Tayloring Jason to Society: In The Pursuit of a True Identity
During the chapter Goose Fair, Jason enters the Hall of Mirrors, in which he views multiple reflections of himself, each representing a different aspect of his mind. Jason says that the mirrors in the room "melted [him] into self-mutants" (248). This scene can be viewed as a crucial part of his coming-of-age in which he has an internal conversation: after this scene, Jason tears apart his bully's calculator and mocks him in front of the whole class. The internal conversation that Jason has in the Hall of Mirrors convinces Jason to merge his external and internal selves into his true self. In the first mirror, he sees an "African tribesman with a neck giraffed by iron rings" in his reflection. The man asks, "Can a person change ... into another person" (249)? He sees this reflection as a representation of the self-criticism he has developed toward his fake identity in BSG. From the start, he is fixated on his external representation in society, planni...