Fairy Tales: The Problem of Jack, Rogue or Hero?

"The Jack" is an archetype in fairy tales, one of the most common tricksters.

The Jack often goes by Jack--and in fact Jack tales are quite recognizable. In the Davenport film Jack and the Dentist's Doctor, Jack steals cows (then lets them go), steals from thieves, steals a car, steals a preacher, steals bed clothes and imitates the dentist's wife. Jack, played by Kent Jackman is so full of good humor and easy patience, he appeals even while he is supposedly breaking the law.

The charisma is important because The Jack as a type raises the uneasy specter of the grifter. Where is the line between Robin Hood and the conman?

The Jack is The Jack because he is living outside the law and breaking rules, but also because he is just on the amusing side of obnoxious and antisocial. The show Leverage works as entertainment because it is part fantasy: the audience is invited to enter a world where conmen, thieves, hitmen, hustlers, grifters, and alcoholics have hearts of gold and aren't really all that bad though Hardison when he "steals" a hotel room to have a mini-Star Wars festival is closer to The Jack than Parker, who stays off the radar.

Some of the funnest variations on The Jack are female--after all, if one is going to break rules, one might as well break all of them, resulting in the Little Red Riding Hood who pulls out a gun. Mutzmag is a good example of a female Jack.

Another is Gertie from Hank and Gertie, a variation on Hansel & Gretel by Eric Kimmel. Gertie doesn't merely push the witch in the oven, she outwits her, then gets her and her brother to safety. Kate and the Beanstalk by Mary Pope Osborn, illustrated by Giselle Potter is a more standard retelling, with a female heroine. Kate is less grifter and trickster, through quite "plucky," since she is given the quest of restoring the castle to its rightful owners (granted, she accepts without question the story that the castle belongs to someone else, but, hey, looking up real estate records takes time!).

The Jack is a fun writing problem. Some analysts trace The Jack back to Hermes, the original trickster who conned other gods out of their belongings when he was a mere infant. The Hermes in my fantasy Greek world has a troubling backstory that makes him a vaguely sociopathic yuppie--James Spader, back when he was still starring in John Hughes' films--and he steals (or "borrows") everything from chocolate for use in a local bakery (to help make a profit) to rocket launchers, which act gets him in trouble with Zeus and Hera (though Ares still uses them).

It's inevitable that The Jack will be someone with a bad record who yet confidently enters the center of society, like Dean Winchester sauntering into police stations. Unlike purely chaotic characters, The Jack prefers the trappings of the civilized center, but only if he--or she--can use those trappings to self-serving ends.