Character Relationship Map: The Jerk

Characters

• Navin R. Johnson (played by Steve Martin) — protagonist

  Naive white man adopted by black sharecroppers, becomes accidental millionaire inventor.

• Marie Kimble Johnson (played by Bernadette Peters) — protagonist

  Ambitious cosmetologist who marries Navin but leaves him for financial security.

• Patty Bernstein (played by Catlin Adams) — supporting

  Intimidating daredevil motorcyclist who briefly seduces and threatens Navin.

• Carl Reiner the Celebrity (played by Carl Reiner) — minor

  Film director who sues Navin over the Opti-Grab invention.

• Stan Fox (played by Bill Macy) — supporting

  Inventor who patents Navin's glasses and shares profits.

• Madman (played by M. Emmet Walsh) — supporting

  Paranoid gunman who randomly targets Navin for assassination.

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Navin R. Johnson → Stan Fox (Professional Inventor And Business Partner) — Stan turns Navin's improvised eyeglass brace into the Opti-Grab and shares the resulting profits with him.

  Navin solders a brace onto a customer's eyeglasses, and the customer, Stan Fox, offers to market the device and split the profits. Stan later gives Na...

• Navin R. Johnson → Patty Bernstein (Brief Romantic Entanglement) — Patty briefly seduces Navin, but her later jealousy and violence help end the encounter.

  Patty brusquely seduces Navin at the traveling carnival. When she later interrupts his date with Marie and starts beating him, Marie knocks her uncons...

• Navin R. Johnson → Marie Kimble Johnson (Romantic Partners) — Their relationship moves from courtship to marriage and extravagant prosperity, then is strained by financial ruin before they are reunited.

  Navin meets Marie, begins a relationship with her, later finds and marries her, and they share his wealth. After he loses the lawsuit, they argue and...

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Navin R. Johnson → Carl Reiner the Celebrity (Conflict Lawsuit Opponents) — Carl is identified as a representative plaintiff in the lawsuit that financially ruins Navin.

  Carl Reiner and millions of other Opti-Grab customers bring a class action lawsuit against Navin after becoming permanently cross-eyed from using the...

• Navin R. Johnson → Madman (Conflict Target And Would-Be Assassin) — The Madman first threatens Navin's life, then reappears after becoming sane and acts as the messenger who reconnects Navin with Stan.

  The Madman picks Navin's name at random from a telephone book and decides to kill him. He opens fire at Navin, misses, and later tracks him down in Lo...

Story Analysis

Navin's naïve journey from an unusual childhood through sudden wealth and ruin ends with a return to family, home, and a newfound rhythm.

Plot Progression

1. The Song and the Road — Navin grows up in Mississippi without understanding his adoption. A song gives him a sense of direction, and he leaves for St. Louis, adopting a dog along the way.
2. An Invention Under Fire — Navin works at a gas station and accidentally destroys a church while trying to stop thieves. A random would-be assassin targets him just as Stan recognizes the commercial potential of Navin's eyeglas...
3. Carnival Loves and Loss — At a traveling carnival, Navin encounters Patty and then meets Marie. Their romance begins after Marie intervenes in Patty's attack, but Marie leaves when Navin cannot offer financial security.
4. Fortune and Ruin — In Los Angeles, the Madman delivers Stan's letter, and Navin learns that the Opti-Grab has made him wealthy. He marries Marie, but a class action lawsuit ends in a huge judgment and leaves him broke.
5. The Family Homecoming — After finishing his story, Navin is found by his adoptive family, who have prospered from investing the money he sent them. They bring him and Marie home, where he dances in rhythm to the family songs...