Character Analysis
Jason tells us he likes to say his last name "loud and hard and sharp" (2.2). This, in fact, might be how some of the good folks of St. Andrew Valley would describe Jason Bock himself—loud and hard and sharp. Whether it's provoking people at the TPO meetings, or smacking ping-pong balls off his friend's forehead, Jason is not one to tread lightly.
Alpha Male?
Jason sizes up everyone we meet in his godless tale. He reads people really well—we'll dig into some of his insights in the other characters' analyses—and this enables him to influence them. We hate to say manipulate because it's such a loaded term. Jason admits though, that:
[…] being the leader of a growing religion is not all power and glory. For one thing, there is way too much politics. In other words, you have to lie a lot. (14.1)
So basically the guy knows what to say to each of his pals to interest them in worshiping a water tower, of all things, and to get them to climb it at midnight. In other words, he's a pretty charismatic guy.
His dad tells him, ""You have to realize, Jason, that your friends listen to what you say… When you encourage them to do something dangerous or irresponsible, you are equally—if not more—culpable'" (23.16 & 18). Jason's a little surprised to hear this. He doesn't seem to see himself as a leader. And we find ourselves pondering the difference between a leader and a ringleader. Will Jay-boy mature to use his powers for good?
Mirror, Mirror
Jason's peers are inclined to listen to him. But how does Jason see himself? In the first chapter he calls himself "large-bodied, hulking, and neckless" (1.42). And, "I'm the one with fat lips, freckles, and twelve dark hairs growing between my eyebrows. Like I'm half ape. […] Just think of me as the big, fat, pouty one" (1.43). The guy has spent some time thinking about this—to the extent of counting the exact number of hairs between his eyebrows.
He also has a "standard thirty-pound deduction" he shaves off his weight when asked. Again we see a lot of forethought here. And self-consciousness. Later he lists some things bouncing around in his head, including: "The High Priestess: Am I too big and fat for her?" (8.5). He also tells us, with some hindsight, that he was "cocky, obnoxious, [and] insensitive" the day Henry punches him. These rather negative self-perceptions are balanced by his observation that in spite of his weight, he's coordinated and he's fast—he can grab a fly out of midair (1.37).
So what do you think? Does he sound likeable? Pretty normal, all-in-all?
Which Way Did He Go, George?
When we meet Jason he's snail hunting with Shin. They run into town bully, Henry, and his pack of hooligans. The first contact between Jason and Henry—before punches are thrown—is Jason's greeting, wherein he tells us he's "striving for the sort of gruff heartiness I imagined [Henry] might respect" (1.3). That there—his angling for Henry's respect—says tons about Jason, and why his new church will later encounter problems when he is torn between two different friendships.
Jason's take on Henry changes through the book. At first he is terrified but intrigued by him— Henry is "an interesting specimen," has "presence," and is "dangerous and exciting company" (1.7). The guy is six inches shorter and some eighty pounds lighter than Jason (1.37), but Henry has power, and Jason respects power—"even in the hands of such as Henry Stagg" (1.41). When Jason goes to Henry's house few days later to learn how he climbed the tower though, he's struck by how friendly Henry is. "He seems almost normal" (9.38). Soon after, these two guys climb the tower together and share some pretty personal stuff.
Where does this leave BFF Shin? Jason tells us early on that "there are times, though, when I wish Shin was not who he is" (1.47). More than once Jason finds himself laughing about Shin with Henry or sharing stuff that he knows is a bit of a betrayal. For example, he tells Henry about Shin climbing on the roof of his house: "I feel guilty for sharing this with him. Shin would hate me" (24.21).
When Shin acts nerdy and freezes up on the tower ladder, Jason is furious with him and embarrassed. He hates "having to explain and defend Shin's behavior" (15.94), and says:
I refuse to let Shin's weirdness interfere with my social life. (18.20)
That's a pretty rough statement to make about the guy he claims is his BFF, right? Jason doesn't quite know which way to go, socially speaking. He wants the respect of the tough guy, but he doesn't want to betray his relationship with the Pod God to get it. Gee, a teenager torn between social groups, trying to work out his identity—that never happens.
The things is, though, that it is this desire to please, befriend, or suck up to Henry that creates a great deal of Jason's ensuing problems. Henry alienates Shin; he's the one who opens the tower hatch (and falls off the top); and he shares Chutengodianism with this graffiti-happy pals. Plus Magda, Jason's crush, only starts spending time Henry because Jason brought the two of them together via the church. Aside from Shin's questionable hold on reality, pretty much everything that goes wrong is because Jason looped in "a violent, psychotic fiend" (9.2).
Henry figures into Jason's character arc, too. Jason doesn't have a huge arc in the novel since he starts out godless and ends godless—despite having started a religion, he doesn't come to faith or find something to believe in. But he does change in one respect. In the final chapter he sees Henry as a "skinny little guy on crutches" (31.27), and when he does, he:
[…] can hardly believe that, just a few weeks ago, [he] was afraid of him. There are plenty of scarier things in this world than Henry Stagg's knobby fists, especially to an oversize, leather-skinned mountain troll such as himself. (31.27.
Jason even laughs at Henry. Yeah he gets whacked upside the head for it, but in the first encounter he has with Henry in the book, Jason doesn't express what he's thinking and Henry clobbers him anyway. At the end at least Jason says exactly what he's thinking. Henry might be able to hit him, but he can no longer frighten him into silence.