Jack (John Ames) Boughton Character Analysis in Gilead

Jack is Boughton’s most beloved child and John’s namesake. Knowing John might not have children, Boughton intended that Jack and John would have a kind of father-son relationship (Jack even called John “Papa” growing up). However, through much of the novel, John hints that he and Jack have a fraught relationship, though he doesn’t explain why until near the end of the novel. He describes Jack as a “prodigal son,” a lifelong troublemaker, and it bothers John to see how much Boughton loves him when Jack clearly doesn’t deserve it. John eventually reveals that 20 years ago, in his youth, Jack had a relationship with a young woman and fathered her child. The woman’s family was extremely poor, and the baby, whom Jack never acknowledged or offered to support, was brought up in squalid circumstances and ultimately died. Yet despite his anger at Jack’s transgressions, John also perceives that there’s a deep loneliness and sadness in Jack. At one point Jack admits to John that he’s never been able to believe in God, though he doesn’t necessarily disbelieve, either. Jack and Lila seem to understand each other instinctively. At the end of the novel, Jack reveals to John that he is married to Della, who is Black, and that they have a son together, Robert Boughton Miles. Because of anti-miscegenation laws in Missouri, their marriage isn’t legal, and they are ultimately harassed out of their home in St. Louis. Though the novel doesn’t reveal how, it’s clear that Jack has changed for the better over the course of his life. However, he leaves Gilead in the end, after it’s implied that Della breaks off their relationship; he never tells Boughton the whole truth about his life, and he doesn’t know where he’s headed next. Despite his ambivalence about Christianity, he willingly receives John’s blessing before he goes.

Jack (John Ames) Boughton Quotes in Gilead

The Gilead quotes below are all either spoken by Jack (John Ames) Boughton or refer to Jack (John Ames) Boughton. 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:

Having looked over these thoughts I set down last night, I realize I have evaded what is for me the central question. That is: How should I deal with these fears I have, that Jack Boughton will do you and your mother harm, just because he can, just for the sly, unanswerable meanness of it? You have already asked after him twice this morning.

Harm to you is not harm to me in the strict sense, and that is a great part of the problem. He could knock me down the stairs and I would have worked out the theology for forgiving him before I reached the bottom. But if he harmed you in the slightest way, I’m afraid theology would fail me. That may be one great part of what I fear, now that I think of it.

Related Characters: Rev. John Ames (speaker), John’s Son (The Boy), Lila (John’s Wife), Jack (John Ames) Boughton

Page Number and Citation: 190

Explanation and Analysis:

I have wandered to the limits of my understanding any number of times, out into that desolation, that Horeb, that Kansas, and I’ve scared myself, too, a good many times, leaving all landmarks behind me, or so it seemed. And it has been among the true pleasures of my life. Night and light, silence and difficulty, it seemed to me always rigorous and good. I believe it was recommended to me by Edward, and also by my reverend grandfather when he made his last flight into the wilderness. I may once have fancied myself such another tough old man, ready to dive into the ground and smolder away the time till Judgment. Well, I am distracted from that project now. My present bewilderments are a new territory that make me doubt I have ever really been lost before.

Related Characters: Rev. John Ames (speaker), John’s Son (The Boy), Edward Ames, John’s Grandfather, Jack (John Ames) Boughton

Page Number and Citation: 191

Explanation and Analysis:

Why do I love the thought of you old? That first twinge of arthritis in your knee is a thing I imagine with all the tenderness I felt when you showed me your loose tooth. Be diligent in your prayers, old man. I hope you will have seen more of the world than I ever got around to seeing—only myself to blame. And I hope you will have read some of my books. And God bless your eyes, and your hearing also, and of course your heart. I wish I could help you carry the weight of many years. But the Lord will have that fatherly satisfaction.

Related Characters: Rev. John Ames (speaker), John’s Son (The Boy), Jack (John Ames) Boughton

Page Number and Citation: 210

Explanation and Analysis:

“We are married in the eyes of God, as they say. Who does not provide a certificate, but who also does not enforce anti-miscegenation laws. The Deus Absconditus at His most benign. Sorry.” He smiled. “In the eyes of God we have been man and wife for about eight years. We have lived as man and wife a total of seventeen months, two weeks, and a day.”

Related Characters: Jack (John Ames) Boughton (speaker), Rev. John Ames, Della Miles

Page Number and Citation: 219-220

Explanation and Analysis:

And old Boughton, if he could stand up out of his chair, out of his decrepitude and crankiness and sorrow and limitation, would abandon all those handsome children of his, mild and confident as they are, and follow after that one son whom he has never known, whom he has favored as one does a wound, and he would protect him as a father cannot, defend him with a strength he does not have, sustain him with a bounty beyond any resource he could ever dream of having. If Boughton could be himself, he would utterly pardon every transgression, past, present, and to come, whether or not it was a transgression in fact or his to pardon. He would be that extravagant. That is a thing I would love to see.

