The double-bladed words

Earlier in “The God Boy”, we are informed of the chaos in Jimmy’s family and learnt how vulnerable Jimmy is, emotionally. He fears going home, feeling suffocated within his own house. As a reader, I find it very unfair for Jimmy to bear such emotional wound at such young age, merely 11 years old and his dad very irresponsible as a father. He badmouths the mother in front of Jimmy, dragging a young kid into adult dispute, spoiling his childhood and innocence to a point where Jimmy can not hold it to himself; he goes to seek advice from Bloody Jack.

At the end of chapter 6, Jimmy comes to the wharf for a piece of advice. After hearing what Jimmy got to say, Bloody Jack tells him, “Be sorry but don’t worry or care,” “That’s all you have to worry about then. They’re nice to you. Let them worry about the other business.”

In my opinion, the advice is the easiest way to protect Jimmy from vulnerability, although it’s just a short run solution. Whatever is there, will still be there. If you ignore it without solving, it won’t fade away, solved. At some time in Jimmy’s life, he would have to face the cruel truth, but by then, he will be more ready to face it. As an evidence for this, on page 23, Jimmy states that “I should think that God should wait till children are over twelve at least before he starts swinging Sunday punches,” when he is 13 years old, looking back to what happened 2 years ago at home. In my opinion, I believed that Jimmy is emotionally wounded by the shattering relationship of his parents, knowing too much for being too mature. He resents God and life for being unfair this way. At only 13 years old, around him is a hard shell of anger that makes communication to him difficult. He listens to no one, follows no one, acting, taking thing his ways. For this reason, I am convinced that Jimmy can not absolutely ignore the situation at home, like what Bloody Jack tells him.

Therefore, from both sides of view, in my opinion, I think that the advice given to Jimmy is relevant considering the situation and Jimmy’s age but to an extent, it’s almost impossible for Jimmy to follow. Jimmy is only 11 years old, an age of exploring and enjoying, and after all, he is a human being; he therefore can not ignore things regarding his family and parents as they happen everyday, right in front of his naked eyes. I believe that I too can not follow this advice, let alone Jimmy, 5 years younger at that time.