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Jeanie
In “Gaps in the Hickory,” Jackson is Izzy and Delores’s son, Jeanie’s husband, and Carter and Lucy’s father. When he was young, his father Denver left the family. Jackson was told that Denver ran off with another woman. In reality, Denver was a transgender woman who now lives in New Orleans and goes by Delores. When Izzy found out about her spouse’s gender identity, she kept it a secret and convinced Delores to go to New Orleans, where she would be safer and more accepted. Some years before the story’s present, Jackson went to New Orleans to see his father and accidentally found out about that his father was a transgender woman. Unable to cope with his shock and unable to accept his father as Delores, Jackson became bitter, violent, and bigoted. In the story’s present, he belongs to the local KKK group and tries to involve Carter in it too. His family is afraid of him and his increasingly unhinged behavior. Before Izzy died, she warned Jeanie that Jackson would never accept his son Carter’s transgender identity and would likely hurt Carter when he finds out, and it’s for this reason that Izzy pleads with Jeanie to take Carter to live with Delores in New Orleans before it’s too late.
Jackson Quotes in Foreign Soil
The Foreign Soil quotes below are all either spoken by Jackson or refer to Jackson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Gaps in the Hickory Quotes
Denver ain’t her no more. He jus the man her best friend Izzy married then split from. He jus somebody she used-a know, long time ago. The real her was born when she came to Orleans. Real her is Delores.
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When Carter wriggle into the top, his whole body get to singin’. He stand up straight, look in the mirror. His mind unfog itself.
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Jackson Character Timeline in Foreign Soil
The timeline below shows where the character Jackson appears in Foreign Soil. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Gaps in the Hickory
...away to buy them, since she doesn’t want anyone to know where she’s been shopping. Jackson, her husband, is too proud to have his children “playin’ with some nigger’s leftovers.” Jeanie...
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Jeanie looks out the window; she sees Lucy running around in the yard outside. Jackson is sitting on the porch drinking a beer, and Carter, their son, is talking to...
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Jackson stares at Carter as though he wants to ask him something, but no words come...
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Jackson finishes cutting a strip of fabric out of a white piece of cloth. He tells...
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Jackson notes what a good night it is for “ridin’” and continues to cut fabric. Carter...
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Jackson is taking forever to go ridin’—he’s been preparing since morning. Carter watches now as Jackson...
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...sometimes they’d forget that Ella was there. Once, Izzy admitted that she was afraid of Jackson—even though he was her own son. Now, Ella tells Delores it’s good she’s feeling better—because...
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Jeanie watches Jackson prepare for his evening and thinks about how his “Klan business” has gotten out of...
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...born. He’s a good kid, and Izzy worries what will happen to him the day Jackson discovers the truth about him. Then Izzy handed Jeanie a piece of paper with Jackson’s...
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Lucy jumps up and down and demands to know why Jackson is cutting up her clothes. Jackson promises that he’s only cutting up old clothes. Carter...
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Jackson drives away later that night, and Carter and Lucy watch his truck as it disappears...
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...a bowl, and places the bowl in the microwave. She thinks about what’s become of Jackson. He used to be so normal, and now everything’s changed. Lucy enters the kitchen, excited...
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Delores left Newmarket, Mississippi when Jackson was about Carter’s age. It was hard for her, but she and Izzy thought that...
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Four years ago, Jackson came to visit Delores, though Delores never told Izzy about it. He’d come wanting Denver’s...
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...porcelain plate’s floral pattern. Gram Izzy bought it at the thrift store years ago. When Jackson found out where Izzy got them from, he got angry; he didn’t want to eat...
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...he ran away with. The only thing Carter really knows about his grandpa is that Jackson hates him more than anything in the whole world. As Jeanie angrily cleans up a...
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...that’s been stopped outside their house for the past 30 minutes. It’s the same one Jackson drove when he came to see her years ago. The car’s back door opens, and...
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