Reverend Jón is Tóti’s father and a Lutheran priest. Jón is a strict father, often criticizing Tóti’s choices and rarely extending emotional support. Reverend Jón is particularly unhappy about Tóti’s role as Agnes’s spiritual advisor. Still, Reverend Jón, who cares for Tóti when he is sick, clearly loves his son.
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Reverend Jón Character Timeline in Burial Rites
The timeline below shows where the character Reverend Jón appears in Burial Rites. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
After Blöndal’s letter, the novel begins a third-person narrative, which opens with Tóti’s father, Reverend Jón , walking into their house and telling him that a messenger has arrived. The messenger...
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Tóti finds Reverend Jón in the communal bedroom (the badstofa), and gives him the letter to read. Once he...
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...reflects on his father’s coldness after his mother’s death. When he gets to the house, Reverend Jón is boiling fish. Tóti tells him he is going to Kornsá, where Agnes is scheduled...
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Tóti asks his father if he thinks he is ready, and Reverend Jón tells him that only he knows, but that since he has agreed to help Agnes...
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Chapter 3
...follows Tóti as he completes chores and gets ready to head to Kornsá again. As Reverend Jón sees Tóti herding sheep and doing laundry, he tells Tóti that he doesn’t have to...
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Chapter 4
...but he is too embarrassed, and so does not write for two weeks. One night, Reverend Jón asks him if Agnes has been praying. When Tóti responds equivocally, Reverend Jón tells him...
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Chapter 5
...a letter from Jón asking him to come see Agnes. Tóti leaves for Kornsá over Reverend Jón ’s objections. By the time Tóti gets close, he is drenched with the rain. Tóti...
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Chapter 8
...Kornsá to talk with Agnes despite the bad weather. As Tóti prepares for his trip, Reverend Jón implies that Tóti is romantically interested in either Lauga or Steina. Tóti tells his father...
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Chapter 10
...Tóti gets up to get some water and falls back asleep on the pantry floor. Reverend Jón finds him, wakes him up, and gets him back to the badstofa. Tóti is standing...
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Chapter 11
...it is. His father tells him it is December. Tóti tries to get up, but Reverend Jón refuses to let him up until he is better, saying Agnes is not worth the...
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Chapter 13
...the letter announced Agnes’s execution in six days, and so he must go see her. Reverend Jón objects, saying he is too weak and that it is not worth it to help...
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