This Jim Character
When reading the third section of the book, i was immediately drawn to the character of Jim. Something just didn’t seem right. There was something about his character that seemed suspicious. I agreed with Jesse (Birdie) when warned her mother that, she thought Jim maybe an undercover FBI agent because of his vague stories and his constant visits to Boston of all places. Sheila (Sandy) stands by Jim and convinces herself that there is no way Jim is a FBI agent because of the shoes he wears. I feel differently though. I feel like it could be very likely that Jim is a FBI agent. Sheila (Sandy) thrives on the attention she is getting and completely shoves her rules of staying invisible out the window because of Jim. He appears to have a major affect on her which bothers me. She fails to listen to Jesse (Birdie’s) concerns and is just so caught up in Jim that she appears blinded from the truth. At the end of the chapter I developed a sort of hatred for Jim. When he reprimands Jesse (Birdie) for lying to the children, i felt that he was over stepping his boundaries. He had only been dating Sheila (Sandy) for a couple weeks and he was already trying to play the role of father. He was moving way to fast. When he referred to himself as Jesse (Birdie’s) parent i couldn’t believe it. How dare him claim that position in her life? He was not her father and had no right to try and put himself in that place. This is the last thing that Jesse (Birdie) needs after being separated from Cole and her father and having been on the run for so long. Jim needs to back off and chill out. I’m curious to find out what will happen with Jim and Sheila (Sandy). I hope he doesn’t turn out to be that character that Jesse (Birdie) thinks he is but who knows what will happen.
Jen–
I agree with you that when reading the part about Jim I actually wrote “he seems very suspect”. Which indeed he does and since we are getting the story from Birdies P.O.V. I felt scared and suspicious for her. I would be very upset if Jim turns out to be a FBI agent, I guess it just wouldn’t seem fair to Birdie. In the second half of your post you talk about Sandy and how she becomes ultimately wrapped up in her relationship with Jim. Which is ridiculous. At one point she yells at Birdie and tells her how she thought Birdie was a “normal teenager” or something in that field. However, Sandy in this section really becomes crazy to me with her outbursts! It kind of makes me wonder what the story would be like if we had her point of view…..lol
I thought Jim was a little weird as well. It was weird how of ALL the places in the world to visit, he visits BOSTON lol. I thought it was weird how Sandy wasn’t suspicious of him and let him into her life. He also seems to think that he is her father because “her real father died” and he’s the only male adult in her life right now. He is definately NOT her father, I can tell you that lol.
I agree. Something is definitely fishy about Jim. I have a hutch he is undercover as well. I think all this attention Sandy is getting form this man is clouding her judgment and it will catch up to her later on.
When Jim first came into the story I didn’t really like him either. He seemed like he could absolutely be a Fed and I thought it was creepy that he latched onto Birdie so quickly and pushed the father role on her. However, now that we’ve read more about ol’ Jim, I kind of feel bad for him, mostly because he seems to be a big burn-out loser but also because he seems to genuinely care for Birdie and she resents him for it. I can’t blame Birdie, I would probably feel the same way, but I also feel bad for Jim because he’s trying to be a good guy, unless he really is a fed in which case he sucks and I hate him.