Analyzing Jaxâs Backstory and Character
Jax is, as we know, a self destructive character. We the audience were misdirected to believe that the direction of his arc would conclude where Jax would ultimately gain redemption and get a good outcome alongside the rest of the cast, but this wasnât the case. While we were given the information for the reason why he is the way that he is, and a way to sympathize with him, he isnât redeemed and ultimately ends up dying within the first 7 minutes of the finale. Jax is meant to be the antithesis of the showâs message, which is not only âfinding happiness in a stagnant lifeâ as Gooseworx has said, but also building friendships and community that you can rely/fall back on. Due to Jaxâs attachment issues, he never maintained solid relationships. Jax ultimately had the possibility to be better, but could not and would not take the final leap in asking for help from others, resulting in the Digital Circus equivalent of suicide.
This isnât that uncommon in suicidal individuals, many maintain an act of pleasantry as to not cause their loved ones pain before their death, but alternatively they sometimes will deliberately make themselves hard to be around as a way to make it easier to go through with ending their lives. If they have nobody, and no one will miss them, then they have nothing worth staying for. This is amplified by Jax telling Pomni in his mindscape, âyou make this so much harderâ and âyou werenât supposed to love me.â He doesnât understand why she cares about a bad person. And Jax is aware of this, heâs aware that he isnât a good person, but as Pomni, Zooble and even Gangle to some extent have said: they only have each other. Stuck in this digital world with no other human inhabitants, they donât have the luxury of seperate lives. They are literally all that theyâve got. The most important thing is to âbe there for one anotherâ despite their differences and despite if they are friends or not. Jax was a shitty person to the majority of the cast, but they didnât want him to die for it. Because ultimately, heâs a human stuck in the same shitty situation that they are. I see it somewhat like his worst moments in this impossible scenario arenât indicative of who he could be or who he used to be, he could have had the chance to be better, but itâs too late now. His brain turned on him, and heâs essentially dead now, or at least in a somewhat comatose state.
The reason Jax seems to have issues regarding emotional intimacy, and subsequently his own masculinity seems to have started, as it most often does, from his father. He confides in Ribbit that his father always seemed disappointed in him, that he was never good enough for his dad. Eventually his father leaves (we donât know why) and Jax never sees him again. Jax is now alone with his mom, who expanded upon his issues. He shares that before his father left he thought he got along better with his mother, but that she had suddenly changed after the divorce. After his dad left, his mother became manipulative and emotionally volatile. She would criticize him often and put him down for not being enough like his father, not being enough of a man like his father was while then also criticizing him for being âas badâ as his father when he would get reactive and lash out. Jax says that he had found it confusing, that âit was like she missed him, but also hated him, and I became the target of all that.â There is a possibility floating around in some peopleâs minds on whether this is an indication of potential covert incest, aka emotional incest. Think of those âboy momsâ you see posting strange content online, or the possessive mother in laws that act as if the partner is stealing away their son. These mothers often feel unfulfilled by their husbands, feel a need for validation and affection, and begin to form an unhealthy attachment to their sons, becoming almost dependent and relying on them emotionally. The thought is that Jaxâs mother was subconsciously using him as a placeholder for his father. Outside of that possibility, it is clear that she was using Jax as an emotional and verbal punching bag for her own faults in her failed relationship and projecting her anger at his father onto him as well. Something Jax seems to have picked up from her. Jax takes his pain out on others, just like his mother did.
This brings a new perspective to the bar scene when Ragatha talked about her mom. Jaxâs downturned glance wasnât just him feeling a little bit of sympathy towards Ragatha, it was also him relating to her to an extent. While Ragathaâs mother was loud about her disdain, and seemed to especially utilize gaslighting Jaxâs mother was potentially intermingled with some sense of care(?). Both mothers seemed to be manipulative, if Jaxâs mother did it with full knowledge or did so more under the surface is unknown, she very well could have been behaving in a manipulative manner subconsciously. We can see from how Jax described the fight with his mother, where vulnerability and manipulation collided in his experiences. When Jax was fed up with how his mother had been treating him he says he âtold her something I regret telling her. Something deep and personal that I thought would get her off my back.â This isnât Jax saying he said something personal to hurt her, note the words âdeepâ and how he thought it would get her to leave him alone. He was being vulnerable with her, and she laughed at him before going off on him verbally with insults and degradation. Many suspect that what he told her had something to do with his gender identity or perhaps his sexuality. Something he thought his mother would love him enough to sympathize with him and leave him be, but she clearly was not open minded enough, and did not accept him. (I continue to use he/him because it isnât necessarily confirmed, and Jax very well could have somewhere adjacent on the gender spectrum, not just transfem) This is where Jax learned, in his mind, that vulnerability equals ridicule and pain. It is why he is so averse to being honest and open with others, why his personal torture included him being laughed at, surrounded on all sides and flayed alive, exposed for all to see. After his motherâs verbal lashing, what she did next confused Jax the most. She had hugged him. Of course anyone would have found this confusing, after being thoroughly personally insulted by your parent, they suddenly have the gall to hug you right after? I have seen some people framing this as her showing him that she still loved him despite everything she said, and while this very well could be the case, it doesnât make it okay. Jax pushing her off him is a predictable reaction to expect after that sort of emotional whiplash. I see it more like though the mother may have cared about him, the hug was more about insuring her place in his life. Trying to give him affection right after the hurt to ensure that he wonât leave. This may also partially tie into his some of his disdain for Ragatha, falsely seeing her people pleasing tendencies and general demeanor as somewhat manipulative in nature rather than desperation to be loved. âIf you tell someone theyâre loved and appreciated all the time, it kind of loses all meaningâ and âit just feels like sheâs trying to use you or something.â This is also why during his fight with Ribbit on the Snowy Summit, he lashed out saying âYouâre the one using me! Youâre manipulating me!â He seems to conflate friendly attempts of breaching his walls as giving others the chance to manipulate and ridicule him. Jax is wary of manipulative people, yet displays certain manipulative tendencies himself as a defense. He dreads being seen as someone to be degraded and ridiculed, to be seen as a joke, so he plays the role of a jokester. âThe funny one.â But while the jokes he employs work well in the context of a cartoon, in their world, they arenât cartoons. Jaxâs behavior isnât just mean spirited, but something that builds up over time and affect others, including himself. His attempts at defending his inner self and coping with the world he is stuck in, the delusion he crafted for protection, is ultimately what is harming him in the long run.
