What Happened to the Bennetts

Family is a central theme in What Happened to the Bennetts. Jason fights to keep his family together and, at the end, his family is his salvation. His marriage is the core of the family. Jason and Lucinda are the central characters of the novel, and in many ways, the novel is about a marriage in crisis. Just as the marsh unmoors Jason, fighting with Lucinda is the push that undoes who Jason used to be. The novel reveals that their marriage was already in danger, and the events of the novel allow Jason to repair what went wrong.

But Jason is more than a husband. He thinks of himself as the central support of his family: Lucinda, Ethan, and Allison. When everything falls apart at the beginning of the novel, Jason describes himself as his family’s “center” and that the center must “hold” (28). Later, Dom advises Jason to “stay strong” to “get them through this” (117). Jason feels pressure to delay his grief and take action for the sake of his family. When he decides that his family will never survive witness protection, he goes on a dangerous mission to take down Milo. At the end, he is willing to stay married to someone he hasn’t yet forgiven for the sake of keeping them together.