Little Jack Horner

The Hearth of the Matter - Is Jack Just a Good Boy, Innocently Sitting Where It's Warm?

If Little Jack Horner is sitting in the corner, he must be in trouble. And if the Little Jack has the audacity to stick his thumb in the Christmas pie after he has already found himself stuck in the corner, serving out his sentence for something else entirely, and on top of all this sees fit to call out his virtue—“What a good boy am I!”—upon skewering a plum, then round condemnation of this disrespectful, disruptive boy would seem the logical next step, but only until this illustration were brought into consideration. The Little Jack Horner above is hardly a troublemaker. His bib seems carefully and lovingly secured around his neck by someone whose motor skills must exceed those of this toddler; this caregiver is also the likeliest person to have placed the boy close enough to the fire to be comforted by its warmth, but far enough away to ensure his safety. None of the audacity suggested by the naughty-Jack interpretation is in evidence here; rather, the boy seems to possess the innocent and deliberate intent of a very young person focused on the task at hand, without even the slightest hint of guilt. Even the cat at his feet feels unperturbed by the scene, and also expressed the quiet, warmth and peace of the scene by being curled on the warm brick of the hearth and comfortably observing (and probably smelling) the cooking taking place deeper in the hearth.