Summary:
An essay about the book Jack by A.M. Homes. Discusses Jack's issues with his gay dad.
Jack is a novel written by A.M. Homes about a boy named Jack and a few years of his life. Throughout the novel Jack has trouble adjusting to his dad being gay. We can see this through his relationship with his dad, his dad's boyfriends Bob, and Maggie, Jack's friend.
Jack's relationship with Bob is affected by the fact that can't adjust to his dad being gay."The way Bob was patting me on the back looking down at me like I was an idiot made the whole thing with my father real."(pg. 78) Jack would assume things about Bob so he didn't have to get to know the real Bob. Jack does his best to not get to know Bob so then he can't see the good qualities in him."I was standing there trying to hate him, like he was part of my family,maybe a distant cousin I only saw on holidays, someone I didn't know anything about except that we were related and that was enough."(pg.79) In the beginning of the book Jack wouldn't get to know Bob, but by the end of the book Jack sees the real Bob and they become friends. Jack and Bob become friends when Jack realizes that Bob isn't the problem.
Jack has a hard time adjusting to his dad being gay. Jack has negative feelings about his dad being gay. "I stayed in my room all night, trying to figure out how my father could be queer."(pg.21) When Jack finds out his dad is gay he struggles to understand what it means. Jack had a good relationship with his dad before his dad came out to Jack. Because of this his dad keeps calling him even though Jack tries to shut him out out of anger. As the reader, I could see Jack really did want the best for his father. When big things happen to Jack his dad is always there for him, like at the basketball game when Jack hurts his leg. It was things like that event that made their relationship so good. His dad could have left when Jack angry with his sexuality but he didn't, and in the end it only brought them closer. If it weren't for Jack's father he wouldn't have adjusted as well as he did by the end of the book. By the end of the novel Jack finally accepted his dad being gay.
Jack's relationship with Maggie was also based on the fact that he couldn't adjust to his dad being gay. I believe Jack saw the way Maggie adjusted to the fact her dad was gay and it helped him do the same. She helped him by putting him in perspective. Maggie was a girl he could truly be himself around. "Maggie was one of the nine million girls I was secretly in love with, but would never, ever have talked to under normal circumstances."(pg.55) If it weren't for his dad, Jack would never have met her. Jack liked the way she was natural around him not afraid to be herself, which was kind of what he wanted himself. "I just sat there and watched a movie with her and held hands. It was all very simple. Her hand was sweaty and my hand was sweaty and the sweat just kind of mixed. Every five or ten minutes I'd pull away and wipe it on the leg of my jeans to dry it and then wait a couple of minutes before I gave her my hand back."(pg.132) Jack could be himself around her and Maggie could be herself around him. In the beginning of the book Maggie is a girl he liked but would never talk to, but by the end of the book they had become close friends.
I have learned a great deal from this book. I learned to just accept my parents, family and friends for who they are and to not try to change then. The book also taught me to be who I want to be no matter what people may think of me. It made me that realize people are scared of what they don't know. If Jack never adjusted to his dad being gay he may have lost his relationship with him and lived his life judging a lot of people along the road.
This is the complete article, containing 722 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
