The_Shipbuilder

The Shipbuilder There are many instances in Ken Mitchell’s play The Shipbuilder, where the main character Jaanus Karkulainen, insists on being called by his Finnish name Karkulainen. In the play, many characters call him Johnny Crook. This situation creates controversy about names and shows how important names are to some people. Jaanus and Jukka create most of this controversy. Jaanus and Jukka are brothers who are born in Finland. Jukka move’s out of Finland and he becomes a Canadian, in name, in body and in soul. Jaanus relocates to Canada several years later, but he’s different. When Jaanus moves to Canada he doesn’t become a Canadian. He is a Finn living in Canada. His body is in Canada but his name, and his soul still belong to Finland. When Jaanus first enters the play he insists that his name is Karkulainen. This immediately shows that although he lives in Canada he will still go by his Finnish given name. The differences between Jaanus and Jukka are shown when Jaanus and Jukka first reunite in Canada. Jukka Karkulainen now goes by the name of Yuki Crook, and thinks nothing of it. His name means very little to him. Jukka then tells Jaanus that there ship, builder, jaanus, karkulainen, name, jukka, canada, play, finnish, bender, shows, names, heritage, first, finn, crook, canadian, years, two, throughout, scene, part, nothing, johnny, jaanus’, friend, finland, controversy, born, being, yuki, thinks, soul, reunite, one, now, living