God and the Indian is a play written by Drew Hayden Taylor throughout the play the audience is persuaded to believe that Johnny is actually there because of the way that she and George interact when in fact Johnny was never there this is due to the style it was written in, leading to untrustworthy narrators, and ultimately leading to the message the author is trying to portray. The author actually tells the audience in fact that Johnny was is not there the entire time but since the style it was written in, the audience isn’t looking for Johnny to actually be there or not. But throughout the play Johnny can be quoted as saying things such as “I’m a ghost” (Taylor 39) which if the audience is looking for it Johnny tells the audience that she is not actually there. There is also another scenario where George says “How can you be so sure” (Taylor 29) and Johnny responds with “That I’m here?”(Taylor 29) which if the audience already knew the ending is telling one that in fact Johnny was never there. All of this leads to having untrustworthy narrators. …show more content…
However the audience can also not trust George because he is in denial of all the bad things that had occurred in residential school. One can tell that George is in denial at the end when the audience realizes that Johnny was not there the entire time and George was just hallucinating. It is evident that George is in denial when Johnny says “You aren’t going to start singing yesterday to me, are you?” (Taylor 37) and George then goes on to say “I think your thinking of Reverend Anderson” (Taylor 37) but later on confesses that he was in fact the one singing yesterday in which makes him an untrustworthy narrator because if George is willing to lie about that what else will he lie
Berkhoffer, Robert F., The White Man’s Indian, 1978, Random House, Inc., New York, 261, nonfiction.
God and the Indian is a two person play written by Drew Hayden Taylor. In this play we have a man named George that was a former priest at a residential school. We also have a lady named Johnny Indian that was a former student at said residential school. In the play Johnny accuses George of having molested her as a child. George tells Johnny that she is delusional and will not admit to his wrongdoings. The author tells the story from both George and Johnny’s sides. I think what the author is really trying to portray here is the denial of the people that worked in the name of the church at residential schools years after they had left and/or been shut down.
Behind George’s impulsive enigma you can see just how much he wants to be accepted and make friends. Isolated and lonely, George bullied children who were smaller than him and appeared as ‘easy targets’ because deep down he didn't feel good about himself and wanted to be accepted due to his learning difficulties and other assorted problems. George readily agrees to the invitation to Sam’s birthday, seeing the trip as an opportunity to finally make friends. You see a glimpse of his caring nature when he gives Sam a birthday present, using all his savings to purchase him a water pistol, and ensuring he likes it. However, he was unaware of the true purpose of his invitation by the resentful Sam, forcing you to sympathise further on George and expressing his innocence and desperation to form friendships. This is further demonstrated later in the film where he lies and tells the group that he smokes cigarettes in hopes to be accepted in the group and appear as ‘cool’ by doing the things they
Of course, the thematic development of the novel is somewhat more complicated and cluttered than that. The presentation of religion in the book is continually undercut with irony and the constant presence of sex. Further the thematic development of the book is also inconsistent and indirect, in part because we are never able to obtain a secure view or outlook of Johnny's mind; he is such a subdued narrator that it is difficult to tell exactly where he stands during much of the novel, which often clouds our sense of his struggle with faith and doubt. This ambiguity underscores the important point that Irving's basic intention for his novel is not to present a philosophical meditation on the nature of God, but rather to tell a clutching story.
George is an admirable character because he has the courage to kill Lennie himself instead of letting the other men find and kill him. George shows great concern about Lennie when Lennie asks him if he will give Lennie hell about accidentally breaking Curley’s wife’s neck. Instead, George simply replies, “You can’t remember nothing that happens, but you remember ever’ word I say”(Steinbeck,101). Due to Lennie’s mental disorder, he can not recall much from his past which is another reason why George regrets what he has said in the past. In reality, George
Throughout the story George recites a description of how easy his life could be if he didn't have to keep up with Lennie. "God a'mighty," he could "get a job, an' work, an' no trouble (pg. 11)." At the end of the month, he could take his 50 bucks and go into town and buy whatever he wanted. George says these things like he's only teasing, but in actuality he's dead serious. George started building his alibi when he first arrived at the farm. He wanted to seem like he deeply cared for Lennie, and that Lennie was an overall good person. George then strengthened his alibi, and gave a glimpse of his true motives when he talked to George about why he stopped making fun of Lennie. George said that he told Lennie to "jump in," and that Lennie did it and "he damn near drowned (pg.
