Jo Character Analysis in Gathering Blue

A young girl who is an excellent singer and who was abducted by the Council of Guardians and forced to life in the Edifice, studying music. Jo will become the future singer when the current Singer dies. When Kira discovers Jo’s presence in the Council Edifice and begins to take care of her, Jo comes to regard Kira as a mother figure.

Jo Quotes in Gathering Blue

The Gathering Blue quotes below are all either spoken by Jo or refer to Jo. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

“So we are each artists, and we were each orphaned, and they brought us each here.”

Related Characters: Kira (speaker), Thomas the Carver, Jo

Page Number and Citation: 160

Explanation and Analysis:

As Kira prepared for bed, she thought about the frightened, lonely tyke below. What songs were they forcing her to learn? Why was she here at all? Ordinarily an orphaned tyke would be turned over to another family. It was the same question that she and Thomas had discussed the day before. And the answer seemed to be the conclusion they had reached: they were artists, the three of them. Makers of song, of wood, of threaded patterns. Because they were artists, they had some value that she could not comprehend. Because of that value, the three of them were here, well fed, well housed, and nurtured.

Related Characters: Kira (speaker), Thomas the Carver, Jo

Page Number and Citation: 170-171

Explanation and Analysis:

The three of them — the new little Singer who would one day take the chained Singer's place; Thomas the Carver, who with his meticulous tools wrote the history of the world; and she herself, the one who colored that history — they were the artists who could create the future.

Related Characters: Kira, Thomas the Carver, Jo

Related Symbols: The Robe, Staff, and Ruin Song, The Singer’s Chain

Page Number and Citation: 237

Explanation and Analysis:

The guardians with their stern faces had no creative power. But they had strength and cunning, and they had found a way to steal and harness other people's powers for their own needs. They were forcing the children to describe the future they wanted, not the one that could be.

Related Characters: Kira, Thomas the Carver, Jo

Page Number and Citation: 238

Explanation and Analysis:

Jo Character Timeline in Gathering Blue

The timeline below shows where the character Jo appears in Gathering Blue. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Self-Interest versus Compassion Theme Icon

...the child’s voice, Matt whispers to Kira that the child is a friend of his, Jo, who lived in the Fen. Kira, Matt, and Thomas decide to return to Kira’s room... (full context)

...her, and Kira stops to talk. Kira asks Marlena if she knew a tyke named Jo who used to sing; Marlena isn’t familiar with the name “Jo,” but says that she... (full context)

Kira locates the door where she heard Jamison talking to Jo, and finds that it’s locked. She quietly calls Jo’s name. To her surprise, Kira hears... (full context)

...her, sadly, that Annabella has died. Kira, who’s suddenly uneasy around Jamison, does not mention Jo to him. (full context)

...that this is typical of boys. Kira tells Thomas that she found the door to Jo’s room yesterday, and discovered that it was locked. This doesn’t surprise Thomas. When he was... (full context)

Thomas realizes that the three of them—Kira, Thomas, and Jo—are “artists.” Thomas has seen this word in books. As he understands it, it means someone... (full context)

...he and Kira have good lives: food, work, etc. Kira is unwilling to forget about Jo, and tells Thomas that she plans to help Jo. At first, Thomas tells Kira that... (full context)

...Kira tells Thomas to bring his wood carving with him when they go to find Jo. Kira takes her cloth. To muffle their sounds, Thomas rips cloth off his shirt, and... (full context)

Thomas and Kira quietly walk to the Jo’s room on the lower floor. Kira’s cloth tells her that they’re not in danger. Thomas... (full context)

Jo tells Kira and Thomas that the guardians make her learn new songs, and then she... (full context)

Kira and Thomas leave Jo, and Jo tells them that she feels better knowing that she has friends. Kira tucks... (full context)

Thomas and Kira return to their quarters. Alone in her room, Kira thinks about Jo, forced to live by herself. Kira wonders why Jo is being forced to learn songs.... (full context)

It is midday, the day after Thomas and Kira unlocked Jo’s door. Kira has just finished eating lunch with Thomas in his room; she suggests that... (full context)

...he finds the Fen dirty and disgusting. Kira says that she wants to see where Jo lived. She adds, nervously, that she hasn’t seen Matt in two days. Thomas agrees to... (full context)

...points them toward a cott with a fallen tree outside it. Kira also asks about Jo; in response, the woman’s face lights up with joy for a split second, and then... (full context)

...tells Thomas that she was afraid the Council has kidnapped Matt the way it kidnapped Jo. Thomas replies that Matt has no skills that make him worth kidnapping. Kira says that... (full context)

...days. Kira touches her cloth, hoping for consolation, but she feels none. Sometimes, she hears Jo chanting repetitively downstairs. Occasionally, Kira hears Jo singing a high, beautiful melody, as if she’s... (full context)

At night, Kira visits Jo. Jo no longer asks for her mother, but she holds Kira. Jo tells Kira that... (full context)

...in his own quarters of the Edifice. As she listens to Jamison, Kira thinks about Jo, but doesn’t say anything. (full context)

...one day. When the chief guardian announces this, a side door opens, and guards push Jo forward toward her chair. Kira whispers that Jo should stand and look proud for a... (full context)

...Gathering ceremony began. Thomas and Kira listen to the Singer perform the Ruin Song while Jo sleeps. Kira listens to the Song, and is surprised to find that she isn’t bored... (full context)

...singing so that everyone can eat lunch and relax. As Kira and Thomas eat with Jo in Kira’s room, Matt rushes in, followed by Branch. Matt announces that he’s been on... (full context)

The Gathering ends with the Singer and Jo waving and bowing before the audience. Afterwards, Kira and Thomas walk back to their quarters.... (full context)

...to work on the robe for them. It’s also possible, Kira realizes, that they killed Jo and Thomas’s parents to gain control of other artists, as well. (full context)

...the squalor or violence of her old life, but she will miss Thomas, Matt, and Jo. As she thinks of Jo, she remembers what she saw at the Gathering. When the... (full context)

Kira realizes how the guardians maintain their power. By controlling artists—Kira, Thomas, and Jo—the guardians, who have no creativity themselves, can commission and control a vision of the future... (full context)