The waterjack suit, which gradually poisons its wearer, is a symbol of the kind of exploitation that people in the novel with less power often endure at the hands of those with more power. After Patrice arrives in Minneapolis, two men attempt to kidnap her. When a third man, Jack Malloy, intervenes, he offers her a job as a performer at his bar, Log Jam 26. The performance entails dancing in a tank of water while wearing a “waterjack” costume that resembles Paul Bunyan’s sidekick, Babe the blue ox. Paul Bunyan is a character of Canadian and American folklore, a lumberjack who performs extraordinary feats; through his profession, he represents the extractive approach to land use closely aligned with colonialism in the U.S. Jack claims to be acting in Patrice’s best interest and says that the job pays $50 a night, significantly more than Patrice makes working at the jewel bearing plant. While Patrice is suspicious of Jack, the money is tempting, and she agrees. Patrice dresses up as a sidekick to Paul Bunyan, and when she performs, she actually doesn’t mind the performance itself. Over time, though, she learns that the first person who performed as the waterjack died, and the second is “on her last legs,” and Patrice realizes that the waterjack suit has poisoned them. The suit, then, shows how little regard Jack has for Patrice or for the previous two people who wore the waterjack costume. He is willing to slowly kill them if it means that he can make money off them. In this way, Jack is like the other characters in the novel who have power, like Senator Arthur V. Watkins or Mr. Vold, and the waterjack suit is a symbol of their shared intent to extract the vitality of those with less power until they die or become shells of who they once were, all in the name of increasing their own power and profits.
The Waterjack Suit Symbol Timeline in The Night Watchman
