The ballad of jane doe meaning
If Jane is the same Penny Lamb from Richmond's Legoland, there's a simple explanation: Her parents are in jail for growing marijuana. Jane Doe says her parents never came to inquire about her, which is partly why no one knows her identity.This is again another reason why Jane is the one planned from the beginning to "win," because she's the only one whose individuality can't be honored and eulogized. This is why the musical styles of each song are so drastically different and mismatched- they’re specifically written to emphasize how different and unique the children are from each other, rather than being lumped together as a nameless tally, as mass tragedies often are. When Karnak talks about Noel’s funeral, he brings attention to how wildly mismatched it was from who he was and what he liked as a person, despite the presumably good intentions of the living who planned it and participated (it was catered by Taco Bell, the dead-end job he only worked at so he could save enough money to move to France, and because he once said he liked a Christina Aguilera song as an ironic joke, the mourners took it seriously and decided to have it played - on the bagpipes). As a result of the media’s actions, the only thing the general public really knew about the six kids was that they were from a dead-end town, members of a Catholic school choir, and died tragically while riding on a carnival’s shoddily built roller coaster.
![the ballad of jane doe meaning the ballad of jane doe meaning](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cEaZGYbZGok/hq2.jpg)
While he never directly comes out and says this, he calls the musical "a eulogy" for the children, outright telling the audience that when the Canadian national media had collectively dubbed them "Our Six Saints”, they’d been “robbed of their individuality”, and “lumped together in a mass tragedy”. Karnak's second purpose in creating the musical was to restore and honor the children's individuality.He knew she had it in her and wasn't just out to get her. But her most selfless act was one Karnak predicted at the beginning of the show - choosing not to get resurrected. So many of her actions are about proving she is a good person who is worthy of being resurrected, to the point she was actually being selfish. It's Ocean realizing she never had to prove she was a good person to Karnak after all.
![the ballad of jane doe meaning the ballad of jane doe meaning](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DMbDc1Ifh5Q/maxresdefault.jpg)
![the ballad of jane doe meaning the ballad of jane doe meaning](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OneLvcn9Wgc/maxresdefault.jpg)
On that note, when Ocean says to Karnak, "You knew all along I could never do it Choose myself", it's not just about Ocean realizing what the prophecy meant.His lack of engagement with Jane, the other one most in need of outside help, foreshadows how she's the one to be resurrected, as being given her life back is the only way he can help her resolve her issues.
![the ballad of jane doe meaning the ballad of jane doe meaning](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ry95VSub2Fo/maxresdefault.jpg)
Karnak just gives Ocean more focused treatment because he already knows she'll spend the musical emotionally reeling and needs the most help to come to a point where she can accept her death. He even restores a rare measure of agency and meaning over their fates to help the acceptance: by having the resurrection be a unanimous vote from the choir, each gets to consciously choose to make peace with their deaths and get to move on knowing that they've helped another while doing so. By giving them the opportunity of a last performance, he gives them the chance to work through the emotions left from life.