User:Oursheureuse/Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones (book)

Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones is a novel that was originally published in 1967. It is classified under the young adult fiction genre, and was published around the same time as The Outsiders, Pigman, The Chosen, and Owl Service.

About the Book

Football hero Bo Jo Jones and his girlfriend, July, are in love. And on the night of the prom, they do what so many couples in love do… Soon, July finds out that she’s pregnant with Bo Jo’s baby. Suddenly, the life they once knew—including parties, friends and even school—is over. Now Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones must come to grips with the very adult decision that they made…and a situation that holds more possibilities and challenges than they ever bargained for. It could bring them closer—or drive them apart. And as the baby grows and changes, so will they…

Plot Summary

July and Bo Jo are not part of the “fast crow” whose members are expected to have sexual relations. They are both college bound and do not believe in “going steady”. However, at July’s junior prom, the punch is spiked with champagne and July and Bo Jo go to the beach alone after the dance—something they usually would not do. It is there that they have sexual relations and July consequently becomes pregnant. July tells Bo Jo about the pregnancy and they decide the best option is for them to get married. Without telling their parents, they cross the state line to Georgia and get married. They come back and tell their parents about their marriage. The Joneses are very angry at first and the Grehers are deeply hurt.

Bo Jo and July have a hard time getting along at first. They both feel like they have too much responsibility placed on them and they do not know how to act with each other. July is plagued by boredom as Bo Jo goes off to work every day. Bo Jo, however, gets mad at July for being friends with a woman named Lou, who wants to be an actress.

Despite their challenges, July and Bo Jo try to get along. July has the baby two months prematurely and he dies. After the baby’s death, their families are hoping they will get a divorce and go back to their original college plans. The couple, however, does not want this to happen, and they decide to stay married while Bo Jo finished high school and goes to college.

Main Characters

July Greher

The narrator of the novel. She is sixteen when the novel begins, and she plans on going to a girls’ college on the East Coast. After getting married, she tries to be supportive of Bo Jo but she does not love him. She does, however, love the baby that is growing inside of her. Throughout the novel she is constantly being pulled by her parents on one side and her duty to her husband on the other. She has a strong relationship with her parents, which makes it even harder for her to do what is best for her and Bo Jo, not them.

Boswell Johnson Jones

Called Bo Jo for short. In high school he is popular, good at football, and does well in his classes. His parents want him to be the first in the family to go to college, especially since he will get a football scholarship. After getting married, he chooses to stop going to school and gets a job at a local bank. He is frustrated by his situation, but does not know how to convey his feelings to July.

Mr. Greher

July’s father. He is a banker and is kind to July, even though her pregnancy is very upsetting to him. He tries to help the young couple by getting Bo Jo a job at the bank.

Mrs. Greher

July’s mother. She tries to help the young couple by giving them food and a television. She, however, is deeply hurt by July’s actions and does not approve of Bo Jo.

Mr. Jones

Bo Jo’s father. He is vehemently against the idea of Bo Jo not finishing high school and is subsequently furious at July’s parents for getting him a full time job.

Mrs. Jones

Bo Jo’s mother. She is frustrated with July, who does not know how to be a “good housewife”. She tries to teach July how to take care of her son, but July does not like her and does not want to work with her. There is a stark contrast between Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Greher, mostly because the Joneses are in a lower social class than the Grehers.

Mary Ann

July’s best friend before getting married. July notices that she cannot tell Mary Ann about her pregnancy, and they become more and more distant as the story progresses.

Grandmother Greher

July’s grandmother. She is the only adult in the family that treats both July and Bo Jo with respect. She invites the newlyweds to dinner and is kind to them.

LevLou Consuela

July’s best friend after she is married. Lou wants to be a singer and is married to a man that she hopes will help her to accomplish that goal. S he strongly dislikes children and gets an abortion when she finds out she is pregnant. She leaves Nick (her husband) and goes to New York to start a singing career.

Horace Clark

A friend of the Greher family and a student in college. He writes to July, not knowing that she is married. She keeps up written correspondence with him to ease her loneliness, but she does not tell him that she is married.

Hatty Barnes

The owner of the couple’s garage apartment. She is kind to them and July wonders why she is not married.

Setting

The characters live in a small town in South Carolina. The book takes place in the year 1963.

Important Quotes

• I was sixteen, and Bo Jo was seventeen when we got married. As the statistics say, most teen-agers who marry, marry because they have to. Or else. We looked into some of the "or elses" and decided they weren't for us. Maybe marriage wasn't either. But at least it was a positive thing to do. And everything else looked negative.

• I said, "I suppose after a while it'll be just like bumping into anyone else," I said. "'Hi, there,' and 'Hos' the world treating you?' and all the things people say to each other when they haven't anything to say really."

"I don't believe it," Bo Jo said.

"I don't either," I said.

• His face searching the bus windows looked expectant, impatient, and a little anxious. It was a husband’s face. Familiar, known, increasingly beloved. Mary An, I reflected, had an awful lot to learn. And actually, I reflected, I wouldn’t be in her shoes rig ht now for all the flowers in Bermuda…having it all to learn again.

About the Author

Other books written by Ann Head include:

• Fair with Rain (1973)
• Always in August (1974)
• Good Dog!: Educating the Family Pet (1975)
• Everybody Adored Car (1975)
• Something Borrowed (1968)
• Good Dog (1989)
• Arthur’s World of Cats (1997)

Television Adaptations

There was a TV movie made in 1971 entitled “Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones”. It was co-written by Ann Head and William Wood. Bo Jo was played by Desi Arnaz, Jr. and July (called Julie in the movie) was played by Christopher Norris.

External links

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