Jack Mary Ann is a folk hero whose legendary exploits in the Wrexham area of Wales in the 1920s and 1930s are celebrated in a series of jokes and tales transmitted in local oral tradition. Jack was a coal miner. Jack's nickname comes from the common practice of distinguishing local men (in an area known for its poverty of surnames) by the use of the wife's Christian or given name. Jack may be considered an archetypal trickster figure and the tales involve his various intrigues with hostile authority figures such as landlords, bailiffs and employers. His legendary activities celebrate his fecklessness and irresponsibility. Jack's quick tongue does not generally save him from the consequences of his actions but provides an ironic commentary on his plight and on the values of more respectable citizens. The popularity of the Jack Mary Ann tales may suggest an undercurrent of local opposition to the respectable and supposedly dominant norms of non-conformist Christianity generally held to be an expression of Welsh identity in this period.
Read more about Jack Mary Ann: The Tales
Famous quotes containing the words mary ann, jack and/or ann:
“... it is one thing to like defiance, and another thing to like its consequences.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“President Kennedy had a wholesome, widely discussed, and largely deserved reputation for his interest in women.... But no President, however young and energetic, could possibly have gotten around to all the ladies in Washington, New York, and Hollywood who made claim to his affections after he died.... Such was the force of Jack Kennedy and the manner of his death that anyone associated with him, even the pretenders, assumed added glamour and interest.”
—Barbara Howar (b. 1934)
“Where women love each other, men learn to smother their mutual dislike.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)