Previous
Act 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Jerusalem, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Lies and Myths
The Destruction of the Natural World
Authority
The Individual vs. Community
Summary
Analysis
After returning from the fair, Davey and Lee knock on Johnny’s door. Lee is wearing his new T-shirt and holding a goldfish in a bag. Johnny does not respond to the knocks on the door. Ginger walks up wearing a helmet and holding a coconut. Lee suggests that Ginger take off the helmet. Ginger responds that it does not come off. Lee offers to hold the coconut so Ginger can give it a try. They get into a fight over who can hold the coconut, which ends with Ginger setting it on the ground. Then, Ginger takes the helmet off.
Davey and Lee return from the fair feeling guilty about what happened with Johnny and Troy. They return, along with Ginger, to try and get back on Johnny’s good side. However, Johnny’s lack of a response implies that he is still angry with them. Unfortunately for Lee, this is his last chance to make up with Johnny before leaving for Australia.
Themes
Ginger asks Lee if Johnny is around. Lee says he is unsure. Davey tells Ginger that he just got a text message about a party that needs a DJ. He suggests that Ginger go and DJ the party. Ginger heads off as if to follow Davey’s advice but goes in the wrong direction. Davey yells after him to no avail.
Everyone has been consuming drugs and alcohol, which tends to lead to miscommunication. Ginger, in particular, seems like he is off in his own world.
Themes
Lee and Davey break into a song about the summer weather and leave. Lee leaves the goldfish in a bag behind as a present for Johnny. From the trees, Johnny watches Davey and Lee leave. Wesley shows up and tells Johnny about what has been going on at the fair. Wesley is very drunk and complains about how difficult it is to run a bar on fair days. His complaining turns into a rant about his wife, Sue, who seems to be more responsible for the bar than Wesley himself. Then, Wesley starts crying and drunkenly confessing that he is in love with one of the women who works at his bar. In response, Johnny tells Wesley to go home.
Lee leaves the goldfish as a peace offering for Johnny; although they will not see each other again, he hopes Johnny forgives him. Meanwhile, although Wesley kicked Johnny out of his bar, he still considers Johnny a friend. Although the alcohol likely has something to do with it, Wesley feels comfortable confessing things to Johnny that he would not say to other people. Like the other people who seek out Johnny, Wesley feels lost and does not know what to do. However, given recent events, Johnny is less interested in helping people.
Themes
Wesley leaves as Parsons and Fawcett approach Johnny’s home. Fawcett tells Johnny that he only has two hours left to vacate the premises or they will forcibly evict him. Johnny asks Fawcett if they have met before. Fawcett reminds him that they saw each other in court after Johnny trespassed on private property and assaulted the property’s owner.
Although Johnny knows the threat from Parsons and Fawcett is real, he still refuses to recognize their authority. Instead, he jokes with them as if nothing is wrong, and they do not have any power over him.
Themes
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Fawcett and Johnny get into a fight over who owns the land Johnny’s mobile home sits on. Johnny insists that they cannot make him leave and that he could care less about the people that want him gone. Parsons starts reading out the list of people who have signed a petition demanding that the council remove Johnny from the area. After Parsons reads many names, Johnny orders him to stop. He continues to defend his case. Fawcett cuts Johnny off by saying he deals drugs to minors. Then, Fawcett reminds Johnny that the council will raze his property and arrest him if he is not gone by 9 a.m. the following morning.
The list of names is painful to Johnny. Although he does not like broader society’s rules, it hurts him that so many people do not respect him and want him gone. It is one of Johnny’s few genuine moments of anger, although with when he learns about the urination video. Although Johnny has no legal case, he continues to state his personal case, which he views are more important than anything Parsons and Fawcett can throw at him.
Themes
Fawcett and Parsons leave Johnny with the signed petition ordering him to vacate. Once they are gone, Johnny lights the petition on fire. As he does so, Professor walks up to Johnny with a garland of flowers on his head. Professor tells Johnny about how the drugs he took greatly improved his time at the fair. However, he grew sad later in the day when he realized the reason his dog Mary had not come back to him is because she is dead and has been for a long time. After a moment of sadness, Professor cheers up, sniffs the summer air, and breaks out into song. When his song is finished, he leaves.
This brief moment between Professor and Johnny is a melancholy reflection on the nature of loss and change. For a long time, Professor was in denial about Mary’s death just as Johnny was in denial about losing his property. As society changes, people like Professor and Johnny are left behind, with only each other for comfort. Professor, like Johnny, is a rich and complex person, even if that is not immediately apparent.
Themes
Phaedra steps out of Johnny’s trailer and asks him about Fawcett and Parsons. Johnny says they came to make him a knight. Phaedra does not question him any further on the matter. Phaedra picks up the goldfish that Lee left behind and asks Johnny about it. Johnny tells her it belongs to her now and urges her to take good care of it. Then, he goes inside, fills up a bowl with water, and puts the fish in it for Phaedra.
