In this section, Jack enlightens the reader with many theories about life and people. One of which, is specifically about why people don’t really seem to change. Jack contemplates this after the Judge shoots himself, and his mom reveals that the Judge was his father. Jack wonders why, after living so close to each other for so many years, his mother and the Judge never married if they truly loved each other. Logically, one was always in a different marriage when the other wasn’t, which became an ongoing pattern. Jack reasons that, “...by the time we understand the pattern we are in, the definition we are making for ourselves, it is too late to break out of the box. We can only live in terms of the definition, like the prisoner in the cage in which he can not lie or stand or sit, hung up in justice to be viewed by the populace. Yet the definition we have made of ourselves is ourselves. To break out of it, we must make a new self” (p490). According to Jack’s theory, if his mother and the Judge had broken their pattern, the two would have to each make a “new self”. This theory also is probably his excuse for why he has always kept people at arms length. Jack is probably unconsciously worried that everything will spin out of control if he breaks his pattern. This theory may be one of the smaller ones compared to the Great Sleep or the Great Twitch, but it does shed more light onto Jack, as we slowly get to know him. Also, although many of Jack’s theories are questionable in their truth, this particular one is definitely true in our world.
I think the connection you made, although it might seem small, is one of the most interesting, due to it's ability to tell us, not only about Jack, but about his mother as, well. Many of us ranked his mother at the bottom of our character hierarchies -- we did have good reason as she was manipulative and greedy for men -- but her actions are somewhat justified through your theory and lesson. The two, the Judge and his mother, loved each other and out of that love came Jack. When the two ended up not being together Jack's mother tried to "make a new self" with another man...and then another man and even a few after that. She constantly was trying to create a new woman and catalyze a new love for herself through meaningless relationships. This sense of longing for a confirmed sense of purpose rubbed off on Jack as he grew up. He didn't know how he felt about Anne, he seemed to be jostled around in his career going from place to place trying to find out information, much like his mother going from man to man, and when at last he finally found his father -- the man that was supposed to complete his family tree -- he felt more of a paternal connection to Willie, his boss! It's completely true that "...by the time we understand the pattern...it is too late to break out...". Your analysis was spot on and I enjoyed thinking more in depth about it.
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