ATKM post 1

Ellie Zimmermann

What does Jack do for Willie?
Jack is more of a servant to Willie than he is anything else. When Willie asks Jack to gather some dirty secrets about Judge Irwin, Jack is hesitant but can't exactly turn down the request. Judge Irwin has always been a father figure to Jack, so of course digging for such information makes him feel uncomfortable, but then again he wants the money that Willie has offered him. First, Jack goes to a close friend of the Judge.  Jack is hopeful that he will get the answer he wants, however the friend refuses to say anything about the Judge's past. "The sinful man I was who reached for vanity and corruption is dead. If I sin now it is in the weakness and not in will. I have put away foulness" (283). The old friend continues to state "that time is dead" and that he does not want to let the past resurface. Next, Jack approaches Anne Stanton. He drops the question abruptly and once again is rejected. "But it didn't work. Either she didn't know or she wasn't to be surprised out of herself" (290). In fact, the question brought Anne's attention to the issue of Jack ruining the good thing that the two of them had, she barely reacted to the question about Judge Irwin. Finally, Jack gets his question answered by Adam; Judge Irwin was in fact broke some time ago. Jack is feeling more accomplished now that he has succeeded in digging up some dirt. Then just to add to the secrets of the Judge, Anne calls Jack and reveals Irwin's dirty marriage into money due to his poverty. Jack tries to think back to the Judge's wives and picture the one who must've been rich because he was clearly oblivious during this time in their lives. "But this second wife, I was told, was rich. That explained why the face I called up was not pretty-not the kind of face you would expect to find on Judge Irwin's wife-but a swallowish, thin face, not even young, with only the big dark eyes to recommend it" (301). At this point, Jack is pleased with the amount of dirt he has dug up, although still feels somewhat guilty for exploring the secrets of the man who was a father to him.