The Bodyguard

While Hannah is described as “the epitome of ordinary” (192), Jack is only ever referred to as just the opposite. The six-foot-three, muscular, “two-time, back-to-back Sexiest Man Alive” (50) is characterized primarily by his conventional attractiveness, which makes Hannah uneasy in his presence when they first meet. In the world of The Bodyguard, “Jack Stapleton” is a household name, for he has starred in blockbuster movies across several different genres, for which he has won many accolades. He is primarily known for his hit movie The Destroyer and is contracted to make a sequel of it before he absconds from the public eye.

Shortly after The Destroyer premiers, Jack gets into a car accident with his brother Drew, a former alcoholic who was driving under the influence of alcohol that night. When Drew hits a patch of black ice and drives over a bridge into the Brazos River, he drowns, leaving Jack to deal with survivor’s guilt and a crippling fear of bridges and drowning. Though Jack’s publicity team covers up the accident, he tacitly takes the blame as rumors begin to circle that he was the one driving drunk that night. Jack then moves to North Dakota to get out of the spotlight, refusing to make any more movies. He only returns to his hometown of Houston because his mother is being treated for cancer. Yet Jack’s relationship with his family is tense after the accident as he has essentially let them believe that he was responsible for Drew’s death. He suffers from recurring nightmares of the accident because of his survivor’s guilt, and although his refusal to divulge the truth of Drew’s intoxication hurts both him and his family, he continues to do so, as it was his brother’s last wish. To his older brother Hank’s dismay, Jack refuses to take off a necklace that belonged to Drew, for it reminds him to do one good deed every day in order to make up for the wrongs he feels he has done.

In the second half of the novel, Hannah begins to learn about Jack’s ambivalent feelings toward his fame and how he feels that his image as a movie star is very different from who he is in real life. From the beginning, Jack is described as a great actor, yet this confuses Hannah, who often suspects that he is acting when he is not, and vice versa. Jack can put on a convincing performance of who he pretends to be to hide the darker truths he struggles with, and he is able to charm almost anyone into believing what he wants them to. A pivotal moment in the novel comes when Hannah recognizes that she can decipher his behavior better than anyone else. Her realization that he has always been genuine with her reflects their compatibility and love for one another. Like Hannah, Jack begins to face his past toward the end of the novel instead of hiding from it. By opening up about the accident to her and his family and changing the narrative surrounding his recurring nightmare, Jack can start to forgive himself and cope with the trauma that was holding him back.

Jack’s immediate family—Connie, William “Doc,” and Hank Stapleton—live on his grandparents’ former ranch outside of Houston. Connie and Doc are both retired from their respective positions as a school principal and a veterinarian, and Hank manages the ranch. Connie and Doc were high school sweethearts who moved to the ranch that was their former vacation home after retirement. Hannah describes the couple as “by all accounts, good people” (160), based on her initial research before meeting them. Just as Hannah finds herself falling for Jack, she also finds herself wanting to be a part of the Stapleton family as a whole. She especially loves Connie, who is as warm and caring as her own mother was distant and flawed, and Hannah tells her so before she leaves the ranch. In the Stapletons, she sees a real loving family for the first time, and their kindness toward her gives Hannah hope that she can be loved even when she does not love herself.

However, upon first meeting Hank, the oldest Stapleton brother, Hannah describes him as “a poor man’s Jack Stapleton” (129), while Jack refers to him as “my own personal nemesis” (129). Though even Hannah mistakes him for Jack based on his appearance, Hank has none of Jack’s easy-going mannerisms and is in many ways Jack’s polar opposite. Jack describes himself as the black sheep of the family, given that he was the only son to leave Houston and the ranch while Hank and Drew were much closer with each other and their parents. Hank and Jack have been estranged since their youngest brother’s death because Hank is convinced that Jack only cares about himself. Hank thinks that Jack is just “a drunk-driving manslaughterer who had covered it all up to save his career” (130). Though it is not clear whether Connie and Doc believe this rumor as well, Jack does not tell his family anything to dissuade them until the middle of the novel, and after his revelation, the biggest rifts in the family are finally mended.