SYNOPSIS (via the publisher)
Marilynne Robinson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Humanities Medal, returns to the world of Gilead with Jack, the latest novel in one of the great works of contemporary American fiction.
Marilynne Robinson’s mythical world of Gilead, Iowa—the setting of her novels Gilead, Home, and Lila, and now Jack—and its beloved characters have illuminated and interrogated the complexities of American history, the power of our emotions, and the wonders of a sacred world. Jack is Robinson’s fourth novel in this now-classic series. In it, Robinson tells the story of John Ames Boughton, the prodigal son of Gilead’s Presbyterian minister, and his romance with Della Miles, a high school teacher who is also the child of a preacher. Their deeply felt, tormented, star-crossed interracial romance resonates with all the paradoxes of American life, then and now.
Robinson’s Gilead novels, which have won one Pulitzer Prize and two National Book Critics Circle Awards, are a vital contribution to contemporary American literature and a revelation of our national character and humanity.
PERSONAL REFLECTION by Michael Winters
John Ames Boughton, aka Jack, is a different character than his namesake John Ames, the main character of Robinson’s Gilead. And as Jack is a different kind of character, the book is a different kind of book. Not as soaring and transcendent as Gilead or Lila, Jack still captured my attention with its characters’ complexities and philosophical dialogue. Some in our discussion group found the book a little slow moving, but the slower pace rewards with deep insights around human nature and Robinson’s returning themes around grace and religious belief. I thought this book a great fit for our Faith in Fiction discussion group. We especially enjoyed talking about the references and parallels to stories found in Genesis.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
The first quarter of the book follows a long conversation between Jack and Della when they surprisingly find themselves locked in a cemetery together at night. As the long night is ending, Jack wonders, “What would be the one sufficient thing to say, before the flood of light swept over them, now that their world was ending? Amen, he thought. (p. 75)” Why do you think Jack thought “Amen” was a fitting response to that strange night?
In the cemetery, Jack and Della imagine that the world is ending and that they could be like a new Adam and Eve. In reality, they’re still surrounded by a society that doesn’t approve of their interracial relationship, which is also illegal. What did you notice about the social and family dynamics revealed by their relationship?
Jack understands himself to be a shady, shabby character who can’t help but cause harm. After quoting scripture ironically, Jack tells Della he’s “the Prince of Darkness, she replies, “No, you’re a talkative man with holes in his socks.” Jack says, “You saw them?” and she replies, “No, I just knew they were there.”
Della doesn’t accept Jack’s dark view of himself. She see something else in him. At one point in the cemetery she says, “I think most people feel a difference between their real lives and the lives they have in the world. But they ignore their souls, or hide them, so they can keep things together, keep an ordinary life together. You don’t do that. In your own way, you’re kind of—pure.” (p. 73)
What do you think she sees in him?Della has a lot going well for her. She’s got a good job and comes from a respected family. She’s attractive. Why do you think she’s willing to risk her career and her relatively good social standing for a relationship with Jack?
Jack speaks of “harmlessness,” sometimes feeling it was more than he could aspire to, but he wants to live a life that doesn’t cause harm. What do you make of that as a life philosophy?
Jack has a comical introduction to the black church in St. Louis and later develops a conversation with the pastor there. Both Della and Jack’s fathers are pastors too. What role do pastors and the church play in the book?
Clothing is a recurring theme in the book. When Della and Jack first meet she mistakes him for a preacher due to the suit he’s wearing. He eventually trades that suit in for a shabbier one that won’t lead anyone to think that way about him. He also is aware of his nakedness under his clothes. What do you think Jack’s relationship with his clothing says about him?
Jack changes the way he’s living after he becomes attracted to Della. What does he do differently? Do you think he’s really a changed man by the end of the book?
Are there any takeaways for you? Any one thing you want to remember from reading this book?
Other related resources:
"Loneliness in Marilynne Robinson’s Jack” by Amy Stinson, at Rabbit Room
"Grace in Marilynne Robinson’s Jack” by Amy Stinson, at Rabbit Room