Jesse James The Woman Behind The Man Analysis

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Ryan Sloan 12/7/11 English 3 Essay Zee and Zerelda James: The Women Behind The Man The book, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen, describes the life of the notorious Jesse James, a wanted outlaw and leader of the James Gang. Throughout the story, Jesse performs a series of robberies and murders with his gang. Unfortunately, this lifestyle greatly affects many people in his life, especially his wife Zee James and his mother Zerelda Samuels. Zee and Zerelda are constantly having to move around with him and provide alibi’s for his crimes to keep him safe. Although they do not agree with what Jesse does and the choices he makes, they remain loyal and close to him to the day of his death. *Zee James and Zerelda Samuels both…show more content…
Zerelda completely loves and is loyal to her son Jesse and would hate to see him come to harm. She is very protective of Jesse and shows this when she warns Bob Ford, “I want you to swear to god that your still Jesse’s friend.” (pg. 178) Implying that she loves him and would not want to see him get hurt in any way. So to Zerelda, no matter what Jesse does it can be forgiven or accepted because he can do no wrong in her eyes. Another reason Zerelda is willing to accept Jesse’s lifestyle is because it benefits her in certain ways. Zerelda is a premodanna and loves getting attention. So, being the mother of the notorious Jesse James brings her a lot of attention and fame which, like her son, she loves. Along with the benefits of having her son be Jesse James there also came a sense of fear. She was very afraid to lose Jesse and could not bear the thought of him being put into danger. When Jesse says, “Maybe I’ll never see you again” she replies, “NO, NO, NO!” and started sobbing on his shoulder (pg.
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