Bloody Jack's advice for Jimmy.

In Chapter six, when Jimmy returned home from the “small hill next to school” with his friends, he got his raincoat and boots and hurried to find Bloody Jack who was “sitting there staring into the water” at the wharf. Bloody Jack is the only person who Jimmy feels comfortable around and since they are both lonely, they need each other to talk to.
At home, Jimmy cannot talk to anyone because no one pays attention to him, so he likes going to Bloody Jack whenever he is confused or feels disturbed about his parents. “Bloody Jack was the only I ever talked to about my parents”. This shows that Jimmy and Bloody Jack must be close because he does not even tell his friends at school.

Jimmy told Bloody Jack that his parents “don’t care” what he does and how they do not get along at home. Bloody Jack said that “young boys do not understand what is going on, and that they should not pay attention. Grownups should be ignored” In this line, bloody jack is saying that young boys are not old enough to understand the situation and that Jimmy is “hearing what he shouldn’t be”. Jimmy worried that if he “never bothered to look or see anything” then he would be dumb but Bloody Jack said, “Then be dumb, see nothing, and hear nothing” However Jimmy said that he cannot do that unless he runs away but Bloody Jack gave an advice to Jimmy which was to “Not care” like how he did not care about the fire in Albertville.

Bloody Jack’s advice to Jimmy can be seen as good and bad. His advice, which was to not care, would not help Jimmy much because forgetting about the problem can only last for a short period of time as he takes his mind off it but it will not help solve the problem especially when his pain is accumulating. Sooner or later, he might explode because he cannot take the pain anymore and cannot control his feelings, which would result him hurting himself and other people as well. Not only that, he may actually become mental. However, Jimmy calls himself mature at the age of eleven but actually; he is naïve and easily hurt which is why Bloody Jack’s advice is not so useful because it would be very difficult for a young boy to forget something that is bothering them. It would help if Bloody Jack explained to Jimmy why his parents were behaving that way and it is a normal thing that all parents quarrel rather than to just ignore the problem because it will not go away but stay the same or even get worse.

On the other hand, since Jimmy was eleven and was not mature, it would be hard for him to handle with his problems especially because he is a sensitive boy. Therefore, Bloody Jack’s advice to “see nothing, hear nothing” could help Jimmy prevent himself from getting more hurt. Furthermore, in the past Bloody Jack had a miserable life because his wife ran away from him with another man so he has had experienced so he knows how Jimmy feels so his advice to him is relevant.

In conclusion, I think that Bloody Jack’s advice is good because Jimmy can pay no attention to his parents fighting at home, so he would not feel troubled however, it is impossible to entirely forget or worry about the problems.