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Jesus of Suburbia- -St. Jimmy- -Whatsername- -The Underbelly- -Tunny The Characters

There are three main characters in the storyline that is American Idiot. They are: The Jesus of Suburbia (also referred to as “JOS”, “J”, and “Idiot of America”), Saint Jimmy (sometimes called just “Jimmy”), and the Whatsername character.




Jesus of Suburbia
Jesus of Suburbia: JOS is the main character of the storyline. He is portrayed as angry, though innocent. J is the son of his father’s rage, and his mother’s love. He leaves his broken home in search of a better life on the streets.



St. Jimmy
St. Jimmy: Jimmy is a character that J meets in his search for a new life. He is the complete opposite of the innocent JOS…he is bad and not afraid to kill. Many questions arise concerning the existence of Jimmy. Though Billie Joe admits on VH1’s Storytellers that the original idea of Jimmy was that he was a symbol of the self-destructive side of J (the hazard that makes the wrong decisions) The band constantly reminds us that the story is open-ended, so draw your own conclusions. Jimmy is my personal favorite character. Billie is right, he is very sexy.





Whatsername
Whatsername: The Whatsername character is someone that J and Jimmy meet on the streets. She is the most mysterious character in the story, but the hero none the less. The Whatsername character is the one character that sticks to her morals throughout the story, and is not swayed by any of the crap that might cause her to abandon her principles. She also causes quite a twinge in J’s heart strings ; ).

Aside from the three main characters, there are other roles throughout the story. They are The Underbelly and Tunny.

Tunny
Tunny: Tunny is one particular member of The Underbelly. He is the last and only friend from the streets that J hears from…through a postcard. His role is so significant because of the irony that it represents. After J goes back home and accepts conformity, he receives Tunny’s postcard, telling him how great he is doing and how he has a ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll life,’ which is what J was searching for in the first place.

The Underbelly
The Underbelly: The Underbelly is a group of friends that J meets on the streets. They can probably be considered as losers. They are the “bottom-of-the-barrel” friends that live on the streets. You might hear them mentioned in the line “Cigarettes and coffee with The Underbelly” from Homecoming.

whatsername and St Jimmy from Greendayauthority.com, Tunny from Quizilla