MovieChat Forums > Howards End (1993) Discussion > Does the book tell what happened to Jack...

Does the book tell what happened to Jackie?


Jackie was such an important character even though she didn't have much screen time. Her relationship with Leonard was instrumental in bringing him to the point where his life intersected with the Schlegels'. Her affair with Henry Wilcox threatened to turn his life upside down when they met at the wedding; the revelation of that relationship showed us Wilcox's true colors if we hadn't seen them already. I felt a bit let down when that loose end wasn't tied up at the end of the movie. What became of Jackie after everyone else's life had been neatly packaged and she was left with no-one? If you've read the book, I'd love to know whether my question is answered, but not the answer itself. If I know that Forster tells, I just might order the book. (Can't get it in English from the library here, unfortunately.)

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Forster seemed to have forgotten to tell us what became of Jacky.

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What a shame! Thanks for the reply.

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Even though we will never really know what became of her, I like to think that Henry Wilcox, along with much encouragment from Margaret..would have settled with her financially. They would've given her money to help her start a new life. After all, it was the Wilcox family who were responsible for the death of her husband. I don't know what the law was like in Edwardian England, but I doubt she could sue for damages in a civil court.

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Yes, I agree that Margaret would have asked Henry to (anonymously perhaps) make a settlement on Jackie that would allow her to live comfortably for the rest of her life. Or perhaps Margaret herself gave Jackie something. My question is, did Jackie ever find out that Helen's child was Leonard's? It's not answered in the book, but I've always wondered.

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I'm probably wrong but wasnt it implied that Jackie prostituted her self at 16 after her fathers death and before meeting Bast. She most likely became a prostitute after his death.

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It's an interesting question and I agree wtih alex92019's assessment.

While it's nice to think that Margaret would've helped her (and it would be consistant with her character as well as Helen's) I think in the end, despite all their help, Jackie's life would probably end with her in squalor. She's painted in the film as pretty low and very common without much redeeming qualities (correct me if I'm wrong but it always seemed to me that's she kind of flirting while she eats the cake at the wedding...the way she takes a piece and seductively puts it in her mouth...).

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re: "....the way she takes a piece and seductively puts it in her mouth...)."

Actually she's trying to be 'a lady', eating daintily, or she thinks.

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Of course it doesn't spoil it for me. I'm always interested to hear what Thinking People have to say! Thanks for the comments!

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I have just finished reading the book, and my take on Jacky is that Forster's silence about her indicates that after Leonard's death she fell back into the squallor and prostitution from which Leonard had, by marrying her, rescued her. Helen and Margaret were interested in helping Leonard and Leonard only, because they saw in him an intelligent young man who was held back by the social stratification of the society in which he lived. Jacky, on the other hand, they saw as a stupid and boorish woman and she evoked no positive sentiments from them. Leonard had been their pet project in a way, especially Helen's as she became more and more caught up in Leonard's fate and enraged by the stoic indifference of the wealthy, such as Mr. Wilcox, towards the lives of the poor. But by the end of the book, the sisters had both become disillusioned with their cause, I think because they realized that they were in truth, unable to do anything for the poor, no matter how hard they tried, and Leonard's death only solidified in a tragic way this realization. They were past philanthropy by the time Leonard died, having seen how utterly useless their good intentions had been and I doubt they even thought of Jacky following her husband's death, since she had never been a part of their cause, just a consequence, having been married to Leonard.

Leonard's death was very tragic, but I think that Jacky was the most tragic and pathetic character of the book, since she was nothing more than a side-note to everyone around her, a persona non grata, for even Leonard did not love her and stayed with her only because he pitied her and honorably stuck to his promise of marrying her. Sad as it may be, I think that her character shows that there is something to Henry's rather callous statement that, "The poor are poor, and one's sorry for them, but there it is", which the sisters probably never fully accepted, but I got the feeling that they had stopped worrying about and trying to change, as they had their own problems to worry about by the end.

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Thank you for your response. I think it's a pretty significant commentary that's still valid although this book was written a long time ago. Many people try to make a difference in the world, but so many eventually let their causes fall by the wayside because the struggle becomes too difficult, or because they aren't making enough progress, or for lots of other reasons. After all, it's true... we all have our own problems to worry about.

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I don't think it really matters what happens to Jacky in the novel or film. I think that Jacky was meant to be a "flat" character, and not one that has any real role, other than to contrast Leonard's connection with the Schlegels at Wickham Place, with the "exchange of words" that takes place between them at Block B, and of course in order to be Henry's blast from the past, in order to lead up to the disconnection between Henry and Meg.

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Thanks for responding. Good point. I just felt really sorry for her.

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Forster deliberately "forgets" Jackie. She has fallen into the abyss of lower class poverty. Certainly, once her husband is dead she has no means to support herself. Leonard Bast had been hovering over this abyss. Jackie has fallen in. It is important to note that she is forgotten. Forster wanted us to react this way.

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