At points in this section, I have admittedly become increasingly annoyed with Jack. His reactions to Ma’s stories of Outside, in particular, seem incredibly disrespectful and rude. But at the same time, I have to remind myself that Jack is just a five year old boy trying to wrap his head around the world. Part of me is just like, “listen to Ma!!”, but the other part of me knows he is, and knows he’s incredibly confused and overwhelmed.
Looking at this from Ma’s perspective though, it must be so hard for her to not have anyone to talk to about her past life for seven years. And now she does, as she tries to explain to Jack her childhood, but he’s in disbelief, trying to get her to stop, and telling her she’s silly, etc. It’s a natural response to overwhelming situations, to shut them down, but looking at how Ma must feel definitely makes Jack seem more irritating.
I’ve been thinking about why we all seem to find some of Jack’s mannerisms irritating. I have come to the conclusion that it’s because of his selfishness. As a five year old, that selfishness is usually manifested in different ways that a strong mother-son bond. But for Jack, he doesn’t really have anything else to cling to. At times, I forget Jack is so young, simply because he’s our narrator. Being only five years old, it’s natural for him to be a bit selfish and act young, because he is. I just wish at some points he’d just listen, and stop talking, because some of the things he says must really hurt Ma, though of course he doesn’t realize this.
This is maybe yet another example of Jack exhibiting some pretty normal dynamics for a 5-year-old talking to his mother, which are exacerbated intensely by the specific situation he is in. He doesn't know how serious this stuff Ma wants to tell him really is; he has no idea that she's finally getting to share this experience with another human being (really, it's hard for us to wrap our heads around the fact that since this has happened to her, seven or so years ago, she hasn't been able to talk to anyone else at all). The stuff Ma is saying literally doesn't make sense to him--and it's confusing, as she's contradicting stuff she's told him before, so she seems "silly" to Jack. And what she's asking him to do is enormous--it is understandable that he resists, has second thoughts, doubts his ability to pull it off. But the stakes are higher than he can realize, and we relate to Ma's frustration trying to talk him into it. She'd really rather not make him do this, of course--she'd really rather not be in this situation at all. But what alternative does she have? But like all kids, Jack can't begin to grasp how hard this is for his mother.
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