Carl Johnson (Grand Theft Auto)

Carl "CJ" Johnson
'Grand Theft Auto' character
Carl "CJ" Johnson.
First game	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)

Carl "CJ" Johnson is a fictional character in the Grand Theft Auto video game series, serving as the protagonist, anti-hero, and player-controlled character in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

CJ is one of the leading members of the Grove Street Families (GSF), along with his brother, Sean "Sweet" Johnson. Sweet suggested that CJ was born in the Johnson House, a two floor home at a Grove Street cul-de-sac in Ganton, Los Santos, which was also the home of the Johnson brothers' mother, Beverly Johnson.

Role

Prologue

After the death of his younger brother, Brian, Carl escapes the pressures of street gang life by moving to Liberty City in the late 1980s, where he works with Joey Leone in the car theft business and he is once seen mugging a bypasser on the streets.

Initial Role in Los Santos

In 1992, Carl's mother is killed in a drive-by shooting. He returns to Los Santos for the funeral and is immediately confronted by members of C.R.A.S.H. (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums), Officers Frank Tenpenny, Eddie Pulaski and Jimmy Hernandez, a group of police officers involved in corrupt dealings. Throughout the game, C.R.A.S.H. forces Carl to work for them because if he does not, they have the power to bring harm to him and his loved ones. At the very beginning of the game, they tell Carl that they intend to frame him for the the murder of police officer Ralph Pendlebury, whom C.R.A.S.H. killed to prevent him from exposing their illegal activities.

Early in the game, Carl aids Sweet and the rest of the senior members in reviving the GSF by ridding parts of the neighborhood of crack dealers, acquiring weapons, and regaining lost gang territory. This revival ends, however, after Carl learns that his friends Ryder and Big Smoke, senior GSF members, have betrayed the gang. As CJ discovers the betrayal, Sweet is ambushed by rival Ballas gang members and wounded. CJ arrives to fight them off and likely saves his brothers life, but they are arrested by the police after the battle. Sweet is tried, convicted, and sent to prison on a life sentence. CJ, however, is released by C.R.A.S.H. into a rural area to continue to perform jobs for the team. The GSF, along with Cesar's Aztecas, fall out of prominence. Consequently, their rivals, the Ballas and Los Santos Vagos, are able to take over all of Los Santos.

Exile and subsequent return to Los Santos

After a brief stay in the Badlands, Carl and his remaining associates (his sister Kendl, Cesar and hippy The Truth) head north for San Fierro, where they establish a vehicle chop shop and dealership. CJ also works for the local Triads and infiltrates and destroys San Andreas' largest drug cartel, the Loco Syndicate. After Carl, Cesar, and a number of Triad members ambush a meeting between Ryder, who is representing Big Smoke, and the Loco Syndicate, Carl gains revenge on his former friend by killing him.

After gaining access to Las Venturas and the surrounding desert area, CJ goes to work for undercover government agent Mike Toreno. He then moves into Venturas and works to put the Triad-funded casino on top by eliminating the competition. CJ saves rapper Madd Dogg's life by interrupting his suicide attempt (CJ apparently feels guilty for his part in ruining Dogg's career). He also kills Eddie Pulaski and, after completing another mission for Toreno, is rewarded with Sweet's early release from prison.

CJ wants Sweet to join him in building a new life. Since being exiled from Los Santos, Carl has left gangbanging and the hood behind in favor of larger business ventures and more lavish accommodations, and he wants Sweet to share in his newfound prosperity. However, Sweet's priorities are different: he wants to remain on Grove Street, get rid of the crack dealers and addicts all over the streets, and reestablish the Grove Street Families as a force in Los Santos. CJ is initially reluctant to return to the life he left behind, but Sweet eventually convinces him to go along with the plan.

With Carl and Sweet's work underway, Frank Tenpenny is finally put on trial for numerous felonies, but the charges are dropped for lack of evidence because all the witnesses who could have testified against him are either missing or dead. Most of the jobs Tenpenny forces CJ to do throughout the game involve killing or discrediting people involved in the case against him. Los Santos erupts into a massive, city-wide riot following the news. In the chaos, CJ finally confronts and kills Big Smoke and then pursues Tenpenny, who dies in a car crash in front of the Johnson House. In front of the dying and broken man, CJ prepares to shoot Tenpenny with his Desert Eagle, but Sweet, concerned with leaving evidence when Tenpenny would simply die from his injuries, stops him. Tenpenny's death wraps up all the loose ends in Carl's life. The riot then breaks up.

At the conclusion of the game, Madd Dogg visits the Johnson house and announces that he's received a gold record for his new album. Everyone inside discusses how they must now shift their focus to maintaining the gang and their business ventures and otherwise keep a low profile. CJ then gets up and leaves the house. Kendl then asks where he's going, and he says, "Fittin' to hit the block, see what's happening," and the game's main storyline ends.

CJ is portrayed as being highly successful at the end of the game. He has executed a major heist, holds a partnership in a Las Venturas casino, is a successful rapper's manager, owns businesses and real estate throughout San Andreas, is a licensed pilot, and is a leading member of one of Los Santos' most powerful gangs.

Additional information

Character customization

Unlike the principal characters of other Grand Theft Auto games, CJ's appearance is highly customizable, as the player can purchase hair cuts, tattoos and clothing for him. Certain clothes, tattoos and hairstyles improve CJ's standing with his fellow gang members as well as his sex appeal to his selective girlfriends. Changing of clothes, hair and tattoos can also negate a current wanted level.

Cars driven by CJ can also be modified externally and internally. Depending on the condition of the vehicle, paint job, and choice of accessories, the player may find their sex appeal greatly heightened upon exiting the car. As CJ dances, rides bikes, drives cars, and flies aircraft, his skill will improve in each. This allows players to roll backwards on bikes without falling, handle cars better, bunny hop higher etc.

The player may also have CJ build up his muscle by working out at a gym. Doing so improves physical strength, affecting damage done in hand-to-hand combat against adversaries, as well as durability against damage, and sex appeal. There is also the option of exercising on treadmills or exercise-bikes in order to increase stamina. While having no physical effect, this allows CJ to sprint and power-swim (front crawl) for longer distances. Besides the street-style of fighting CJ starts off with, there are also 3 additional types of fighting style which can be learned in the gyms in each of the three cities in game: Boxing from Los Santos, kung fu from San Fierro, and kick-boxing from Las Venturas. However, the opposite also holds true; if the player does not exercise CJ regularly, he will gain weight and his stats will decrese.

Another key ingredient in San Andreas is respect, the idea of which was previously explored in Grand Theft Auto 2. The player earns respect through various actions such as killing police or rival gangs, and finishing missions. On the other hand, killing fellow gang mates would decrease respect. As more respect is earned, the player is able to recruit Grove Street gang members, up to a maximum of 7 at one time.

The player may also collect horseshoes in Las Venturas to improve luck, and oysters statewide to improve sex appeal. Relationships with the player's selective girlfriends may also be improved through dating (depending on whether the date is successful or not). Before dating, the player may present their girlfriend with a gift of either flowers or a sex toy, which may also be used as melee weapons.

See also

• List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas