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this is not a headcanon this is a fuckin essay that ive planned like the english major I am i in my heart. AND BY essay I mean full on essay. Its taken up 5 pages and is 2528 words. so Enjoy!

Jack Kelly: A child of the moon and tears of stardust:

Jack Kelly is a seventeen-year-old traumatised child.

Although this is rarely shown in the musical, it is slightly touched on through the prologue of Santa Fe and Santa Fe in general. Not only does the first song of the musical set up his relationships with Crutchie, a fellow newsie of fifteen named due to his “gimp leg”, but it also gives us a look at the side of Jack that is rarely shown in the musical. This soft, almost meekly vulnerable side that is so often hidden by a cocky smile and flirtatious jokes.

From what we can gather through the different iterations of the newsies (the book, the 1992 movie and the 2012 movie) Jack Kelly was born to unknown parents under the name Francis Malcolm Sullivan sometime in 1882, making him seventeen at the time of the 1899 newsboy strike- where the movie and musical take place described as a “fast talking irish boy” in the book and in the musical a “handsome, heroically charismatic, plainspoken, know-nothing, skirt-chasing, cocky little son of a-"

Around the age of fifteen, his mother dies and Jack and his younger brother Micheal are sent to the refuge, a jail for underage children run by Synder ‘the spider’, for theft or as stated in the musical “vagrancy” which is defined as “it a crime for a person to wander from place to place without visible means of support. Basically, these laws criminalized being homeless and jobless.” [1]

When they escape or are released [it is never stated which] , Micheal gets crushed under the wheels of a carriage in front of what we can assume was a powerless Jack, watches on. He scraps the name Francis and hops onto the pseudonym Jack Kelly to hide from the law in plain sight. Now, a lost and scared child, Jack goes to the refuge again escaping on the back of Teddy Roosevelt’s carriage and becomes the leader of the Manhattan newsies.

We get a look in the refuge during the musical, the first being Jack telling the new recruits David and Les to “steer clear of the refuge”. Later and the clearest portrayal is after the strike and is shown during the broadway-only song ‘letters from the refuge’.

Crutchie mentioning that “so far we [the boys in the refuge] ain't been given no food” and that Synder and the guards are horrifically abusive- shown through the lines “Synder soaked me real good with my crutch” and “these here guards- they is rude They say "jump boy,” you jump or you're screwed!”. The last and maybe the most startling and realistic hit of the prison is Katherine describing Jack’s drawings hinting there’s “three boys to a bed” and “rats everywhere and vermin”. All of these highlights that the refuge is a place where children go for trauma and beatings- not for rehabilitation, one of the main reasons for prisons not only during those times but throughout history.

Rather unsurprisingly, all of this gives Jack Kelly trauma, forcing him to grow up quickly because the newsies, many if not most of whom are younger than Jack.

Jack bottles up this trauma; either due to the toxic masculinity that’s driven by the patriarchy of those times or just because he’s a leader and thus needs to be important. 92sies Jack, played by Christian Bale, picks up the habit of smoking whereas Jeremy Jordan's Jack Kelly chews gum. Smoking is a common trope of children riddled with trauma as a way to control something in their lives or as a way to rebel and lash out. According to a 2005 study “participants with trauma histories related to abuse were at higher risk for smoking and for developing an addiction to nicotine.” [2] Chewing gum is a common way to settle cravings for nicotine, this either shows that Jack understands the dangers of smoking- something that wasn’t known until the 1950s or he is trying to find another coping mechanism, one that is less expensive.

This is where Santa Fe comes in.

His desire to run away from Santa Fe looks like a foolish dream or, as put in the cut song ‘The truth about the moon’ “dream of a boy, not a man.” However, it is not a dream; Santa Fe is a coping mechanism and is shown not only through the placement of the songs in the musical score, but also with the lyrics and the words Jack chooses to use.

The prologue of Santa Fe is set in the fire-escape where Jack and Crutchie sleep. Aptly named the penthouse by Jack, they have a heart to heart under the blue sky, still untouched by the sunrise. This is a place where Jack feels secure and safe enough to discuss his past minorly with Crutchie. During the Santa Fe prologue, we see the vulnerable side of Jack alongside the bitter, almost hateful dreamer.

Jack Kelly’s detestation of New York City is shown from some of his first lines. It is the most clear in the line “Drink in my penthouse. High above the stinkin’ streets in New York.” The term penthouse did not mean a lavish apartment in the 18-1900s. For a long time a penthouse was a small building attached to another, more lushious building, it wasn't until the early 1920s that the word penthouse was used the way we know it now [3] [4].

The writer of newsies, and by this regard, Jack using this word shows that Jack Kelly thinks the fire escape with Crutchie is somehow better than the Newsies Lodgings house. This directly juxtaposes the sibilance used in “High above the stinkin’ streets in New York.” Sibilance is used to displace sameness and negativeness. The streets of New York would literally smell due to horse faeces and urine, considering this scene takes place overnight it can be assumed that the newsies do smell rotting food and excrement that has been baking in the warm sun. [5] Personally, I do not think that Jack meant this in a literal way, more in metaphorical way. He means that New York smells because there has been nothing but death there for him, the corpses of his family have decomposed on these streets and the stench of death follows him, constantly laying its grubby hands on his shoulders and watching closely for its next victim. Jack being “high above” means that he is trying to physically and thus mentally distance himself from what has happened on the cobblestones. If the hands of death can't wrap around his throat, he won’t be harmed again.

The quote “breath of fresh air? ‘Cause I like seein’ the sky and the stars?” relates to Jack Kelly’s time in the Refuge. The Refuge was a building built in 1812 as a place to train soldiers for the war and then afterwards as a “this country's first reformatory for juvenile delinquents” [6] as a way to rehabilitate young children, who were, up until then, had been placed with adult criminals. It is implied rather clearly that Jack has been in the Refuge sometime before the musical/movie starts. This is seen in his conversation with the Jacobs brothers where he describes what it is like in the Refuge in rather grave detail.

An investigation into the Refuge is shown to take place after the musical and this directly parallels a real investigation that happened, showing that the building was a breeding ground for “excessive corporal punishment, exploitation of the inmates as sources of cheap labor for outside contractors, virtually no classroom education or vocational instruction”

It is more than likely that Jack, as a young child or early adolescent was placed in a tiny room with a small window that shows the outside world. Feeling trapped and surrounded by such harsh abuse, exploitation and a serious lack of education Jack would more than likely started to cling to the idea of freedom and the stars that he see’s out the window and by default, with his release developed claustrophobia. That is why all the scene where Jack Kelly is the main focus takes place outside where he is not tethered. By feeling the wind and seeing the stars and being able to touch the sky, Jack feels comforted and real and like he is finally himself.

Santa Fe is the most prevalent showing of Jack Kelly being fragile and letting the protective walls break down. The musicality of the song is quicker than the prologue, built more with a quicker-paced musical score and a faster melody to sing, can be used to represent spiraling or panic which I think is more realistic due to Jack’s past. Looking deeper into the lyrics it is clear that the walls that Jack Kelly has put up are now crumbling and he isn't sure what to do because he has never felt this vulnerable before without having Crutchie by his side. It is a shattering of his emotions up to the point. In all ends, Santa Fe is just Jack Kelly’s musical breakdown before he runs away to the one place he can feel safe. Medda’s theatre.

"Welcome home, son Welcome home to Santa Fe!" is a rather important quote when it comes to the song Santa Fe. The repetition of the phrase “Welcome home” can show that Jack doesn’t feel like New York is his home, it is more a prison or a container that holds him there. It can also be used as a self soothing tactic on behalf of Jack. A way to make himself feel safe after the strike failed and Crutchie being taken. Also the singular use of “son” has a lot of meaning. “Son” is only ever used here and in the middle of ``King of New York.’’ These two songs directly follow each other in the musical and in the movie; Jack says that his father is in Santa Fe. The use of “Son” here could be used to reference that mistruth or the fact that Jack feels like he would be wanted in Santa Fe. That this palace will welcome him and Crutchie in like two lost children.

Colour theory and the use of the moon are recurring themes in Santa Fe. Jack describes the moon as “old and grey” Jack Kelly uses the ideas and ideals of the moon since it is free and untethered to a singular place just like how Jack does not want to be stuck in one place. The moon goes through phases but never disappears fully, even when it sets you know it's going to be rising the following night. Jack loves the control and comfort that that knowledge gives him. In colour psychology, grey is often known as a neural colour often shown as the middle ground between the evil black and the innocence of white. Gray also carries negative connotations often linking to depression or loss. [7] This has a bittersweet feeling to it, Jack feels bleak and empty about the situation, suddenly losing his love for the moon since it has no meaning, not without Crutchie there.

