To care or not to care? That is the question.

In Chapter 6, Jimmy had a conversation with Bloody Jack. The conversation was about Jimmy’s bad relationship with his parents and how they would always argue. Their conversation also included Bloody Jack giving Jimmy some advice that was thought to help him.

Bloody Jack told Jimmy to “not care” about his parents arguments as long they are nice and kind to Jimmy, Bloody Jack also said “See nothing, Hear nothing”. I think that Bloody Jack’s advice to Jimmy is to not care and to just live on with your life, and I think he is trying to make Jimmy forget and ignore everything just to get on with his life.

The point of this blog is to explain whether I think this advice is a good idea or not. I think it’s a bad idea, because just “pretending” that nothing is happening is sort of ridiculous, even in Jimmy’s position. He can’t just “pretend” that his parents are not arguing when he KNOWS that his parents are arguing, it would just be harder for Jimmy to realise what is really happening, what’s real, and what’s not, especially in Jimmy’s position. I would be devastated and heart broken if I was in Jimmy’s position, and just even thinking about ignoring my parent’s arguments and “not care” makes me feel suicidal. Plus, Jimmy was only 11 at that time.

The “not care” advice also makes me think about the first chapter, when Jimmy said that he “didn’t care” about anything, but really it sounded as if he did care since he repeated it so much. This told me that he can’t forget about it, and usually if you don’t care about something, you forget about that something and move on with other things in life. If Jimmy took that advice about not caring about his parent’s arguments, then I think Jimmy wouldn’t get on with other things well in life.

However, I feel as if I do agree with Bloody Jack a bit and I also think it’s a good idea, because Bloody Jack respects the fact that Jimmy is only 11 and he also respects the fact that he is going through a lot. At this point, Jimmy doesn’t know the reasons for his mother’s sickness (illegal abortion) and why his parents argue so much, but Bloody Jack KNOWS about the illegal abortion and the other reasons and he’s doing the right thing to not tell Jimmy about those reasons, because he respects the fact that Jimmy is too young to know. But the reason why I think that the advice is a good idea is because, that is probably the only possible advice to give to a confused 11 year old. Jimmy is 11 (at that time) and so he can’t do anything about his parents’ arguments, unless Jimmy would run away, but THAT IS THE WORSE POSSIBLE ADVICE TO GIVE TO AN 11 YEAR OLD.

I also think that Bloody Jack has had a similar experience, because he talked about his wife on page 51 and how he doesn’t “care” anymore, but that was probably when he was and adult, not a child like Jimmy.

So I think it’s best if Bloody Jack DOES give Jimmy an advice but not the advice about “not caring” and definitely not an advice that has anything to do with suicidal, running away or emancipation. Jimmy wouldn’t want more trouble in life.