Cultural Differences In Rose Johnny And Dina

Trapped in Lonely World There are similar and different ways people can be effected by their past and continue being effected in their current life’s. Like in the two short stories “Rose-Johnny” and “Drinking Coffee elsewhere” both Rose Johnny and Dina there past Because of their rough lives in the past it make it difficult for them to feel comfortable and not want to open up to anyone. Rose and Dina have similarities such as being an outcast, secluded and suffering from a troubled past. However, they also have difference Rose-Johnny is polite, quiet and generous and Dina is angry, loud and straightforward. Rose Johnny is an outcast where she is lives; most of people in town start rumors that she a lesbian because of her appearance.
Parents of the town tell their kids not go near Rose-Johnny because she was weird. People there are not willing to give her an opportunity to get to know them so they why she dresses the way she does, or look the way she does. In the text Georgeann asks Rose is she from Lebanese because that’s what Georgeann’s aunt tells her Rose-Johnny replies no and tells Georgeann “A lot of them say I come from the moon” (Kingsolver 7).There is also a part where Bud, a guy that hangs out at walls feeding store he tells Georgeann to tell her dad never send his girl to pick up mash to let him or his son’s pick it up. It seems like people just judge her without even knowing who she really is or even try to give her the benefit of the doubt. Dina likewise from the story “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” was also an outcast because of her attitude. She pulled herself away from her fellow peers. She would act in negative way in order for people to leave her alone She liked it that way because the rough life had. There was a scene in the book she says that she walk around in her room naked so the she could stop the unannounced visits from the female counselors would stop .Dina says “My revolver comment won a year’s worth of psychiatric counseling, weekly meeting with Dean Guestand-since the parents of the roommate I’d never met weren’t too hip on the idea of their Amy sharing a bunk bed with a budding homicidal loony-my very own room. (Packer 2).She happy that she’s alone no peers just her in a room. She makes herself be seen as an outcast to her peers by intimidating them to not want to talk or even look at her. Rose-Johnny was also secluded, She never did anything or went anywhere .Part of be being an outcast made this happen. Working in her Pa’s feed store did not give her much time to have a social life. Georgeann starts to develop a friendship with Rose only because she works at the feed store but Rose-Johnny really doesn’t have family. From the way it seems the only part of her family that’s left is her grandpa. So he also helps her stay secluded because he does not want anyone to harm her but he goes about doing it in the wrong way. Rose-Johnny tells Georgeann “He cuts it with a butcher knife, Sometimes he chases me all the way down to the river” (Kingsolver 11).Her grandpa shelters her and makes her look unattractive but what he does not realize is he make her an outcast to society she is secluded .The good thing is even thou she secluded she has a positive outlook on life. Dina is on the other hand is secluded to but again hers is by choice.
She stays buried in her room by herself. She only goes out to get necessities and doesn’t make conversation if she does not have to. She really doesn’t like being around a lot of people. When she talks Heidi it is only because she practically pushed herself on to Dina. Heidi invites Dina to Commons to go eat Dina says “See that? That means I never have to go to Commons. Aside from class, I have contact with no one” (Packer 4). Here she demonstrates that for some reason she hates having contact with people. So she secludes herself from everyone when possible. Rose-Johnny had a troubling past that made her the women that she was. She lost her mother at young age. The only brother she had was drowned in ice cold water because her mother had had slept with a black man and there were some whites that didn’t agree with that. So not only did her brother Johnny get killed but Johnny’s dad was lynched for being white women. So I believe Rose Johnny was going through a lot that why she was so quiet and didn’t really
speak. Dina nonetheless has a troubled past to she lost her mom. She struggles with losing her mom and she blamed her dad for that. When she was talking to her school psychologist she told him when asked how she felt about her parents says “My dad was Dick and my mother seen to like him” (Packer 5). She had anger towards her dad so I can see how that influenced her life to make her angry all the time. She also said that her mom died of kidney failure but that she believed it was her father’s fault she died because, he had made her scared to leave her own home. Her past definitely doesn’t let her have piece in her heart because she never had time to heal from the wounds that her father left. Rose Johnny was a character that even thou she had been through tremendous pain from the tragedies in her life she still maintain great characteristics.
Rose is very polite no matter who you were she tells Georgeann regardless of race you still speak to her (black) customers when you see them in public. In the story she tells Georgann “When you see them in town, you speak. Do you hear by name” (Kingsolver 11). She believes people should be treated equal regardless of what you were or looked like.Rose-Johnny was also respectful to everyone that she ran across. For example when Georgeann comes in feed shop for the first time and asks for the five pound of laying mash. Rose-Johnny replies “Yes ma’am” and smiled at me” (Kingsolver 2).I find it awesome that even thou she been through so much she still able to smile at the end of the day. Georgeann later finds out that Rose-Johnny is generous because she lets Cleota and the other kids that come along with her give them however much money they can to get their feed supplies. That really touched my heart because there are not many people like that that will look out for you when you don’t have the money. She is also very quiet but tends to know a lot about her customers but does not say much to
them. Dina happens to be a person that is straight forward with people she holds no words back like when this guy called her a “lesbo bitch!” and she said he momma was the lesbo bitch. She is also loud when you piss her off. I also notice that she is an angry person and brings down the morale when she is feeling this way. She holds nothing back and is not ashamed to say anything. In conclusion, Rose- Johnny and Dina may have not grown up in same place or time but they both have so much in common regarding life. Both Dina and Rose Johnny have a kind heart but Dina you have to push Dina a little bit to get her to open. They both are different because they both have their own unique personalities and handle past troubled differently. That what makes them unique but at the end there both the same everyone shares similarities and differences somehow.