Anna Jones

Anyone else like the character of Annie? I thought she was a very strong, bright, kind woman, and very believable as Indy's mother, even in light of the original movies. She definitely is the kind of woman who'd be worried about Indy going off on all of these adventures, but I think at the same time would be proud of him.
She really gave everything to both Henry, Sr., and Indy, and I think they unwittingly took a lot out of her. I know she ultimately died of influenza, but she seems sickly at times even in 1909 and 1910, years before she died. It seemed like this two year long lecture tour, combined with always worrying and chasing after Indy took a lot out of her.

I know it wasn't their fault, but still...I think she was kind of underappreciated by Henry and by Indy. I think Henry loved her, but kind of took her for granted and was too self absorbed in his quest for knowledge and the Grail to really give her the attention she needed, and Indy was just a rebellious child.

Anyway, I think the Chronicles turned a character we knew little to nothing about into a fascinating character all in her own right, and an endearing character. You could see where Indy got his adventurous spirit from, whereas he got his scholarly side from his father.

Raiders112390 said:

Anyone else like the character of Annie?

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I think you mean Anna(full name - Anna Mary Jones).And yes,I love her character on the series.She was a very good mother.No wander Indy missed her after she was gone.

Raiders112390 said:

You could see where Indy got his adventurous spirit from, whereas he got his scholarly side from his father.

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I did see how Indy got his scholarly side from Henry his father.I never noticed that about Indy's mother until I just read about her in this thread.

I think she's a bad parent and a worse wife despite being the glue that held the Joneses together.

Lao_Che said:

I think she's a bad parent and a worse wife despite being the glue that held the Joneses together.

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Care to elaborate on that?

(Oh, and thread renamed.)

Lao_Che said:

I think she's a bad parent and a worse wife despite being the glue that held the Joneses together.

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I agree with Lao. How many times can a mom say, "Now, Henry, we're leaving you here alone again with the non-attentive tutor. Please, for once, don't go climbing out the fourth floor window to chase after bandits. This is your 15th warning."

Same applies to Henry Sr.'s bad parenting. "Junior, didn't I tell you not to get involved with murder mysteries and explosives? Go finish your homework."

In spite of that, I will say I liked the character of Anna -- at least until she became Puccini's ho. Then I totally lost respect for her.


Puccini's Ho


"Are you my new dad?"

goodeknight said:

I agree with Lao. How many times can a mom say, "Now, Henry, we're leaving you here alone again with the non-attentive tutor. Please, for once, don't go climbing out the fourth floor window to chase after bandits. This is your 15th warning."

Same applies to Henry Sr.'s bad parenting. "Junior, didn't I tell you not to get involved with murder mysteries and explosives? Go finish your homework."

In spite of that, I will say I liked the character of Anna -- at least until she became Puccini's ho. Then I totally lost respect for her.

Puccini's Ho

"Are you my new dad?"

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Lol, can you really blame her though? Heny Sr. was not a very good husband.

Attila the Professor said:

Care to elaborate on that?

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I will! I don't quite see her through goodeknight's eyes but the only time we see her discipline her son leads to him running away. Oh and when she's taking her Puccini frustrations out on Indy before she falls back into her pleases and sorries mode. She can do the loving part but not the voice of authority.

Miss Seymour is shown to be capable of both. Professor Jones is shown to be capable of both.

Arguably the two biggest things we know about Anna Jones are based on deception: "She kept her illness from me" and the Puccini incident. If she's supposed to be being drawn to Puccini because Henry Jones's work is dividing them then it probably wasn't a good idea to sandwich it inbetween scenes where Professor Jones reciprocates her affection.

How dare he not send her a letter while he's away. For a week. When he's due back the next day.

bump. A good thread about an interesting and important character.

I used to like her...But I kind of think she's despicable for ever even considering leaving her one and only child behind with a father who she knew didn't pay him enough attention as it were, for a man she had just met. That's not the hallmark of a good, loving, caring mother. Yes, don't get me wrong--she worried and cried when he was ill in China, and she was often the 'good cop' as compared to the more stern Henry--But even CONSIDERING leaving your child is a despicable thing. To me it shows that no matter how affectionate she was, she didn't truly love him. Had Mrs. Seymour not caught her and talked to her, she probably would've left. It was only shame and Mrs. Seymour's words of wisdom that kept her from running away.

While Mrs. Seymour wasn't Indy's mother, in some ways she was more motherly than Anna was.

In some ways, that makes her a bit like Indy--Indy ran away from Marion a week before their wedding in 1937. That some sort of tendency to run away.

Henry may have been many things--neglectful, stoic and obsessive, mostly--but I don't think he'd EVER leave Indy. Even though he was never close enough with him and they fought, he always did love him. That's made clear both in LC and in Travels with Father.