Johnny's Delusion In The Ghost Of St. David Past

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The Ghost of St. David Past

Johnny is a delusion that spawned from George's guilt and she is there to make George confess his sins
The author gives subtle hint throughout the story that reveals Johnny’s true identity, a ghost. Through the use of literal and figurative language, the author is able to create double meaning. A huge clue is when Johnny says, “You’re a ghost. I’m a ghost. All these memories of what happened to me, to Sammy to all of use. They’re like ghosts seen out of the corner of the eye. No one wants to admit they’re real. You can see through them. You can’t prove them. Nobody believes. They don’t exist. My childhood doesn’t exist. It’dead. I’m a ghost” (Taylor 39). The phrase, “I’m a ghost” (39), is very crucial to the …show more content…

This guilt and delusion is a product of George’s past. As a former worker in St. David, he made actions and mistakes that he is deeply regretful of: “. . . It was a travesty of everything we were trying to do. I became a minister to make the world a better place. St. David’s was nothing like they told us it would be. We weren’t freeing minds or spreading the love of God. We were punishing children for the stupidest of reasons. Making them eat food we wouldn’t give a dog. And then lying about what we were doing. St. David’s was a four-storey lie shored up in red brick” (29). This guilt and regrets have been sitting in his mind all these years, and although he has tried to bury it away and forget it, these feelings still haunted him: “We did what we were told, but that doesn’t absolve us. I’ve spent all these years with that sitting on my soul. I should have taken some responsibility and . . . and faced the evil … but I couldn't. I didn’t know how. I was young. They were all my superiors. I was nobody. So I left. I ran away. And it’s haunted me ever since” (28). He has done nothing to apprehend his actions and he simply tucked these memories and ran away. Now, these emotions came to life as a form of a delusion through Johnny. Much like Johnny, George has hidden the atrocious and unforgivable actions he has done in the past but is now back to haunt

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