Jack has an issue with sticking with things until the end. It is interesting that Jack is so tough on people, yet he seems to have an issue with following through with things. For example, he never finished college. When he was reflecting on his time working on his Ph.D in American History, he thought, “Finally, one morning I got up late and went out the door and didn’t come back..” (p141). In the same reflection, he briefly mentions that he walked away from some girl named Lois. He recalls, “And the time before I walked out of the apartment and Lois started to get the divorce” (p141). Although we don’t know who Lois is, it is clear that Jack is restless and has a hard time completing things. And then much later in his life, he quits his job: “I said that and kept on walking. ….Then I stood in the hall with my stomach full of the water like a cold bulb inside of me” (p139). No matter how hard he tries, Jack can’t seem to stay in one place for too long. This is probably something that getting elaborated on later in the book, especially the story with Lois. The way he just mentioned something as big as a marriage so briefly, suggests he will probably come back to that story. Hopefully we learn the reasoning for this; maybe something happened in his childhood that made him that way. Maybe it even has something to do with why he is such a bitter man.
I completely agree with your post, and when reading your post I realized that was the first time I had ever considered the fact that Jack really cannot seem to stick with something until the end. Your post in its entirety and what Kendall said in her post about Jack's "don't ask, don't tell" lifestyle surrounding his job with Willie made me consider the fact that maybe Jack really enjoys his job with Willie, and lives the "don't ask, don't tell" lifestyle because he doesn't want to get in so deep that he will walk away like he has every other time he has tried to make a commitment. ""You don't need to choke me," I protested peevishly, "and I don't want to listen. I know too God-damned much now." And I wasn't joking. I didn't want to listen. The world was full of things I didn't want to know" (pg. 202) Jack may want to stay on the surface of his political environment because he enjoys his job with Willie and he wants to have as little fingers in as little pies as possible so he can stay comfortable and uncommitted, because he knows he will never be able to follow through.
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