Related Characters: Rev. John Ames (speaker), Rev. Robert Boughton, Jack (John Ames) Boughton, John’s Son (The Boy)

Page Number and Citation: 238

Explanation and Analysis:

As I have told you, I myself was the good son, so to speak, the one who never left his father’s house—even when his father did, a fact which surely puts my credentials beyond all challenge. I am one of those righteous for whom the rejoicing in heaven will be comparatively restrained. And that’s all right. There is no justice in love, no proportion in it, and there need not be, because in any specific instance it is only a glimpse or parable of an embracing, incomprehensible reality.

Related Characters: Rev. John Ames (speaker), John’s Son (The Boy), John’s Father, Rev. Robert Boughton, Jack (John Ames) Boughton

Page Number and Citation: 238

Explanation and Analysis:

Jack (John Ames) Boughton Character Timeline in Gilead

The timeline below shows where the character Jack (John Ames) Boughton appears in Gilead. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Estrangement and Reconciliation Theme Icon

...meant something. Glory rolled her eyes at this and explained that they haven’t heard from Jack for a while. But when Glory and Boughton started quarreling, John walked back home. He... (full context)

Christian Faith, Mystery, and Ministry Theme Icon

...too, when he hears the story. He’s in a good mood because he’s heard from Jack. John decides not to tell his wife about the talk with Mr. Schmidt because she... (full context)

Jack, or John Ames Boughton (John’s namesake), has called from St. Louis and is coming home... (full context)

Glory comes by to warn John that Jack Boughton is home and will stop by in the next day or two. John feels... (full context)

...greeted John as “Papa,” a name he’s called John since childhood, though John doesn’t think Jack really likes him. When Jack introduced himself to John’s wife with his full name, she... (full context)

John remarks that it had been just about a perfect morning until Jack appeared. He notices looks on both his wife’s and son’s faces as they recognize John’s... (full context)

John came home for lunch today to find his son playing catch with Jack Boughton. He notes that he’s failed to get his son his own baseball glove and... (full context)

John visited Boughton this morning. He’s in a good mood because Glory and Jack are clearing out his overgrown gardens. John chats with Boughton a little about baseball, politics,... (full context)

...is sent “into the wilderness” in some sense, and even the wilderness belongs to God. Jack Boughton came to play catch with the boy today, and both the boy and his... (full context)

Last night Jack Boughton came by and chatted with John on the porch, until John invited him to... (full context)

John mentions it because it’s just so strange to find himself sitting there with Jack Boughton and his family, when not many years ago he used to sit there eating... (full context)

John needs to figure out what to tell his wife about Jack. His son keeps looking at Jack like he’s Charles Lindbergh. John wonders if God is... (full context)

The next time Jack comes over, John makes a point of behaving more cordially toward him. Jack seems amused... (full context)

...the enjoyment of a beloved child’s existence. Thinking about sons turns his thoughts back to Jack Boughton, who “is a piece of work.” (full context)

John’s instinct is to warn his son and his wife against Jack Boughton. Though by now, his son must understand that John can’t trust his own feelings... (full context)

...that his books and desk have been moved into the downstairs parlor. He knows it’s Jack Boughton’s doing, and he’s okay with this. He’s still bothered by the thought of Jack... (full context)

...lay last night in a kind of paralysis of anxiety and woke exhausted. And then Jack Boughton showed up at church, and John’s son went to sit with him. But John... (full context)

...John notes, everyone knows fathers who mistreat their children. At this moment, he notes that Jack is pale and grinning. He regrets choosing this text to preach on and wandering from... (full context)

John notices that Jack just keeps grinning. He’s always found this strange about Jack. Instead of regarding their meaning,... (full context)

Continuing to question himself, John asks himself what makes him believe that Jack will have a damaging influence upon his family. This strikes him as a good question—after... (full context)

Memory, Vision, and Conviction Theme Icon

Jack comes outside to sit with his father and John. He mentions a point in the... (full context)

As they’re sitting there, Jack suddenly cuts in to ask John his views about predestination. John hates discussing this topic—no... (full context)

Jack says that this isn’t an abstract matter. He says that it seems that, in John’s... (full context)

Jack tries to dismiss himself from the conversation since no one seems interested in pursuing it,... (full context)

