How Old is Jack After Arthur Dies: A Cowboy Forced to Grow Up Too Soon
As an avid Red Dead gamer, the emotional trauma young Jack Marston endured stands out as a powerful tragedy that forever shaped the man he became. By mapping Jack‘s age at pivotal moments, we gain insight into the pain that forged his destiny. When noble outlaw Arthur Morgan dies of tuberculosis in 1899, Jack is just a 5 year old boy; when we meet him again in 1914 he has transformed into a hardened 19 year old man on the path of vengeance, his innocence stolen by cruelty and loss.
Jack‘s Stolen Childhood
My heart breaks for the traumatic upbringing Jack experienced. At just 5 years old he witnessed horrors no child should see as his father John fought to leave his criminal past behind. Yet despite John‘s efforts to build an honest life, his family is brutalized by the government he once defied. Like too many kids, Jack was not given the chance at a normal childhood.
By 1914 technology and civilization has nearly erased the Wild West Jack was born into. Having lost the only family he ever knew, he clings to father John and uncle Arthur‘s legacy carrying their anger towards the government that failed them. Statistics show most bandits died young with the average life expectancy just 40 years old, but at 19 Jack has already lived an unbearably hard life.
The All Too Familiar Tragedy of Vigilantes
As a student of the Old West I cannot help but draw parallels between beloved antihero Jack Marston and once-famous robbers turned vigilantes like Jesse James. Both Jack and Jesse were born in the mid 1800s and grew up surrounded by Civil War guerilla fighters. After seeing their families destroyed, they turned the violence and lawlessness of their youth towards revenge.
The cycle of vengeance leaves men like Jack depressed and lonely. Some say power and cruelty corrupt absolutely – perhaps there was no other outcome for the little boy dignity and innocence. Yet I hold onto hope that there was some good left in Jack as he tried to survive the only way he knew how.
At 97 years old, Jack likely outlived all who remembered the age of outlaws he represented. What stories would a successful author have told to make sense of the cruelty and redemption he had seen? As a fan I hope to meet Jack again one day in a future Red Dead chapter decades into his vigilante career. I would love the chance to replay his redemption seeking the elusive Second Chance John and Arthur never got.
