Within the play “God and the Indian” by Drew Hayden Taylor, the characters Johnny and George are heavily contrasted through their current state of life and upbringing. George, a man who committed sins, has grown to be successful as has a reputation he must upkeep, while Johnny, George’s victim, is homeless and struggling. Throughout the play, we see the main character George try to protect himself and his reputation from being blamed for the abuses that happened in St. David’s Residential School. Throughout the whole story, he argues with the second character, Johnny, who is an Indian woman. Johnny goes to George’s office and accuses him of sexually abusing her while she attended St. David’s. However, George denies all of her charges by claiming
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While George committed terrible crimes, he is still a respected person in the community. On the other hand, while Johnny is the victim of all of George’s abuses, people blame her for being homeless by saying she is lazy and willingly begs instead of finding a job. Also, Johnny’s family is destroyed: her husband left her while she was pregnant and child welfare took her daughter away from her, whereas George happily lives with his family. We see this contrast when Johnny looks at George’s family picture, saying, “I don’t even have a picture of her… not like this one” (Taylor 53). This shows how miserable Johnny’s life is, she feels hopeless as she misses her family. The other difference is their success in life. Through the play, the audience clearly sees that George has made a lot of success from being a teacher in the residential school and is celebrating his “promotion to assistant bishop” (Taylor 35). While Johnny “lives on the streets, eats garbage, begs to survive” (Taylor 44) and has “nightmares” (Taylor 44). It is ironic that George says that he has a good life and sleeps “well at night”(Taylor 26) although he has committed many sins, but Johnny, an innocent woman who is the victim of George’s abuse, goes through hardship in her life and has “nightmares” (Taylor 44) while sleeping. Also, the way they express themselves differ. Johnny is honest, open, and lets her feelings be transparent; she realizes that killing will not solve anything. Whereas George denies everything and tries to maintain his reputation built on lies; in the end, he admits his only sin was never speaking
While George committed terrible crimes, he is still a respected person in the community. On the other hand, while Johnny is the victim of all of George’s abuses, people blame her for being homeless by saying she is lazy and willingly begs instead of finding a job. Also, Johnny’s family is destroyed: her husband left her while she was pregnant and child welfare took her daughter away from her, whereas George happily lives with his family. We see this contrast when Johnny looks at George’s family picture, saying, “I don’t even have a picture of her… not like this one” (Taylor 53). This shows how miserable Johnny’s life is, she feels hopeless as she misses her family. The other difference is their success in life. Through the play, the audience clearly sees that George has made a lot of success from being a teacher in the residential school and is celebrating his “promotion to assistant bishop” (Taylor 35). While Johnny “lives on the streets, eats garbage, begs to survive” (Taylor 44) and has “nightmares” (Taylor 44). It is ironic that George says that he has a good life and sleeps “well at night”(Taylor 26) although he has committed many sins, but Johnny, an innocent woman who is the victim of George’s abuse, goes through hardship in her life and has “nightmares” (Taylor 44) while sleeping. Also, the way they express themselves differ. Johnny is honest, open, and lets her feelings be transparent; she realizes that killing will not solve anything. Whereas George denies everything and tries to maintain his reputation built on lies; in the end, he admits his only sin was never speaking