What Happened to the Bennetts

Jason is the protagonist and narrator of What Happened to the Bennetts. He grew up on a dairy farm in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He was an altar boy, and he was raised to be good, honest, and risk-averse by his widower father. He was a linebacker in high school, majored in political science at Bucknell University, and went to one year of law school before dropping out. He prides himself on being self-reliant and earning everything he’s accomplished. He worked on a farm growing up and worked construction during the summers between college semesters. He built his court reporting business from scratch, and he’s proud of being one of only 13 court reporters in the country chosen to go to Guantanamo Bay.

Now Jason is 47 years old. He is good looking. He gets up early and does the morning chores. He is a good father: an “involved father” who is “present” in his children’s lives (14). He is a good boss and loves his employees. He even attends his children’s birthdays and graduations. But he is also easygoing to a fault. Lucinda accuses him of being conflict-avoidant and of dropping out of law school because going into debt was too much risk for him.