George Character Analysis

George is a younger relative of the narrator, who would often run away from his home when he was a child and stay for weeks at the narrator’s house without speaking. He now lives in the city, and although the family misses him deeply, they do not visit with him often. The family believes that he is unemployed and belongs to a gang. On the train, the narrator looks forward to running into George in the railway station in the city, as George is often there. But when he does see George, they sit together without talking. George functions in the story as an embodiment of the family’s pain and trauma, his silence resonating with the narrator’s own pained silence at the end of the story. Yet George also serves as a symbol of resistance and refusal. He resisted containment even as a child, and as an adult, he still refuses to conform to white society’s standards. This combination of pain and refusal again resonates with the narrator’s character, as the narrator resists the city planner’s racism by kicking his desk, but hurts his own foot in the process.