I am trying to get the parentNode using jQuery. While I can get the parent object, it does not appear to be the same thing as parentNode. I really need some help.

I have a row in a table that has an icon. User clicks on the icon. In the event I using $(this).parents("tr"), to get the parent row for the icon. It finds it correctly, however, when I go to use it as a "node" with a plugin, it is not recognized as a node. 

On the other hand, if I use javascript in the document and do $(this).parentNode.parentNode, the same object is returned, but it is now treated as a node. How can I do this in jQuery?

ps... the program to which I am passing this object expects it to contain the node properties like nodeName. 

Thanks!!!