Jack (hero)

Jack is an archetypal Cornish and English hero and stock character appearing in legends, fairy tales, and nursery rhymes, generally portrayed as a young adult. Unlike moralizing fairy heroes, Jack is often portrayed as lazy or foolish, but through the use of cleverness and tricks he usually emerges triumphant. In this way he may resemble a trickster.

Some of the most famous include "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Jack the Giant Killer", and "Little Jack Horner". While these heroes are not necessarily congruous, their concepts are related and in some instances interchangeable. The notion of "Jack" is closely related and sometimes identical to the English hero John. He also corresponds with the German Hans (or Hänsel) and the Russian Iván. The character Matrim Cauthon, one of the three main protagonists of the Wheel of Time franchise, is an archetypal Jack character, with several allusions associating him with the name Jack throughout the series.

See also

• Jack o Lantern
• Jack o Kent
• Jack in the Green
• Jack (name)
• Jack (disambiguation)
• Jack tales
• Category:Jack tales

Reference

• America's Jack: The Trickster Hero of Our Shy Tradition Magazine article by Craig J. Renner; World and I, Vol. 13, September 1998.
• Trickster Jack ~ E. Reid Gilbert
• Roger Zelazny and the Trickster Myth: An Analysis of Jack of Shadows, The Journal of American Culture Volume 2 Issue 2, Pages 271 - 278, Published Online: 7 Jun 2004.