"Reject High" Heroic Analysis (Book 1) of Jason Champion

Spoilers ahead:

Reject High is a fantastic, modern novel written by author Brian Thompson. The protagonist of the story is young Jason Champion, a high school student who has to attend an alternative school due to rage-black outs and a temper that often gets him into trouble. While at the school he discovers secrets that forcibly disrupt every fragment of normalcy he so desperately tries to hold onto. In the first book of the series, Champion undergoes his Separation Stage of his heroic journey, though a miniature heroic journey could be analyzed, I will explore the series's intro novel as the expository chapter in Jason's life that sets him up for his overall journey.

Every hero whose story fits into the rough skeleton of the monomyth (arguably EVERY true hero) has this separation. It is the moment at the start of their journey where the learn about the world and ultimately make decisions that change who they are and who they are to become in a coming of age way. Jason's journey is catapulted when he goes from ordinary teenager to secret, teen superhero. He has all the typical steps - a mysterious or troubled parentage, a call to adventure, magical help, allies, heralds, and shadows. Though having a love interest has been more off and on again in modern creative works, Jason has one, as well as constant temptations that fit the role of woman as temptress in non traditional ways (though it gets harder to discover actual women fitting the role of temptress in contemporary literature, film, and other forms of entertainment media). By the novels conclusion, Jason will have entered the belly of the whale.

Out of the Ordinary World

Jason Champion is a great protagonist for young readers, but is especially effective for young African American males. As the first black hero on this blog, Jason's ordinary world is a painful recreation of what many young African American boys have to go through - difficult family life, rough time of it at school, and a society that neither gives them the resources to make it or encourages them to do so. That being said, his experiences are not exclusive to the black community, and any one, especially high school youth, can digest his adventure and learn from it. At his core, Jason is just a kid trying to be normal and get through life - like most, if not all, heroes. He wants to make the most of his situation, though he has a father that is too busy to care for him, an overworked foster mother who is at wits end with his behavior, and the common pressures of being a teenager in a new school, Reject High.

As a new student in a school for "bad" kids, Jason has the initial mindset to do better, but just like many teenagers he fails as soon as the first opportunity to do so presents itself. Not all of it is in his control however; bullies and attractive girls have been shaping the psyche of males since before Helen's face sank 1000 ships. But Champion's ordinary world is familiar - just a teenager trying to get through high school. What makes Champions setting so relevant is that it doesn't need to be in a post apocalyptic society to show that Jason is in danger. If he doesn't change his behavior, he is headed down a road of juvenile detention centers, prisons, and perhaps ultimately letting his anger get so out of control and leading to his death. He is "dumped" with other kids like him - kids that society deems as too difficult to handle, or too damaged to be helped. But just like a lot of teenagers that are sent to such reform schools, Jason really just seems to need proper guidance or experiences to shape him, which is why he needed this adventure.

Into the Special World

Jason's journey starts when he leaves the ordinary world and enters the special world. There is a duality with Jason's crossing - he both leaves a normal school and enters into an unfamiliar reform school, while simultaneously uncovering the hidden powers of a crystal that challenges even the most rudimentary aspect of normalcy from his ordinary life. 

He meets one of the most prominent herald characters, Rhapsody, when she reveals the magical aid while they are ditching class. When she turns invisible, he gets a glimpse of the special world, and curiosity takes over the rest. She later presents him with a crystal, much like hers, that gives him extraordinary powers. Rhapsody also tells him about the mysterious circumstances of Cherish’s death. Because of this, Rhapsody can also arguably double as a mentor character - she teaches him about the mysterious power of the crystal and she guides him by being one of his closest allies throughout the novel.

Jason now faces many more dangers now that he is in the metaphorical special world. He does not exactly know how his powers work and he does not know why certain people get the powers they do (Different people seem to get different powers). On top of that he is still just a kid. He has all the pressures that come with being a teenager. And, he learns that there is an anonymous shadow character who wants to find the crystal, later revealed to be Welker. Though the crystal gives him astounding strength, and the ability to leap tall buildings (or cities) in a single bound, there are forces that threaten his seeming immortality - the first hint of shadows in the special world. 

Jason has a call to adventure and a refusal when Rhapsody seeks his help in discovering the mystery of Cherish's death and gives him the crystal. When he and his stepmother, Debra, Jason's primary mentor figure at this point in the novel, get into the car accident, Jason faces one of his first threshold guardians. Though he has  already overcome confrontations with Selby, his bully and soon-to-be-ally, it is this accident that forces him to learn about and question the summative knowledge of what powers the crystal gives him. He now realizes and considers everything that he has to lose. Debra is threatening to send him away, Selby is making his life hell at school, but he doesn't want to lose what could be his last chance at a normal life. Just like the experience of many black youth in society, a lot of the situations that Jason finds himself in are outside of his control, and even though it may seem like he has the ability to make autonomous decisions, things happen that create friction and adversity. But Jason is given a magical gift, like King Arthur's Excalibur or a Jedi's Force, in the form of the crystal, and after surviving the car accident and helping Debra, Jason is ready to embrace to this gift and is further catapulted into a world unfamiliar from his ordinary one. But it is important to note that it is not the magical aid that teaches Jason that it is time to change, but it is seeing how his behavior can have an affect on the people around him.

Jason's Completed Separation

Throughout the novel, Jason undergoes a series of personal and external challenges that ultimately push him into his initiation stage. A hero is often defined by the other characters in their journey, and the hero usually meets many of the important figures that they will come across once they have crossed the threshold and are heading deeper into the abyss, or the metaphorical belly of the whale. We have Rhapsody as a strong ally and somewhat mentor figure to Jason. Asia is a threshold guardian, especially when Jason is in the early stages of building a relationship with the love-interest and ally, Sasha Anderson. Debra is the moral compass and mentor. Peters is a shapeshifter figure - first he seems to be a shadow but he is later revealed to be a possible mentor figure, and is even a shapeshifter in more literal ways nearer the end of the story. By the novel's close, Jason accepts his journey completely and is ready to take on the task that he stumbled on. Rhapsody is missing after the final confrontation, and he is still learning more about the Provenance Emerald and those that seek it's power for selfish and destructive purposes. Now that the key power players are all set in place, Jason ends his tale deep in the abyss and will soon face even tougher challenges and shadows, such as anticipated further confrontations with Spivey, Welker, or even Peters. Jason's story is one that argues the case that people are not intrinsically good or evil, but can be characterized by situation and choice. It will be very interesting to see how the remainder of his journey pans out.

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