Revenge and Pyrrhic Victory in Black Swan Green

The page numbers of my quotes may be off because I used a Portable Document Format of Black Swan Green. 
    According to Merriam Webster, revenge is "an act or instance of retaliating in order to get even" ("revenge"). In Black Swan Green, Julia Taylor defines a Pyrrhic victory as “one where you win, but the cost of winning is so high that it would’ve been better if you’d never bothered with the war in the first place” (Mitchell 116). 
     When the mom and dad are arguing about buying a rockery, the mom asks the question, "So it’s all right for you to spend six hundred pounds on a golf-club membership you hardly ever use, but it isn’t all right for me to improve our property?” (Mitchell 101). This response classifies as revenge because the mom is retaliating against the dad by rebutting that the dad spends six hundred pounds on a golf-club membership when the dad questions the cost of Italian marble in the rockery. The mom is also trying to get even with the dad because the mom brings up the hypocrisy that the dad spends six hundred pounds on a golf-club membership when the dad questions the cost of the Italian marble in the rockery. The revenge is short lived as the dad brings up counterpoints. The dad is the winner of the exchange. After the mom brings up the golf-club membership, the dad argues that the dad told the mom that the golf course is where “deals get cut. Including key promotions” (Mitchell 101) and that “I am the breadwinner in this family, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to spend at least a portion of my salary however the hell I see fit.” (Mitchell 101). These quotes show how the membership is a necessary expense in the dad’s opinion. Although the dad does not go into details on what the deals or key promotions are, the dad does not need to as the mom can not refute that the dad is the breadwinner in the family and whatever is the dad’s opinion goes. Being the breadwinner allows the dad to not have to go into much detail on how the dad spends a portion of the dad’s salary and for opinion to carry more weight. After the dad’s rebuttal, the mom says to the dad, “you’re telling me to stick to jam making and leave the grown-up decisions to the one in trousers.” (Mitchell 101). 
    When Ms. Taylor claims Mr. Taylor spends six hundred pounds on a golf-club membership Mr. Taylor says, “‘I am the breadwinner in this family, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to spend at least a portion of my salary however the hell I see fit.’” (Mitchell 101) and Ms. Taylor says “‘you’re telling me to stick to jam making and leave the grown-up decisions to the one in the trousers?’” (Mitchell 101). These quotes show a pyrrhic victory between Mr. and Ms. Taylor. Mr. Taylor wins this battle in the war over the rockery against Ms. Taylor as Ms. Taylor can not deny the fact that Mr. Taylor is the breadwinner of the family. Being the breadwinner of the family means that Mr. Taylor earns the most money in the family which in effect justifies how Mr. Taylor spends their money. Mr. Taylor thinks it’s not unreasonable for to spend at least a portion of the salary, but since Mr. Taylor is the main breadwinner, the salary makes up most of their families finances.

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