[jQuery] New to jQuery --> Dynamically navigating the DOM

[Jub]

Hi gang,

I'm just coming across to jQuery and trying to figure out the best way
to dynamically navigate the DOM. Where there's an element object, I'm
happy with parent() and next(), but in functions that don't reference
an element object, I'm a little confused. Here's some clarification:

errorPlacement: function(error, element) {
  error.appendTo( element.parent().parent().next().next());
});

I'm happy and fine with this. However:

success: function() {
  "want to do a similar
  --> 'this' works here, but 'element' is blank. this.parent()/
this.next() returns an error.

Any suggestions appreciated - cheers. :-)

 - Jub