Version: 1.4

Jack Jr.

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Jack Jr. is Jack Jardine's eighteen-year-old son
He is described as a six-foot tall, gangly, red-headed teenager
He has grown up in the wealthy, predominantly white bubble of Arroyo Blanco, surrounded by his father's openly racist views and the prejudices of the neighbourhood
Throughout the novel, Cándido mistakenly believes Jack Jr. to be Delaney's son — a detail that quietly links the two families and highlights how all the wealthy white men of Arroyo Blanco look the same to someone on the outside

Jack Jr. is aggressive, cruel, and completely unapologetic about his hatred of immigrants
Unlike his father, who at least tries to dress his racism up in legal and economic language, Jack Jr. makes no such effort — his hatred is open, physical, and violent
He holds the same views as his father, but taken further and acted upon more violently
He tells racist and misogynistic jokes about Mexican women within earshot of other people, showing no awareness or shame
He is also manipulative and cunning in a specific way — he vandalises the wall himself but does so knowing that immigrants will automatically be blamed for it

Jack Jr. and an unnamed friend destroy Cándido and América's camp in the canyon and graffiti it with the words "Beaners Die"
They do this even after noticing that a woman lives at the camp — showing complete indifference to América's vulnerability
After overhearing Delaney's conversation about the hit-and-run accident at the community meeting, Jack Jr. asks Delaney where the Mexican has set up camp — and then goes and destroys it the very next day
He is also responsible for spray painting the wall surrounding Arroyo Blanco, presumably to stoke further tension between the community and the immigrants he knows will be blamed for it
Only Delaney ever finds out the truth — and he deliberately destroys the evidence to hide it

Jack Jr. is the novel's clearest representation of violent, anti-immigrant sentiment
He shows what happens when the prejudices of the adult world — his father's casual racism, the neighbourhood's fear of outsiders — are absorbed by a young person with no restraint or moral filter
He is essentially his father without the polished, professional outer layer
There is also a pointed irony in his role as the true graffiti vandal:
- The entire neighbourhood is convinced that immigrants are behind the vandalism
- In reality, it is the son of their own HOA president — a wealthy white teenager — who is causing the damage and letting others take the blame
Delaney initially finds Jack Jr.'s actions revolting — yet by the end of the novel, Delaney's own actions are not so different, as he ends up hunting Cándido with a gun and destroying the small home the Rincóns had built

Jack Jr. represents the next generation of prejudice — showing that without challenge or change, hatred simply gets passed down and grows more extreme
He also shows how the system protects its own: Delaney, who knows the truth about the graffiti, hides the evidence rather than expose the son of a neighbour and friend
Delaney even worries at one point that his own stepson Jordan will grow up to be just like Jack Jr. — a fear that says as much about the environment they all live in as it does about the individual