...pastor, it’s not a situation that comes up very often. And when it comes to Jack Boughton, John has trouble believing he’s sincere. But as they’re walking home, his wife says... (full context)

...Boughton essentially gave to John as a consolation for his own childlessness. John even baptized Jack himself. Because of all this, it pains him to speak against Jack. And yet there’s... (full context)

The basics are easily summed up: when Jack was in college, he had a relationship with a young girl, and they had a... (full context)

Jack didn’t acknowledge the child as his or do anything to provide for the child. He... (full context)

...situation horrifying—there was trash strewn everywhere, and the baby was dirty. He couldn’t understand how Jack could have taken advantage of the young girl and then abandoned her and the baby.... (full context)

John says this is all he needs to tell his son about Jack Boughton. Jack’s family loved the baby because they loved Jack so much; she looked just... (full context)

John remembers Glory taking him to visit Jack’s baby one day. The family lived on the other side of the West Nishnabotna River.... (full context)

John recalled this scene because “remembering and forgiving can be contrary things.” Jack Boughton didn’t hurt him directly, so it’s not his place to forgive him, anyway. Just... (full context)

John is watching his son and Tobias playing in the yard. Eventually Jack Boughton appears with his baseball bat and glove. He watches the three of them playing... (full context)

...more like a “gentleman” than a “codger.” Then he walked to church to wait for Jack Boughton and fell asleep in a pew. Before he fell asleep, he’d been praying for... (full context)

...hopes aren’t very high. He’s always been a little touchy about this, and he tells Jack that regardless of who his father had been, he assumes that God still would have... (full context)

They sit quietly together for a while until Jack says that when he was a little boy, he thought God lived in the attic... (full context)

John asks Jack what he wants to tell him. Jack says that earlier, he’d asked John a question.... (full context)

Jack remarks that a man he met in Tennessee had heard of Gilead and of John’s... (full context)

Shifting to the sly, angry tone that John has never been able to stand, Jack brings up Karl Barth, whom he knows John admires. He points out that Barth doesn’t... (full context)

...alienate the next. So while it might seem that he would feel obligated to rescue Jack from his skepticism, he feels the conversation is pretty futile. In any case, he has... (full context)

...needs to work through; but nowadays, the weight worries him. Tonight he keeps thinking about Jack. This morning Jack sent a note apologizing for offending John and promising not to trouble... (full context)

John remembers when Jack was 10 or 12 and he set John’s mailbox on fire. In those days, Jack... (full context)

And yet he saw a sadness in Jack, too, and in his many “sly and lonely” transgressions. Jack sometimes stole from John, too—even... (full context)

John thinks it was strange that Jack was lonely, because he was so beloved by his family. His siblings always fretted over... (full context)

...is discouraged to think that he might end up being “bothered to death” because of Jack Boughton. He feels it’s “disgraceful” that he’s unable to speak to Jack as a pastor... (full context)

Jack hasn’t replied to John’s note. So, he writes another. When he’s dropping it off in... (full context)

John doesn’t sleep this night; he’s thinking about baptizing Jack. The plan had been to name Jack Theodore Dwight Weld. John liked that name, especially... (full context)

...my child.” It’s foolish, but John admits that he has occasionally thought that the infant Jack felt how coldly John baptized him. He’s always felt guilty about it, and he’s never... (full context)

...realizes it isn’t actually true, and he’s relieved. But he does wish he could baptize Jack again, to really feel the sacredness of it. And John Ames Boughton really is his... (full context)

...has always struggled to reconcile the gravity of sin with the grace of forgiveness. If Jack is truly his son, then that little girl who died was John’s child, too. (full context)

...has realized that he’s avoiding the key question—how should he deal with his fear that Jack will somehow hurt his wife and son out of sheer meanness? Perhaps a big part... (full context)

...porch swing. He sat down with them in the dark, watching his son doze. Then Jack Boughton walked down the road, and John’s wife invited him to visit, so he sat... (full context)

They chatted a bit, and John said sincerely that it has been good to see Jack during his time in Gilead. He also said he admires Jack’s familiarity with Karl Barth.... (full context)

...a thought that stayed with him. He wished he could sit at the feet of Jack’s eternal soul and learn from him. It occurred to him that people are secrets from... (full context)

John nodded off, as he often does nowadays, and at some point he heard Jack and his wife talking. His wife asked Jack how long he’ll be staying in Gilead.... (full context)

...what it’s like to be poor and how she always longed for a settled life; Jack remarked that he’s still searching for one. Very gently she replied, “Well, Jack, bless your... (full context)

...this out. He’s touched by his wife’s kind words about him. He’s also struck by Jack’s tone of amazement when he learned that John hadn’t yet warned Lila about him. He... (full context)

