Character Analysis
Mrs. Jenkins is Meredith's mother. When Jack and Nikki visit her, they see her looking fairly serious: "She was business casual, as if she were about to leave for work at a museum. She wore a red silk scarf around her neck, and her hair was in a tight bun" (24.10). But when it comes to conversation, she's more business than casual—she only talks to them once Nikki says that she was in the Feed, too.
It turns out that Mrs. Jenkins is a Daughter of Persephone, meaning she's raised not to have any earthly attachments that would prevent her from being a Forfeit. And this whole detachment thing really shows in her home décor: "Mrs. Jenkins's house had no decorations. No pictures on the walls. No trinkets in corners. Except for one ancient-looking jar on the mantel above the fireplace, there were no identifying features at all" (24.24). Yep, her home sure seems free of anything that would make it feel like an actual, well, home.
Why would anyone live like that? It's a chance to "become the next Persephone" (24.38), according to Mrs. Jenkins—to live forever and bring your entire family into the fold. Apparently her line has a chance at it, too, since the jar in her house contains the ashes of an ancestor, Adonia, who returned from the Feed sane and young.
Overall, Mrs. Jenkins comes across as cold and calculating. When Nikki privately asks her not to tell Jack about how the Tunnels are coming for her, Mrs. Jenkins agrees, but only if "I would remember her when I was queen, an event she saw as inevitable" (24.66). Further, Mrs. Jenkins says of her own daughter: "The moment she left for the Feed, I let her go from my mind and my heart" (24.70). Ouch. No wonder Meredith seems so cold—and old—with a mother like that.