest, I truly doubt it but I also am hoping to see him for some reason.
This is really interesting - can a sort of "bad" older figure eventually become a positive role model? Perhaps the geographic disconnect allows Jason ot remember Hugo for the better parts of his personality, or at least to learn from the more crap parts of his personality.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great analysis of the dynamic between Hugo and Jason - I often find myself falling into the traps Jason does in trying to become more like that "cool older cousin" mold when the said figure is around. But it's clear there's something pulling Jason towards his own individual nature into not being a total asshole like his cousin.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting. Hugo is a great person to show Jason that poetry can be cool since Hugo is also into poetry but otherwise his personality sucks. I think by the end of the chapter Jason realizes that Hugo is kind of an asshole so I think that Jason does have the ability to become a better version of Hugo because he is able to see the bad parts of Hugo's personality.
ReplyDeleteI think Hugo and Jason are fundamentally different at their cores. Hugo has been cruel and manipulative, while Jason has a very kind heart. I do not think Jason could ever be like Hugo, as much as he wants to be, and I think that's a good thing. It's interesting to think about how Hugo did, on the other hand, encourage Jason's love of poetry -- and then how later in the novel, Jason ended up switching from poetry to confessional prose.
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