Jake Morgendorffer: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Jake_reactioncourse.jpg|left|300px|A letter and photo from Jake at Buxton Ridge. (click to read letter)]]
Jake Morgendorffer was the son of an emotionally abusive father, nicknamed [["Mad Dog" Morgendorffer]], who (as Jake remembers it) tormented his son mercilessly and ultimately shipped him off to [[Buxton Ridge Military Academy|military school]] the first chance he got
At some point before Buxton Ridge, Jake was in the Boy Scouts with [[Paul Meyerson]].
Afterwards, Jake enrolled at [[Middleton College]] thanks to funding from his family, thus not being shipped off to the [[Vietnam War]] ("[[The Daria Diaries]]"); the war had wound down after he'd left college ("[[My Night at Daria's]]"). At college, he joined the hippie counter-culture and met his future wife [[Helen Morgendorffer|Helen]] there; the counter-culture was a calming influence to the seething cauldron of repressed rage and hatred for the world around him and for his father. The two moved into a commune after graduation and got married. His father died shortly thereafter.▼
Jake's time in military school further traumatized him, as his parents refused to visit him and all but forgot about him until graduation. His letters home ("[[The Daria Diaries]]") show him becoming increasingly broken and bitter from his time there, and writing vicious screeds against his father; he forgives his mother though, viewing her as having no choice but to go along with "Mad Dog's" ideas. He was in the Color Guard during this time, and also picked on by other cadets. He had a friend called Randy (sent to the Ridge for putting his fist through a wall) who, after four years, went AWOL; Jake wanted to go with him but didn't to deny his father "the satisfaction" of him flunking out.
Like many hippies, Jake and Helen rejected the 1960s counter-culture by the end of the 1970s and began working in the corporate world. Jake in particular began work in the advertisement industry, with little success. Adding to his strife was the fact that Jake worked for a rather controlling boss who treated Jake poorly (whom he referred to as a "mini-Mussolini" in the episode "[[Boxing Daria]]") and further verbally abused Jake on a regular basis. ▼
▲Afterwards, Jake enrolled at [[Middleton College]] thanks to funding from his family, thus not being shipped off to the [[Vietnam War]] ("[[The Daria Diaries]]"); the war had wound down after he'd left college ("[[My Night at Daria's]]"). At college, he joined the hippie counter-culture and met his future wife [[Helen Morgendorffer|Helen]] there; the counter-culture was a calming influence to the seething cauldron of repressed rage and hatred for the world around him and for his father, and he became an extremely cheery optimist with a firm belief in the counter-culture's ideals and rejecting the modern world. The two moved into a commune after graduation and got married. His father died shortly thereafter.
▲Like many hippies, Jake and Helen rejected the 1960s counter-culture by the end of the 1970s and began working in the corporate world. Jake in particular began work in the advertisement industry, with little success. Adding to his strife was the fact that Jake worked for a rather controlling boss who treated Jake poorly (whom he referred to as a "mini-Mussolini" in the episode "[[Boxing Daria]]") and further verbally abused Jake on a regular basis.
Jake and Helen ultimately had two daughters, [[Daria Morgendorffer|Daria]] (whom he often refers to as "[[kiddo]]") and [[Quinn Morgendorffer|Quinn]]. By this point the family was living in [[Highland]], Texas, (home of [[Beavis and Butt-head]]). The family stayed there for several years before moving to the suburb of [[Lawndale]]. Although it is unknown whether Helen or Jake instigated the move, it has been implied that the change spurred Jake to start his own freelance advertising consultant firm. Jake could now enjoy the freedom of being his own boss, far from the stress-filled environment in which he used to work.
He always wanted to work on his cooking, and ever since a brief turndown in work in "[[Arts 'n' Crass]]" he's been trying culinery experiments every week or so, much to the horror of every stomach around him.
In several episodes, Jake has expressed frustration that he become a corporate man and that he gave up on his ideals, and views himself as ''trapped'' in his current life ("a boring little house in a bland little town") and resenting middle-age; he generally keeps this hidden, with it only coming out [[The Teachings of Don Jake|due to "glitterberries"]] or [[That Was Then, This Is Dumb|visits from old hippie friends]]. However, in "[[Quinn the Brain]]", when trying to give advice he started to randomly yell "It's not too late to start over, Daria, it's not too late! You're still a young man! You don't have to live with your mistakes! Get out while you can!" before suddenly recovering.
== Relationship with Helen ==
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