The systematic racism and discrimination in America has long lasting effects that began back when Europeans first stepped foot on American soil is still visible today but only not written into the law. This racism has lead to very specific consequences on the Native people in today’s modern world, and while the racism is maybe not as obvious it is still very present. These modern Native peoples fight against the feeling of community as a Native person, and feeling entirely alone and not a part of it. The poem “The Reservation” by Susan Cloud and “The Real Indian Leans Against” by Chrystos examine the different effects and different settings of how their cultures survived but also how so much was lost for them within their own identity.
George attempts to compensate for Lennie’s mental illness whenever he speaks for him throughout the book. A prime example of this is when George tells Lennie, “Now, look, I’ll give him the work tickets, but you ain’t gonna say a word. You jus’ stand there and don’t say nothing” (6). George knows that ...
In the chapter on Hinduism in Philip Novak’s book The World’s Wisdom the section titled “The Transmigration of the Soul” describes the Hindu concept of reincarnation, the wheel of life, and ultimately becoming one with god. The lines in this passage very concisely describe the Hindu concepts of Brahman, Atman, Samsara, Karma, Maya and Moksha (Molloy). I believe that these concepts are at the core of all of the expressions of the Hindu religion; which makes understanding this paragraph the key to having a basic understanding of the Hindu religion.
Lennie thinks of George as his only friend, his guardian, someone who he can trust and depend on, someone who had accepted him for who he is despite his childlike tendencies. Every time he did something wrong, his only thoughts would be of George’s disapproval. “I did a real bad thing. I shouldn’t have done that. George’ll be mad at me.
The Bhagavad Gita is perhaps the most famous, and definitely the most widely-read, ethical text of ancient India. As an episode in India's great epic, the Mahabharata, The Bhagavad Gita now ranks as one of the three principal texts that define and capture the essence of Hinduism; the other two being the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras. Though this work contains much theology, its kernel is ethical and its teaching is set in the context of an ethical problem. The teaching of The Bhagavad Gita is summed up in the maxim "your business is with the deed and not with the result." When Arjuna, the third son of king Pandu (dynasty name: Pandavas) is about to begin a war that became inevitable once his one hundred cousins belonging to the Kaurava dynasty refused to return even a few villages to the five Pandava brothers after their return from enforced exile, he looks at his cousins, uncles and friends standing on the other side of the battlefield and wonders whether he is morally prepared and justified in killing his blood relations even though it was he, along with his brother Bhima, who had courageously prepared for this war. Arjuna is certain that he would be victorious in this war since he has Lord Krishna (one of the ten incarnations of Vishnu) on his side. He is able to visualize the scene at the end of the battle; the dead bodies of his cousins lying on the battlefield, motionless and incapable of vengeance. It is then that he looses his nerve to fight.
In discussing the guilt of George you have to consider the time setting of this novel. It was set in the 1930’s. The reason you must consider the time setting is because things change with time. What may have been allowed then may not have been allowed now. What happened then may not have
Secondly, George experienced a depressive episode during his employment at the junior college once he found out that his assistant coach was leaving the track teams to pursue other opportunities. Throughout this episode, George exhibited symptoms of depression such as exhaustion, sleep issues, rumination, hopelessness, and guilt. He questioned his presence in the world and resorted to considering suicide as an option, which indicated the severity of his condition. Thirdly, George demonstrated manic symptoms during an important week for his track teams. He neglected his sleeping needs, talked egoistically and profusely about his reputable track teams to anyone around him, and engaged in risky behaviors, such as bringing a sword to a track meet. The climax of this episode occurred in an interview when George revealed that he would use the fundraiser money intended for the track sector of the college to go on a trip with of the female athletes to a meet in another state, which led to the department-wide search for George, a range of arguments, and delusions, where George claimed that he was given the
The Transformation of the “Indian Problem”. In this paper, I plan to examine the marked transformation and the history of the so-called “Indian Problem.” The idea of an “Indian Problem” began with the arrival of white settlers in North America, and for them, it was a problem of safety, security, and land acquisition. Around 1890, the “Indian Problem” became an issue of how to help the Indians go extinct humanely, or to assimilate into white culture.
The nineteenth century, a period of considerable expansion in the eyes of the American beholders; induced already prevalent feelings of superiority over the indigenous peoples of America, whom they referred to as “Indians” or “savages” The Euro-American belief of distinction between the “civilized” and “savages” were accentuated in the “universal law of progress,” and “law of vices and virtues,” leading to the emergence of the famed myth, the “vanishing” Indian, which insinuated the white ideal of the Native American population dwindling into nothingness (Ferdinando). The eighteen-hundreds marked the rise in naturalistic literature integrating the myth of the “vanishing” Indian into popular culture. Playwrights with their increased popularity