#hes 17

I know that Jeremy Jordan was un his 30s which makes it difficult to visualize, but the kid is 17.

He's a 17 year old kid with major PTSD who doesn't know how to cope. He's basically a dad to who knows how many kids. He feels responsible for feeding them and making sure they can sleep somewhere.

Jack is a 17 year old kid who is scared of Snyder and the Refuge and doesn't know if he'd survive again.

He's a 17 year old kid who's fight/flight kicked in and even if it was his best friend it didn't change his natural instinct to GET OUT.

I get that people get bad at him for leaving Crutchie, but look at the context. Why does Jack have to be a brave adult who can handle everything life throws at him flawlessly? If you believe that he should, you're no better than the adults in that world who think the exact same thing. Accept while all they're asking is for this kid to survive, you're asking them to thrive in a world that's against them and it's not fair.

I don't like seeing posts even jokingly bashing Jack for that scene. Because he was SCARED. Because he's a kid. Because his friend was trapped in Jack's own worst fear and he couldn't go back.

"But he ran!" You've never needed a personal day???? And you're just dealing with normal life things, not caring for over 20 boys, leading a strike, on top of trying to deal with a clearly failing mental state.

Same goes for the betrayal. We think he should be all tough and "I'll never betray them!" Because that's what we see in most teen novels, but think about it. He saw Crutchie get dragged to the Refuge and is scared for him. Pulitzer basically says the kid won't survive if Jack doesn't do what he says. He also says he's going to send more newsies to the Refuge, against insinuating that he can make sure they don't survive long.

Jack is SCARED and he has every right to be. What? Was he supposed to say no? Get dragged to the Refuge and then watch as his friends were brought in one by one? And Jack couldn't have changed the speech. The guy FOLLOWED HIM THERE. Snyder was searching over the banister. It was never about the money, so stop acting like he's a traitor.

My point is that Jack was 17. So stop acting like he should have his life together. Stop acting like he doesnt have a right to mess up. Stop acting like he isn't under so much pressure that I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did without getting himself killed.