This directly parallels the other line about the moon a few lines later in the song. While dreaming Jack states that Santa Fe has a “moon so big and yellow, it turns night right into day” Once again he is using colour theory and colour psychology to describe how much better Santa Fe is. [8] It is bright and colourful and full of life. It is forever morning and night cannot touch him. Darkness cannot touch him in santa fe. Yellow often has a connection to happiness and sunshine and warmth. It also has the negative connection of deceit and warning. Jack describes the moon as “big and yellow” could symbolise that he is feeling happy and blissfully hopeful about his dream of Santa Fe but on the other he is feeling deceitful for thinking about running away alone, leaving his friends alone. Jack’s desperation for night to end quickly (seen in “it turns night right into day”) could mean that he is either having trouble with sleeping or links nighttime with harm or painful trauma memories.

Throughout the song Jack laments that New York is trapping him. Going far enough to state “Why should you spend your whole life living trapped where there ain't no future, even at 17!” The use of the exclamation mark shows anguish, stress and the fact that he is now just yelling. He is struggling to keep his emotions inside and is just screaming his feelings out almost like they're burning him. This is the first time that Jack states his age. He is seventeen years old and his life feels hopeless. The walls that he has built around him are cascading down around him and he is now feeling any emotions that he’s pushed down since becoming the Manhattan leader. Many men in the Victorian period would not feel emotions outwardly or not show them due to the ideals that men must be strong, and strength is not found in tears. In this one line, he is accepting that he isn't a grown up’ he is a child who has seen some horrid things. Some horrific things that will leave him if he leaves New York and by default the newsies.

The final two lines of Santa Fe are bittersweetly heartbreaking.

“Cause I'm dead if I can't count on you today. I got nothing if I ain't got Santa Fe.” Jack feels so hopeless that the only thing keeping him alive is the dream of running away to a place that he knows so little about. The clay houses and rolling mountains are the only things tethering him to the Earth and he needs that everyday. He needs this coping mechanism more than anything after the day. The desire to run away is a deep rooted fear response often calling the fight,flight or freeze response. When confronted with a problem or an anxiety; people either want to run away [flight], confront the issue [fight] or just pause and let it happen [freeze]. Jack is leaning towards the flight response because he wants to feel safe and he knows that Santa Fe will be safe. [9]

All in all, Jack Kelly is really just a child dressed up as an adult because that is what his trauma has told him that he is. In the end he has just grown into a tall child with walls so high not even he knows what to do when they break. He does not want to leave the Newsies. He wants to leave the painful memories that haunt the streets that he has to walk to get money.

Citations:

https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/criminal-defense/crime-penalties/what-a-vagrancy-charge [1]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3783597/ [2]

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/462361/how-did-penthouse-come-to-mean-luxury-apartment [3]

https://www.etymonline.com/word/penthouse [4]

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/realestate/under-hoof-foot-and-tire.html [5]

https://www.flatirondistrict.nyc/discover-flatiron/flatiron-history/the-house-of-refuge [6]

https://www.oberlo.com/blog/color-psychology-color-meanings [7] [8]

https://www.themindfaculty.com/post/understanding-depression-and-anxiety-as-a-fight-flight-freeze-response [9]

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📰 This here's the famous Jack Kelly. He once escaped jail on the back of Teddy Roosevelt's carriage. Made all the papes.

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Character Development : A Collection of Resources

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Resources

Resources For Creating Characters

Resources For Describing Characters

Resources For Writing The Mafia

Resources For Writing Royalty

Commentary on Social Issues In Writing

General Tips

Guide to Character Development

How To Fit Character Development Into Your Story

Tips on Character Consistency

Designing A Character From Scratch

Making characters for your world

Characters First, Story Second Method

Understanding Your Character

Tips on Character Motivations

31 Days of Character Development : May 2018 Writing Challenge

How To Analyze A Character

Alternative Method of Character Creation

Connecting To Your Own Characters

Interview As Your Characters

Flipping Character Traits On Their Head 

Character Driven vs. Plot Driven Stories

Traits

Tips On Writing About Mental Illness

Giving Your Protagonists Negative Traits

Giving Characters Distinct Voices in Dialogue

Giving Characters Flaws

Making Characters More Unique

Keeping Characters Realistic

Archetypes

Writing Good Villains

Creating Villains

Guide to Writing The Hero

Positive Character Development Without Romanticizing Toxic Behavior

Tips on Writing Cold & Distant Characters

Balancing Multiple Main Characters

Creating Diverse Otherworld Characters

Foreshadowing The Villain

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