Jerusalem Themes

Johnny “Rooster” Byron is a habitual liar. In the various monologues he delivers throughout the play, rarely does he tell a true story, and it is difficult to discern the truth from his lies. But Jerusalem does not present Johnny’s lies as malicious or immoral. Instead, the play presents a modern-day form of mythmaking in a world that would be spiritually empty without it. Everyone who hangs around Johnny is skeptical of his stories, yet…

Johnny “Rooster” Byron might behave recklessly at the bars in town, but he respects the beautiful grove that constitutes his home. Although rough around the edges, Johnny is pure of heart, and the play portrays him as representative of the natural world: his nickname, Rooster, for instance, is also the name of an animal. Johnny and his friends spend all their time in the wood and occasionally sing songs about the beauty and glory of…

Johnny “Rooster” Byron practices a sort of radical individualism that Jerusalem presents as rapidly disappearing in English life and culture. Johnny lives on his own in the woods and does not expect anything from anybody. When he gets the chance to impart life lessons to his son, Marky, he encourages him to lie, cheat, and steal to get the things he wants. Despite his hardened view of the world and how to survive in…