Jonny Appleseed

Jonny is the first-person narrator and protagonist of the novel. Born Cree on a reserve in Peguis, at the novel’s opening, he has moved to Winnipeg to feel freer and more accepted as a queer Two-Spirit person. Jonny is, ironically, named after Johnny Appleseed (1774-1845), an American missionary and conservationist famous for planting apple trees around the country and trying to convert Indigenous people in America to Christianity. Jonny makes money by doing sex work via webcam shows over Snapchat, in which he caters to Indigenous fetishism for his clients.

The major and minor narrative arcs of the novel trace Jonny’s stream-of-consciousness point of view as he moves through the major decisions of his adult life: moving off the reservation to Winnipeg, figuring his life in Winnipeg, and coming back home to the reservation in Peguis for his stepfather Roger’s funeral. By the end of the novel, Jonny has realized that even though he initially moved away to escape it, the reservation is absolutely his home.

Throughout the novel, Jonny struggles with his relationship with Tias, his cis male childhood friend who is also his adult romantic/sexual interest. With Tias, Jonny explores his gay sexuality and the line between self-acceptance and self-alienation.