What does Jack do for Willie?
For the most part, Jack is Willie's personal henchman. Jack accompanies Willie wherever he goes and aids him with various tasks. A good example of Jack being hired to complete trivial tasks for Willie is during the photo shoot. The photographer desires to have a photo with the Talos's dog, Buck. Buck, being old, refused to join Willie on his own will, so Jack was instructed to carry the dog over to Willie.
"Jack," the Boss said, "get the hairy bastard up here and make him look like he was glad to see me." Pg 39
Although jack's job mostly consists of helping Willie, Jack plays a key role in Willie's political life. Jack was hired by Willie for the purpose of digging up dirt on other political figures. Near the end of the first chapter, Jack and Willie return to Jack's hometown to visit Judge Irwin. The Judge, who was far from pleased to see Willie, and Willie, had a tense encounter. After the meeting, which ended with the Judge throwing Willie and Jack out of his house, Willie tells Jack to dig up dirt on the Judge.
"The Boss said: 'Well, Jackie, it looks like you got a job cut out for you."
And I said: 'Callahan?'
And he said: 'Nope, Irwin.'
And I said: 'I don't reckon you will find anything on Irwin.'
And he said: 'You find it.;" Pg 71
At first it appears that Jack is just a personal aid for Willie, but it is quickly revealed that Jack's job is to aid Willie's campaign by finding exploitable weaknesses in Willie's enemies. Willie, who started his political career with noble intentions, was tainted by the political machine. He was deceived and used for someone else's political gain, and began practicing dirty politics himself; Jack is the head of the corrupt side of Willie's political career.
I agree with you claim that Jack is basically Willie's personal assistant. It has been obvious thus far that his given job is to cater to the Boss' every need, what ever it may be. Aside from accompanying him at almost every venture, Jacks main job has been to 'dig up dirt,' as you mentioned in your post. As stated in the book, "You ought to have led that duck more, Jack. You got to lead a duck, son.. And make it stick.' Little Jackie made it stick, all right"(72). But aside from investigating or doing small chores for Willie, Jack and the Boss had an unsaid, mutual respect and almost friendship towards each other. In chapter four, for example, when Willie asks Jack for a raise he says, "I don't know why I work for you, but it's not because I love you. And its not for the money.' 'You work for me because I'm the way I am and you're the way you are"(269). Since the moment they met in the bar, the two men have had a respect for each other unlike any other characters. It has been interesting to watch this relationship become more prominent.
ReplyDelete-Lexie Anderson
I agree with your assertion that Jack is hired by Willie to carry out these little tasks and do his shady work. These little things will all pile up onto bugger assignmnets and more importantly dishonesty which Willie is an expert in. "Or is it possible that felllows like Willie Talos are born outside of luck, which is what about makes you and me what we are, doesn't have anything to do with them" (89). Willies career revolves around cheating and coruption because that is a big part of politics and the sooner Jack realises that the sooner he will figure out where he stands in that life. Willie's essence rubs off on Jack because he now goes deep into the world of corruption and deceit against people that he knows and may care about. Politics is new life for Jack and he sees how it has taken over Willie. "If you don't mean to win, then timw will tell. If you mean to do it right, then nobody will ever be able to tell you." (196). Willie is too caught up in his politics to realize how great a frind Jack is to him and by making him his partner in corruption, it fails to meet a true friendship standard. Jack has an inside feeling about how he feels about working for Willie but he still does it anyway because it gives hims something to do.
ReplyDelete-Sophia Scherr