The story “Don’t Ask Jack” by Neil Gaiman depicts how adults and children have different views regarding the Jack in the Box.  The Jack in the Box is a mysterious toy and nobody knows what is inside it.  The writer often repeats the word “box” to represent this mysteriousness and people’s curiousness toward the toy.  In the story, the children fear the toy, while adults admire it.  This is important because it accurately portrays the difference in how generations think and how innocence is lost as children grow older.  This generational gap is portrayed throughout the story.

The first instance the mysteriousness of the Jack in The Box is depicted is in the first paragraph when the writer states how “nobody knew where the toy came from.” (Gaiman 71). People are curious about this toy and throughout the story, this toy is repeatedly referred to as the “box.”  The word “box” is an excellent way to describe the unknown contents of the inside of the toy, and like a box in real life, one does not know what is inside it unless it is opened.  The use of repetition of the word “box” by the writer is evident throughout the story and is significant in emphasizing the toy’s mystery.

The grownups admire the Jack-in-the-box and describe it in a positive connotation.  In the second paragraph, the Jack in the Box is described by adults as “a box, carved and painted in gold and red” and as “attractive” and “valuable.” (Gaiman 71).  This shows that the adults in the story view the toy as a treasure and something that must be valued.  Further proof of adults’ admirations regarding the box is shown further in the story by how they would “retrieve it from the chest” that children hid it in, “and place it in a position of honor on a mantelpiece.”  Placing an item in a position of honor such as on a mantelpiece means that the item must be treasured.  The adults, unlike children, lack innocence.  Children are innocent and ignorant in the story because they fear a toy and believe that it is real.  Adults, on the other hand, aren’t terrified of the Jack-in-the-box like the children are and often disregard it.  Toward the end of the story, the writer describes how the children would grow up and the Jack-in-the-box would become forgotten.  For example, the writer writes “years have passed, and the girls are old women, and owls and bats have made their homes in the old attic nursery, rats build their nests among the forgotten toys.” (Gaiman 73).  The old attic nursery is an area where old toys are essentially disposed of and forgotten.  As the children grow older and busier with their lives, toys such as the Jack-in-the-Box are just left in the old attic to rest.

The children fear the Jack-in-the-box and describe it in a negative connotation.  The children did not play with the toy and buried it beneath other undesirable toys, such as “crippled marionettes with their strings irrevocably tangled” and “broken hoops and tops and hobbyhorses.” (Gaiman 72).  The fact that children would bury the Jack-in-the-Box along with undesirable toys shows how the children perceived the Jack-in-the-Box as a burden.  The children’s fears of the toy were very irrational.  For example, the children often made up stories in an attempt to explain the Jack in the Box.  Some children believed that Jack’s box was cursed and referred to it as “Pandora’s box.” (Gaiman 72).  Others called the box an “evil wizard” who was imprisoned in the box “as punishment for crimes too awful to describe.” (Gaiman 72).  The innocence in children is further portrayed by this storytelling.  Coming up with silly stories in an attempt to explain how evil this toy is, such as the Pandora’s Box or the evil wizard story is ridiculous and childish.  The children would also not even touch the “box” and would often hide it in the darkness.  The darkness also symbolizes children’s fear toward the toy.  The children view the Jack-in-the-box as a mystery and refer to it as the “box.”  The children feel like they need to put this mysterious object in a mysterious place and the darkness seems like the ideal place for it.

The children and adults seem to be playing a tug of war with the Jack-in-the-Box: the children would hide the “box” in the darkness of the chest, while the adults would later retrieve it and place it on the mantelpiece.  This cycle of moving the toy back and forth, from a position of darkness in the chest to a position of honor in the mantelpiece further depicts the generational gap and how children perceive this toy as a burden and a curse, while adults perceive it as an antique that must be honored.  This tug-of-war game symbolizes the generation gap between the children and adults in the story.

The children’s fears regarding the box is further shown in the last paragraph as it is depicted as this mysterious toy waiting for the children to open it.  The last line, “deep within the box within the box, Jack waits and smiles, holding his secrets… he is waiting for the children” (Gaiman 73) proves that point.  The author’s use of creepy and chilling language like in the previous quote helps put readers in the children’s perspective and allows us to feel the same fear and irrational emotions that the children feel toward the toy in the story.  We can further empathize with the children’s irrational fear toward a little toy based on that chilling quote from the story.

Children and grown-ups are very different in terms of innocence.  Children are very innocent and ignorant, while adults have lost most of it through growing up and becoming independent.  This loss of innocence and generational gap is clearly portrayed in the story as children and grown-ups have different ideas regarding the Jack-in-the-Box. Children are innocent and fear the toy, viewing it as a curse, while adults have lost their innocence and admire the toy.  The word “box” is repeatedly used in a positive connotation by adults who admire it and view it as a masterpiece, but it is repeatedly used in a negative connotation by children who fear it and view it as a curse.
