Jack's Mother
supporting · human
Throws the beans out of the window, and is already coming out of the door with the axe before he asks.
What they are like
- Kind
- 8/10
- Brave
- 9/10
- Clever
- 9/10
- Honest
- 9/10
- Curious
- 4/10
- Patient
- 7/10
How we meet them
Giving one instruction twice, because she already knows how this goes.
Personality
Worn down and quietly formidable. She does not shout, which is worse, and she is the only person in the story who does the sensible thing at speed.
What they want
To get through another week. Later, to get her son off a beanstalk.
How they change
Loses a cow, gains a fortune she never asked for, and ends up negotiating with a giant in a ploughed field.
How they speak
Very little, and all of it lands. Her last line in the story is addressed to a giant and is entirely practical.
How the story treats them
The story quietly makes her the competent one. She has the axe before it is asked for and she is the one who walks out into the field.
One surprising thing
She is the only character who solves a problem by talking. Everyone else in the tale climbs, hides, shouts or runs.
If they were real today
She would already have the thing you were about to ask for in her hand.
Things they say
- “A good price. Jack, look at me. A good price.”
- “You will want to get home. Can you climb?”
Key moments
She did not shout
Handed five beans instead of a cow, she looks at them for a long moment, throws them out of the window, and sends him to bed. The not-shouting is what does it.
Already coming out with it
Jack shouts for the axe from halfway down a swaying beanstalk, and she is already through the door with it in her hands.
Can you climb?
She walks out into a ploughed field to a furious giant a third of her height sitting down, and asks him a practical question.
“You will want to get home. Can you climb?”
Who they know
Jackfamily
She gives one instruction twice and he loses the cow within half a mile.
Characters like Jack's Mother
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