Essay Questions

Why won't Ginger bang the drum?

Johnny has told everyone that he received a drum from the giant who built Stone Henge and if they bang it the giants will return in order to help with any trouble. Ginger believes Johnny is lying, but doesn't realize there really is a drum which he is sitting on. Ginger then won't dare bang it because he is uncertain as to whether this power really exists in the world or not.

What is the irony of the teenagers spending so much time with Johnny?

Johnny's caravan is a party pad. People show up to get drunk and high and Johnny provides the alcohol and drugs. He even lets teenagers come to party. The irony is that Johnny believes the kids are safer there with him than they are with their parents at home. The point is that the home environment has become unsafe in such a way that kids trust a drug-dealing alcoholic to care for them better than their parents.

How did Johnny come back from the dead?

There is a story that Johnny, who was once did motorcycle stunts by jumping over buses and trucks, once crashed horiffically. When the paramedics arrived on the scene they pronounced him dead. Even covered his body with a sheet. But, soon after Johnny's body was gone from beneath the sheet. He had dragged himself with broken bones throughout his body to get a beer. They found him by following the blood trail he left.

This story has created a myth about Johnny that no one knows if it is truth or not. Johnny is seen to have a connection to power that is beyond what is seen as normal in day to day life. This adds to his danger and mystery with each character that encounters him.