Black Swan Green by David Mitchell is a novel about growing up in England. Jason, the main character, is an adolescent. One of the "non-characters" in the book is an entity called Hangman who exists inside Jason. The other characters see Hangman only in its manifestation as Jason's speech impediment, but Jason knows him on a much more intimate level. Stuttering, for Jason is the steering wheel of his life.
Moe is a person I knew in Texas. His accent is so much a part of his persona that I added Jersey to his name in an attempt to add the necessary texture to his dialogue. Once Moe and I talked about stuttering since in was a big part of both of our lives.
He related this story. When he was young, this was probably during the 30's, his dad sent him daily to the corner store to buy cigarettes. One day, the store owner wanted Moe to come out and say the exact name of the brand. The Hangman wasn't about to allow this to happen. The store owner wasn't going to have it any other way. So... young Moe ran out the door and grabbed a brick from the gutter and spun it through the plate glass window. No brand cigarettes. Jersey Moe's counsel, "People with the same problem shouldn't hang around together." I can see how group therapy might present special difficulties for the speech pathologist.
3 comments:
Hmmm... working on a new character???
I remember the first time I met you, Tony. You came to the door of the trailer and I had no idea what you were saying and felt really bad about it. Wow, things have changed! I did think about you reading this book...the hangman,great way to put it,eh? D
D: Both You and Lanny have had a tremendous, positive influence on my life and I'm really happy that you are both still there. The path through the forest leads out of the forest. Mitchell says it all with the hangman. In some sense, a speech block functions as a football game in your brain. The downer is that you have to be both teams at once. Who gets to win?
Post a Comment