Lewis Grassic Gibbon Character Analysis

In my essay I will be discussing my thoughts on to what extent Lewis Grassic Gibbon engages our sympathies for the character of John Guthrie, from his youth to his death.
John is first mentioned in the novel when he meets Chris and Jean, for the first time. They meet at a horse competition and Jean notices John straight away.
“Jean Murdoch made up her mind to go home. Then it was that it came the turn of a brave young childe... and as soon as he began the drill you saw he’d carry off the prize.”
From the quote above we can tell Jean was just about leave, but then when John arrives he catches her attention. I think Jean must have liked John as when she was leaving the competition John offers her to join him on his horse and she does not seem to hesitate. Jean at the time didn’t know John and were strangers to each other so Jean must of thought John was pretty special to take his invite. …show more content…
On the other side he is compared to a “beast” who tries to use his religion as an excuse for his awful behaviour such as the actions he’s done and the way he speaks to his daughter, and abusing Jean and Will.
There are many times throughout the novel which we actually have more sympathy for the other characters because the way John treats his family. John choses to beat his son multiple times throughout the novel. “he should not have stricken Will as he did... his face bloody”
The extra piece of information at the end of the quote makes us understand the extent of how badly the beatings are. We feel that at this point John is evil and ruthless for his