Characters Anatomy Dana Schwartz

Jack Currer: The Resurrection Man Who Loved Beyond His Station

Overview of Jack Currer

Jack Currer is a seventeen-year-old resurrection man and stagehand in Anatomy (2021). He supplies corpses to Edinburgh's medical students and later becomes Hazel Sinnett's romantic partner and ally. Jack is hanged for murders committed by Dr. Beecham. His arc juxtaposes the grit of Edinburgh's underclass with the impossible hope of transcending social barriers.

Plot Role

Jack appears in Chapter 3, observed by Hazel as he exchanges coins with a maid near Almont House. In Chapter 6, he accepts a grave-robbing job from Jeanette while noticing Hazel watching him. He later becomes Hazel's guide into the Anatomists' Society (Chapter 5) and her primary supplier of corpses for the Physician's Examination wager. Their partnership deepens into romance across grave-robbing expeditions. In Chapter 34, Jack is kidnapped as a heart-transplant victim; Hazel saves him. He is arrested in Chapter 35 on false murder charges and hanged in Chapter 37. The Epilogue reveals he survived the hanging and fled to New York, leaving an unsigned letter pledging his enduring love.

Interpretation note: The novel strongly implies Jack survived execution—his body was taken to the university hospital but it is not confirmed to have stayed there, and the Epilogue's letter is unsigned—but the text stops short of explicit confirmation.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

  • Survival instinct: Jack became a resurrection man as a boy after Munro taught him to dig corpses. He explains that poverty forced him into the trade (Chapter 9). Even when employed as a stagehand, he returns to grave robbing when money runs low (Chapter 30). The text states: "it was the unloved who made Jack’s living."
  • Loyalty and care: He gives Isabella a music box (Chapter 9), later repairs and gives it to Hazel after Isabella's baby is born (Chapter 25). He refuses the immortality tonic in prison, arguing Hazel deserves a normal life as a physician (Chapter 37).
  • Self-awareness: Jack recognizes the class divide separating him from Hazel. He reflects that his love for Isabella "was like a painted flame" while his feelings for Hazel are "a living fire" (Chapter 26). This shows emotional depth rather than mere reckless infatuation.
  • Bravery mixed with recklessness: He teases a priest after being caught in a grave, pretending to be a demon (Chapter 23). He agrees to help Hazel dig up bodies despite knowing the risks. However, his return to grave robbing in Chapter 30 is driven by desperation, not courage.

Chronological Arc

  1. Before the novel: Jack grows up in poverty; Munro mentors him in body snatching. He secures a job at Le Grand Leon theatre as a stagehand.
  2. Chapters 3-8: Jack is first seen by Hazel at Almont House. He helps her enter the Anatomists' Society demonstration. He juggles resurrection work with his stagehand job and his infatuation with dancer Isabella Turner.
  3. Chapters 9-10: Learn his backstory: Munro trained him; Jack is devastated when Isabella kisses Thomas Potter.
  4. Chapters 17-25: Formal partnership with Hazel begins. He delivers bodies to her dungeon lab, goes on grave-robbing expeditions, and they share a kiss in an open grave. Their relationship deepens romantically.
  5. Chapters 27-33: Jack searches for missing resurrection men, eventually kidnapped for Beecham's experiment. Hazel rescues him; she stitches his wound. He recovers at Hawthornden.
  6. Chapters 35-37: Arrested, tried, and sentenced to hang. Hazel visits with the immortality vial; Jack refuses. He is hanged the next day.
  7. Epilogue: A letter postmarked from New York City arrives, written in Jack's handwriting, declaring his love and saying he is waiting. The letter is unsigned but unmistakably from him.

Relationships

Jack and Hazel

Their relationship evolves from wary merchant-customer to trusting partners to lovers. The first meeting carries a palpable tension: Jack notices Hazel's blood-stained glove (Chapter 4). When she later purchases bodies, Jack remarks he would like to stay and watch her work (Chapter 18). Their bond solidifies during the night spent hiding in a grave (Chapter 23). Jack's deathbed refusal of the tonic demonstrates profound selflessness. The Epilogue confirms the relationship endures beyond death.

Jack and Munro

Munro is Jack's mentor in resurrection. When Munro disappears (Chapter 21), Jack searches for him—evidence of loyalty. Munro later returns with one arm missing (Chapter 28), and Jack helps him.

