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Jack by Marilynne Robinson
Jun. 5th, 2025 08:38 pmJack is the latest installment in the Gilead series. I'm unsure if it's the last one but even if Robinson were to write a new one, I think my own journey stops here. I absolutely love Gilead but the succeeding books don't quite live up to it. Because Jack became such an intriguing character in the first book, I really anticipated finally knowing his side of the story. Why was he so disliked and considered problematic by the John Ames? Why did Lila feel a kinship with him? Instead of going straight to Jack's story, however, we had to read about Glory and Lila first. While I appreciated how Robinson crafted characters with so much depth, a part of me also felt that the middle two books were a little superfluous because I was judging it based on how much information it provided on Jack's backstory (aside from Home, not much). After reading Jack, I am left asking myself why I invested so much of my curiosity in him.
There are a lot of things that can be said about Jack's character but I think foremost, for me, would be how incomprehensible he is. He seems thoroughly convinced that he has an evil nature and it almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. His preoccupation with ethics and faith affects how he moves through life and his relationships with other people. One thing that he keeps talking about is "harmlessness". He says that this is a thing he is striving for. This isn't the kind of harmlessness in which he doesn't cause anyone suffering but rather the kind of harmlessness in which he doesn't affect anyone's life in any way, a kind of non-life where his actions don't cause anything, good or bad, to others.
This all breaks down when he falls in love with Della, a colored woman. Segregation makes their relationship illegal and he causes a world of trouble to Della and her family. He learns the hard way that it is impossible for him to go through life as completely "harmless". Jack and Della's relationship is tragic. It baffles me that there was a time when you couldn't marry someone simply because of race. Jack has to make the terrible choice of how he can show his loyalty to Della. Does he stay with her or leave? Both choices will end up hurting her in different ways. It's an awful choice to make. However, it is a little hard to root for them because Jack is quite unlikable. He can't keep a steady job, he's prone to petty theft and he drinks a lot. What does Della see in him? I know she mentions his soul but that seems a little trite.
Even though I enjoyed reading about Jack's philosophical musings, I think I just had questions that remained unanswered. I still didn't understand how Jack could get under John Ames' skin so much. He's not a good guy, sure, but honestly, he doesn't seem to deserve so much ire either. On the opposite vein, I also didn't understand how Della could be so committed to him. He is hardly the ideal man, certainly not someone you would sacrifice your future for. If I had let go of this desire to understand Jack maybe this would have been a better book for me.
There are a lot of things that can be said about Jack's character but I think foremost, for me, would be how incomprehensible he is. He seems thoroughly convinced that he has an evil nature and it almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. His preoccupation with ethics and faith affects how he moves through life and his relationships with other people. One thing that he keeps talking about is "harmlessness". He says that this is a thing he is striving for. This isn't the kind of harmlessness in which he doesn't cause anyone suffering but rather the kind of harmlessness in which he doesn't affect anyone's life in any way, a kind of non-life where his actions don't cause anything, good or bad, to others.
He was struggling in a web of interrelation, setting off consequences in every direction that he could not predict or control or even imagine with any hope of approaching the truth of a matter.
This all breaks down when he falls in love with Della, a colored woman. Segregation makes their relationship illegal and he causes a world of trouble to Della and her family. He learns the hard way that it is impossible for him to go through life as completely "harmless". Jack and Della's relationship is tragic. It baffles me that there was a time when you couldn't marry someone simply because of race. Jack has to make the terrible choice of how he can show his loyalty to Della. Does he stay with her or leave? Both choices will end up hurting her in different ways. It's an awful choice to make. However, it is a little hard to root for them because Jack is quite unlikable. He can't keep a steady job, he's prone to petty theft and he drinks a lot. What does Della see in him? I know she mentions his soul but that seems a little trite.
Even though I enjoyed reading about Jack's philosophical musings, I think I just had questions that remained unanswered. I still didn't understand how Jack could get under John Ames' skin so much. He's not a good guy, sure, but honestly, he doesn't seem to deserve so much ire either. On the opposite vein, I also didn't understand how Della could be so committed to him. He is hardly the ideal man, certainly not someone you would sacrifice your future for. If I had let go of this desire to understand Jack maybe this would have been a better book for me.
