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Abusive Past In God And The Indian By Drew Hayden Taylor

785 Words4 Pages

The Aftereffect of an Abusive Past The novel God and the Indian by Drew Hayden Taylor exhibit a strong presentation of the horrific events and the emotional effects it can have on the one being abused, as well as the abuser, through the tone of the play. During the play, the audience sees Johnny Indian as a mad woman who stalks George to force the truth of her past out of him. The usage of the tone is vivid as Johnny is written by the author to display very intense negatively felt emotions toward George. Johnny heavily blames George of inflicting abuse throughout her time in residential school. Following after Johnny saying, “Okay. No more Ms. Nice Girl either” (Taylor 43), she pulls out a pistol from her pocket. This action shows the dismay …show more content…

Throughout the play, George is still considerate of Johnny’s emotional and physical conditions, regardless of her obscene accusations she throws at him. “Let me help-” (71) George requests this from Johnny to allow him to assist her to the proper aid she needs but is denied from her that she wants any. This shows his compassion despite the disrespectful behaviours from Johnny. George continues to have the decency towards Johnny even after being verbally harassed with accusations and pointed at with a pistol. This contributes to understanding George’s character and how the author writes the tone around him to be very subtle, so the audience can relate to his sense of kindness. However, there is another side of George that the author emphasizes to the audience. George is shown very defensive over his children and “lunges at Johnny” (56) due to Johnny bringing the subject of his children in their disagreement. This action indicates George’s frustration building up and the breaking point of his own sanity from the constant torment from Johnny. Upon this, the audience is able to acknowledge the apparent change of tone as George feeling defeated. The characters counteract the action with one another results in opposition between their

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