John also admits that he heard the edge disappear from Jack’s voice while he spoke with Lila. The two sounded like friends. (full context)

...he first fell in love with her. He wonders why he worries so much about Jack. After all, love is like grace: “the worthiness of its object is never really what... (full context)

...of coming over to John’s house. While there, he finally spoke up and said that Jack isn’t “right with himself.” He said that Jack has never told him why he’s back,... (full context)

While John and Boughton were still sitting there, Jack arrived, and John invited him in. He looked as if he knew just what the... (full context)

When John prays about Jack, it’s Jack’s sadness that strikes him the most. He feels Jack must be forgiven a... (full context)

Jack Boughton has a wife and child. He showed John their picture for a moment. John... (full context)

John had been sorting through papers in the church office when Jack suddenly came in wearing a suit and tie. After sitting there quietly for a moment,... (full context)

John says they are a fine-looking family. He asks if Jack is afraid this revelation would kill Boughton. Jack says it nearly killed his wife’s parents.... (full context)

Jack goes on to explain that there’s a good Christian man in Tennessee who is willing... (full context)

John says he thought that Jack was an atheist. Jack says it’s more accurate to say that he’s “in a state... (full context)

Della was a teacher. One day Jack saw her walking home from school in a rainstorm with an armload of books and... (full context)

Jack says that if they could find some way to live as a family, answering her... (full context)

Later—Jack isn’t sure how it happened—Della invited him to Thanksgiving dinner. Jack was nervous about it... (full context)

Jack tracked down Della’s family; they were easy to find, since her father was the minister... (full context)

But Jack still greeted him at the door afterwards. That’s when her father told him that if... (full context)

...family disowned her at this point, and when she got pregnant, her school fired her. Jack worked as a shoe salesman, and they lived in a hotel in a bad part... (full context)

Eventually, Della’s father and brothers came to see Jack. Her father said Jack should be thankful that he was a Christian man. He persuaded... (full context)

When Jack finally got to Memphis, the baby was a few days old. When Della’s father got... (full context)

...knew his name because it turned out that Della wanted to name the baby after Jack. Jack was happy to learn this. He sat with Della and the baby all day.... (full context)

But after about eight months, the family went to a park together, and Jack’s boss saw them there. The next day he spoke to Jack and warned him that... (full context)

Jack had thought that maybe he could find a way to move his family to Gilead.... (full context)

Jack remarks that John knows a little bit about being “the object of scandal,” having made... (full context)

John tells Jack that if he were Boughton, he would love to meet his child. He adds that... (full context)

When Jack gets up to leave, John embraces him. Jack even rests his head on John’s shoulder... (full context)

Jack asks John what he thinks about moving his family to Gilead. John doesn’t know what... (full context)

...written down this whole conversation. But his son might never hear another good word about Jack Boughton, and he doesn’t know how else to let his son see the beauty in... (full context)

Jack Boughton was in church, and it particularly embarrassed John to stand there reading an old... (full context)

This morning he went to the bank and cashed a check, in hopes of helping Jack out a little. But when he offered it to Jack, Jack put the money back... (full context)

John asked Jack if he was heading back to Memphis, but Jack said he was going “anywhere else.”... (full context)

Jack is leaving. Glory, upset, comes to speak to John about it. She doesn’t understand how... (full context)

...doesn’t truly know, just in the hope of protecting and defending him. He would forgive Jack everything, extravagantly. John wishes he could live to see that. (full context)

John decides it’s time to bring his writing to an end. This morning he saw Jack Boughton walking toward the bus stop with a suitcase. John walked along with him and... (full context)

At one point, Jack paused and said that by leaving, he was once again doing the worst possible thing.... (full context)

As they sat at the bus stop, John persuaded Jack to accept a little money. Then John asked if it was okay if he blessed... (full context)

...to stop at the church to rest. He thought about his walk through town with Jack. He reflects that Gilead used to be the kind of place where “a harmless life... (full context)

...always looks too beautiful for John’s eyes. He wishes Boughton could have seen the way Jack received John’s blessing at the bus stop. He figures Boughton will know about it in... (full context)

John had promised Jack he would say goodbye to Boughton for him. So this evening, he visited his friend,... (full context)

...that it might as well have. Before he left Boughton, he whispered that he loved Jack as much as Boughton always meant him to. (full context)

Gilead

Jack (John Ames) Boughton Character Analysis

Jack (John Ames) Boughton Quotes in Gilead

Pages 185-191 Quotes

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Pages 209-215 Quotes

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Jack (John Ames) Boughton Character Timeline in Gilead