Jack and Isabella Turner

Jack's first love. He buys her a music box but discovers she is kissing the male lead. This unrequited love mirrors his later relationship with Hazel but with a crucial difference: Isabella represents fantasy, Hazel reality.

Jack and Dr. Beecham

In Chapter 34, Beecham nearly cuts out Jack's heart for transplantation. Jack later becomes a pawn in Beecham's scheme to frame him for murder. Beecham testifies against Jack at trial (Chapter 35).

Key Decisions and Consequences

  1. Becoming a resurrection man: Driven by poverty, this decision defines his life and criminal record. It makes him invaluable to Hazel but also makes him a target for Beecham's framing.
  2. Helping Hazel enter the anatomy lecture: This small act of kindness leads to their partnership, eventual romance, and ultimately to Jack's freedom through Hazel's intervention in the Epilogue.
  3. Agreeing to dig for Hazel's fever victim: Deepens their connection and gives Hazel the material she needs for the wager. But it also puts Jack in proximity to Beecham's kidnapping operation.
  4. Returning to grave robbing in Chapter 30: Jack's financial desperation pushes him back into illegal work, directly leading to his kidnapping for the heart transplant.
  5. Refusing the immortality tonic: Jack chooses to let go so Hazel can pursue her medical career unburdened. This leads to his execution but preserves her future.
  6. Surviving the hanging (implied): Jack apparently takes the tonic after all or escapes via other means. His letter indicates he chose life.

Interpretation: The novel strongly implies Jack drank the vial. The evidence: Hazel mentions the tonic prevents death from execution (Chapter 36), and Jack's body was "taken to the university teaching hospital" but it is not confirmed to have stayed there. However, the text never shows him drinking it, so readers must infer.

Theme and Symbol Connections

  • Class inequality: Jack embodies the invisible underclass that fuels Edinburgh's scientific progress. The novel explicitly shows how wealthy institutions rely on resurrection men while condemning them. See the class inequality theme page.
  • Gender barriers in medicine: Through Jack, Hazel accesses the hidden world of body snatching. His willingness to treat her as an equal contrasts with Bernard's attempts to control her. See gender barriers in medicine.
  • Ethics of medical experimentation: Jack is nearly killed for Beecham's transplant experiment. His suffering highlights the exploitation of the poor for medical progress. See ethics of medical experimentation.
  • Mortality and the pursuit of knowledge: Jack's willingness to risk death for money and later for love mirrors the novel's central tension. His death (and possible resurrection) echo the epigraph from Frankenstein. See mortality and the pursuit of knowledge.
  • Love vs. societal duty: Jack's relationship with Hazel crosses class lines and threatens her engagement to Bernard. His self-sacrifice preserves her duty as a physician. See love vs. societal duty.

Five Book-Specific Questions and Answers

1. Why does Jack agree to help Hazel acquire bodies for dissection?
Jack initially sees Hazel as a paying customer. But he is also drawn to her determination and intelligence—he notices her blood-stained glove in Chapter 4 and feels an electric connection when they shake hands in Chapter 17. His motivation shifts from financial to emotional as they spend more time together.

2. What is Jack's relationship with Munro, and how does it affect the plot?
Munro is Jack's mentor, the one who taught him to dig bodies. When Munro disappears (Chapter 21), Jack spends weeks searching. Munro's later reappearance missing an arm (Chapter 28) provides crucial testimony about Beecham's organ-harvesting operations, though the police dismiss it.

3. How does Jack's love for Isabella differ from his love for Hazel?
Jack himself articulates the difference in Chapter 26: his feeling for Isabella was "like a painted flame" (superficial, based on her beauty as a dancer) while his love for Hazel is "a living fire" (deep, based on shared experiences and mutual respect). Isabella remains an object of fantasy; Hazel becomes a true partner.

4. Why does Jack refuse the immortality tonic in prison?
Jack tells Hazel he cannot doom her to a life on the run. He believes she deserves to become a physician without hiding. He also expresses fear of living forever while watching Hazel age and die. His decision is both selfless and selfish, as he admits.

5. What evidence suggests Jack might have survived the hanging?
The Epilogue shows Hazel receiving a burnt, yellowed letter from New York City in handwriting she instantly recognizes, stating the writer's "beating heart" still belongs to her. Additionally, Chapter 37 deliberately leaves Jack's fate ambiguous: "They said his body was bought and taken to the university teaching hospital. But they didn’t say if it stayed there." Combined with Hazel giving him the immortality tonic, the evidence strongly supports survival, though it remains indirect.

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