The Destruction of the Natural World Theme Analysis

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 nature. While his behavior can be brash and primal, his carefree existence at the outskirts of town represents a freer, more natural way of life—one that’s not possible to achieve in soulless industrialized society. However, the city council wants to remove Johnny from his wood and bulldoze his home so they can make a new housing complex nearby without having to worry about Johnny making too much noise. To build the complex, they will have to destroy the forest where Johnny lives, causing more harm to the natural world than Johnny and his friends ever have.

In the play, the city council’s goals represent a broader societal push toward urbanization and industrialization, trends that threaten the natural world and natural ways of being. Johnny’s final act of setting his land on fire rather than submitting to the council members who wish to evict him frames Johnny’s demise (and with it, the demise of nature) as inevitable and tragic. While economic growth and industrialization are often seen as markers of progress in the modern world, Johnny’s death complicates this view, highlighting the costs of industrialization: a disrespect and disregard for the beauty of the natural world, and for the beauty of a natural and carefree way of life.