Phaedra is the only person Johnny seems to still trust, though, even with her, he is not honest about Parsons and Fawcett. Here, Johnny’s appreciation for the natural world and its inhabitants shows, as he makes the effort to care about the goldfish Lee left behind.
Themes
Phaedra asks Johnny why he continues to hang around Flintock when he has the option of going anywhere. Johnny tells her he ended up in the clearing after attempting to park his mobile home and breaking an axle in the process. Because he never fixed it, he never left. Phaedra does not believe the story. She asks Johnny about the strangest things he has seen in the woods, and he rattles off a long list. Some of the list sounds true and some sounds as false as the rest of the Johnny’s stories.
As usual, Johnny does not tell the truth, perhaps because the real answer is too painful. Johnny stays in Flintock because he likes it and its inhabitants, even if he spends most of his time railing against them. Johnny always considered the animosity between him and the larger community as a performative game. However, the broader community is no longer playing—they want him gone for good.
Themes
At 5:55 p.m., Phaedra tells Johnny that she will only be the May Queen for five more minutes before turning back into her boring old self. Johnny promises to treat her the same regardless. Phaedra cannot believe how fast the year flew by. She asks Johnny to dance with her to celebrate the end of her reign as the May Queen. Johnny is hesitant because he does not want to seem inappropriate, but Phaedra convinces him.
Although Phaedra is flirtatious toward Johnny, Butterworth implies that their relationship is entirely innocent. The reason Johnny took in Phaedra in the first place is because he feared that Troy was sexually abusing her. He wants to protect Phaedra rather than take advantage of her.
Themes
As they are dancing, Troy appears with two other men. Phaedra runs away, but the men grab Johnny, violently beating him as Troy stands guard. Ginger shows up as the men are beating Johnny. Ginger hears Johnny scream, but he runs away instead of helping Johnny. The men use a branding iron to burn an X into each side of Johnny’s face. After they finish, they leave Johnny alone by himself, charred and bloody.
Regardless of the true nature of their relationship, Johnny and Phaedra’s dancing looks inappropriate to Troy and his associates, who were coming to punish Johnny anyway. The marks they put on his face are a permanent reminder that he is a pariah of the broader community. The marks are one final indignity before Johnny is gone for good.
Themes
Ginger returns to Johnny and asks what happened. Johnny does not give a clear answer, though he does tell Ginger to stay away from him. Ginger warns Johnny that an army of men with shields and batons are coming to destroy his home. Johnny says the men sound dangerous and tells Ginger to get away. Ginger offers to stay and help, but Johnny brandishes an iron poker at him and angrily orders him to leave. Ginger does as Johnny asks.
Although Ginger still cares for Johnny, Johnny is done with Ginger. He feels Ginger abandoned him, and now, without Phaedra, he is truly alone. Nothing and no one is left to shield him from the authorities who are coming to demolish his property.
Themes
Once Ginger leaves, Johnny turns around and sees Marky behind him. Marky tells Johnny that he got lost. Johnny asks him about his time at the fair. Then, he asks Marky to sit on the drum, which he claims a giant gave him. Johnny points to the blood on his face and tells Marky about how Byron blood is special. When he was in the hospital after a dangerous stunt, the doctors told him he has the rarest type of blood there is, which is especially valuable. Johnny says he sells his blood every six weeks to make money, and he encourages Marky to do the same if he is ever in trouble. He also advises Marky to ignore school, focus on women, and to not let anyone else tell him what to do. Then, he tells Marky to go back to Dawn. Marky does as his father asks.
Johnny is in pain and feels he has been betrayed by everyone he ever loved. Only Marky remains, and he is only a peripheral part of Johnny’s life. To take out his frustration, Johnny gives Marky a speech full of horrible advice, highlighting his selfishness. The value of Byron blood is notable because it suggests that is special and self-sustaining about the Byron’s that is built into their biology. Whether there is some truth to Johnny’s claim or whether it is just more mythologizing, Johnny tries to let his son know that he is special. However, in doing so, Johnny encourages Marky down the same life path that has failed Johnny.
Themes
After Marky leaves, Johnny takes a can of gasoline and splashes it all over his home and the surrounding area. Then, he utters a long and complicated curse upon the local council for removing him from his home. He lists off many of the people who signed the petition to get him removed and warns them they are outnumbered because “every Byron boy that e’er was born an Englishman” is on his side. Then, he pounds the giant’s drum furiously and demands the giants come to aid him.
Because everyone else has left him, all Johnny has left are his stories. In a final act of rebellion, he torches his home. In a practical sense, this ensures that the police won’t be able to find any incriminating evidence. But symbolically, it also allows Johnny to exercise control over his life one last time. When Johnny calls upon the giants, it reveals his desperation. However, the story of the giants is made up, and Johnny’s pounding on the drum won’t summon any mythical protectors to his aid. As such, his final gesture is both passionate and pathetic.
Themes
