History Literature / JacobHaveILoved

* TheGift: Caroline's talent for music. She does not rest on her innate skill, though: [[TalentedButTrained She practices regularly and takes her formal training very seriously]].

* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: With booksmart, streetsmart Louise as the "smart" one, and pretty, talented Caroline as the "pretty" one.]
* [[SheIsAllGrownUp He is All Grown Up]]: Louise notes how puberty and the army did well by Call.

* [[MrImagination Ms. Imagination]]: Bored with local gossip and inspired by the recent onset of WWII, Louise temporarily convinces herself that the recently-arrived Captain is actually a German spy.

* SecretlyWealthy: Only the Captain knows that Trudy has a stash of money that her father had kept from her and her mother before his death.

* AStormIsComing: The men of the island can tell when a hurricane is about to blow in just by looking at the "[[RedSkyTakeWarning ominous rust-colored sunset]]." [[BigStormEpisode Chapter 10]] begins this way, leading to a [[HostileWeather severe storm]] that [[spoiler:spares Truitt's boat but destroys his crab house and dock, floods the Bradshaws' downstairs, and completely decimates the Captain's house.]]

* NeverLiveItDown: In-universe, people never did let go of the time The Captain chopped down a mast during a storm.

* CainAndAbel: Downplayed, but eventually the twins become estranged [[spoiler:when Caroline marries Call]].

* AndThenWhat: In a PetTheDog moment, the Captain asks Louise what she plans to do with her life [[spoiler:now that Call is married to Caroline. She decides to go into medicine since boarding school is now out of the question.]]

* TheResenter: Louise.

* SheIsAllGrownUp: Louise notes how puberty and the army did well by Call.

* WhenSheSmiles: Louise's reaction to meeting a Polish coal miner near the end of the book.

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Call eventually [[spoiler:marries Caroline.]]

* MarriageOfConvenience: [[spoiler:Rendered homeless by the storm, the Captain marries Trudy Braxton, who has a perfectly good house and money to spare but nobody to look after her in her old age. The marriage is very brief, [[HappilyMarried but both of them seem to genuinely care for each other]].]]

* MarriageOfConvenience: [[spoiler:Rendered homeless by the storm, the Captain marries Trudy Braxton, who has a perfectly good house and money to spare but nobody to take care of her in her old age.]]

* AStormIsComing: The men of the island can tell when a hurricane is about to blow in just by looking at the "[[RedSkyTakeWarning ominous rust-colored sunset]]." [[BigStormEpisode Chapter 10]] begins this way, leading to a [[HostileWeather severe storm]] that [[spoiler:spares Truitt's boat but destroys his crab house and dock, floods the Bradshaws' downstairs, and completely decimates thr Captain's house.]]

* AStormIsComing: The men of the island can tell when a hurricane is about to blow in just by looking at the "[[RedSkyTakeWarning ominous rust-colored sunset]]."

* CrazyCatLady: Trudy Braxton has sixteen cats and doesn't have the capability to care for them all, hence the total mess her house is in.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Mr. Bradshaw is the only person to call the Captain by his given name. Louise, Call, and Caroline refer to him simply as "the Captain"; Susan calls him "Captain Wallace"; and the twins' grandmother usually refers to him as "that heathen."

* SmallTownBoredom: Both Louise and Caroline feel stifled on Rass Island and are determined to leave. [[AvertedTropes Averted]] with their mother, much to Louise's surprise, as she believes the well-educated Susan threw her potential away by coming to Rass.

* BittersweetEnding: Louise finally finds her place in the world [[spoiler:as a midwife]] and with a man that she loves, and she saves [[spoiler:one twin from dying and another from being neglected]]. But [[spoiler:her father dies, she and Caroline never speak to each other again though they come to the funeral, the island of Rass goes under and she never fulfills her dream of being a doctor]].

* CainAndAbel: Downplayed, but eventually the twins become estranged [[spoiler:when Caroline marries Call.]]

* ParentalFavoritism: Caroline, received all the attention as a baby because she was always weak and ill. She grew up beautiful, popular, talented at singing and the piano, sweet, and perfect, while Sara Louise became a hard-working tomboy who "never gave her parents a moment's worry." Sara Louise's mission in the novel is to find a life outside her sister's shadow.

* TheUnfavourite: Louise feeling she is this makes up much of the novel. Her sister Caroline is adored more by her family and the community, and is given special treatment (like expensive trips to the mainland just so she can get singing lessons) because of her talent.

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Both Louise and her parents after Caroline's singing lessons are covered so she can go to the mainland. Her parents also missed the grandmother quoting the Bible on "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I loved". While Louise is stewing in her room over the fact that God apparently hates her, they come in and offer to send Louise to boarding school as well, not realizing that her abandonment issues have been triggered. She in turn shouts at them because she thinks they want to send her away, when they're belatedly trying to offer her the same educational opportunities.

''Jacob Have I Loved'' is a 1981 NewberyMedal-winning novel by Creator/KatherinePaterson, author of ''Literature/BridgeToTerabithia''.

* EmbarassingNickname: "Wheeze" for Louise. To KickTheDog further, ''Caroline'' gave her that nickname.

-->'''Louise's narration''': I was proud of my sister. But that year, something began to rankle beneath the pride.

-->'''Louise's narration''': "But then, oh, my blessed, he smiled. I guess I knew right then I was going to marry him: God, Pope, three motherless children, unspellable surname and all. For when he smiled, he looked like the kind of man that would sing to the oysters."

''Jacob Have I Loved'' is a 1981 NewberyMedal-winning novel by Katherine Paterson, author of ''Literature/BridgeToTerabithia''.

''Jacob Have I Loved'' is a 1981 Newbery Medal-winning novel by Katherine Paterson, author of ''Literature/BridgeToTerabithia''.

The men of the fictional island of Rass in the Chesapeake Bay have always "followed the water" by becoming crabbers/fishers, starting businesses that their descendants can continue for generations. The novel follows Louise, a daughter of the old Bradshaw family and the older of twins. Her twin sister, Caroline, is everything Louise isn't - beautiful, talented, feminine, and is such considered the favorite. Over the course of the novel, Louise tries her best to break out of her sister's shadow, out of what the people of Rass expect from her, and ultimately, what she expects out of herself.

* TitleDrop: The title comes from the [[TheBible Biblical phrase]] "Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated."

-->'''Louise's narration''': "But then, oh, my blessed, he smiled. I guess I knew right then I was going to marry him: God, Pope, three motherless children, unspellable surname and all. For when he smiled, he looked like the kind of man that would sing to the oysters."

* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: With booksmart, streetsmart Louise as the "smart" one, and pretty, talented Caroline as the "pretty" one.

* TheUnfavourite: Louise feeling she is this makes up much of the novel. Her sister Caroline is adored more by her family and the community, and is given special treatment (like expensive trips to the mainland just so she can get singing lessons) because of her talent.

* TheUnfavourite: Louise feeling she is this makes up much of the novel. Her sister Caroline is adored more by her family and the community, and is given special treatment (like expensive trips to the mainland just so she can get singing lessons) because of her talent.

* TheUnfavourite: Louise feeling she is this makes up much of the novel. Her sister Caroline is adored more by her family and the community, and is given special treatment (like expensive trips to the mainland just so she can get singing lessons) because of her talent.