Italics

Mr. Mitchell made a comment in class the other day about Jason's masterful use of italics in Black Swan Green, so I thought I'd go through the first few pages and see what the fuss was all about. The first use of italics is the line "Do not set foot in my office". The italics in this instance simply give weight to the statement, but what's interesting is the lack of italics on the word "not", which somehow makes the word feel even heavier than its surroundings despite the fact that all it does is transition back to normal. [David] Mitchell is treating the italics almost like a color, similar to how one would use different pigments to design a flag since with flags, you're limited to only a few colors just like how there's only italicized and non-italicized options for text in this instance.

The next use of italics (besides the italicized title of the TV show The Rockford Files) is to emphasize the words forty and fifty when telling us how many times the phone has rung. Initially, Mitchell doesn't use italics for the numbers, but as more rings pass, the italics convey the increasing pressure being placed onto Jason to pick up the phone. The third use of italics is also with numbers, used to emphasize the thousands of pounds IBM computers cost.

When Mitchell uses italics, I'm almost reminded of where an orator would use hand gestures to emphasize the imagery of their words. Fifty rings. Aeons ago. It's like he's stretching his arms out to show us just how long ago it was that Miss Throckmorton had taught Jason about the previously mentioned phrase.

Comments

  1. Jenna LeeApril 19, 2019 at 10:28 AM

    I like this analysis of the italic use! I also think that the italics give Jason's narrative easier to hear. Whenever I read Black Swan Green, I feel like I'm listening to Jason (usually in Mr. Mitchell's voice) talking to me, and the italics bring out the conversational nature of the text. It feels the way that you would talk to a friend excitedly, a little emphasis here, a little emphasis there. It brings the text to life.

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  2. HerzogApril 22, 2019 at 2:02 PM

    This is a great anecdote! I really find a lot of Jason's personality evoked in these italicized phrases, something we usually gloss over but is actually quite genius for emphasis. You're right, I can hear the verbal arm-stretching in the word "aeons" (coincidentally, also in Mr. Mitchell's voice).

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  3. MitchellApril 28, 2019 at 11:14 AM

    That first example--where "not" is the only word *not* in italics--is a bit different from these other examples, where italics indicate emphasis. Jason is quoting his father's rule about setting foot in his office, and when you want to "italicize" or emphasize a word in a sentence that is italicized, you use regular "Roman" text. So in that sentence, oddly enough, "not" *is* the word that is "italicized."

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