Bloody Jack's advice

In chapter 6, by saying “See nothing, hear nothing” Bloody Jack advises Jimmy to “pretend not to care” about the strained situation between his parents as long as they are both nice to him.

It’s somehow helpful as Jimmy is just 11 years old. He is too young and not ready yet to understand adults’ problems. And he wouldn’t be brave enough to demand his parents to stop arguing since their fights are originated due to the long-termed causes that slowly build up for many years, or ask them what are the roots of their problems. However, if Jimmy was bold enough to talk directly to his parents, he wouldn’t be able to comprehend such complications of the adults, for example abortion.

In fact, Bloody Jack’s advice is the best-temporary way to escape from Jimmy’s problem. He just needs to ignore his parents and acts as if they didn’t exist, and hopefully, most his doubts or worries will just fade away from his mind.

Nevertheless, his advice might also be a bad idea as well. Jimmy has ears and eyes and because of his “childish” curiosity, it’s hard for him to fake that he doesn’t see what is going on in his house. Plus, by ignoring and pretending, he’s just lying to himself. As the result, Jimmy will fight his emotions internally and worse, this can slowly eat him up from inside out, causing him to isolate himself from the rest of the world, hoping in his mind that things would change between his parents or somebody would rescue him from the feelings of neglected.

In conclusion, Bloody Jack’s advice might not be the best but at least for now, it can help Jimmy temporarily to get on with his life. And maybe when Jimmy is older, about 15 or more, he will be mature and smart enough to work out how to solve the problems himself.