Johnny Character Analysis

Joyce’s grandson and May’s best friend while she lives in Sydney. Initially, Johnny wants May to be his girlfriend, but after she briskly rejects him they become good friends; May even says he reminds her of her beloved brother, Billy. The two teenagers bond over their common interest in their Aboriginal heritage and spend afternoons daydreaming about life in traditional Aboriginal societies, fantasizing that such societies still exist and that one day they’ll be able to escape the Block and return to them. However, it’s May who has the courage to pursue this dream, while Johnny refuses to leave the Block; her determination contrasts with Johnny’s fatalism. At the end of the novel Johnny dies in an altercation with the police. While she mourns the loss of her friend, May is also relieved that he died with his dreams intact, without discovering that the life they always dreamed of doesn’t exist.