John Flanagan is an idealist whose experience as a “prohi” reflects the arc of the temperance movement and failed Prohibition experiment—as he goes from passionate believer to an increasingly skeptical and finally disillusioned veteran. How does this “rule follower” fare with a rogue partner, armed mountain moonshiners and well-connected criminals? What finally jolts him out of his passivity to pursue what he really wants?
I think John was a rule follower until he saw that some people need to depend on moonshine as their only way to make a living. When he realizes the strength and wisdom of Shine, he sees that everything isn’t black and white. There are gray areas. I think the difference between his partner and Shine was night and day. He realized that one size doesn’t fit all.
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John Flanagan was scarred by having an alcoholic father, he truly believed in prohibition. you can see what kind of a man he is as he continues to watch out for his diseased partner. I think as prohibition continued he began to see that the criminal side that profited from bootlegging was not an improvement over allowing people to chose to sell and consume alcohol.
John’s partner influenced his thinking. While John was scarred by his own father, he was becoming scarred by his partner, too. His close brush with death was the tipping point for him to recognize he desired a life with Shine. They made it happen, too.
I think John really didn’t do well with his role as a person to punish moonshiners. His rogue partner was an embarrassment to him. Even though, John didn’t agree with McConnell, he showed the man compassion by making sure that McConnell was well taken care of after his retirement. I think John had his first “wake up call” when he was shot and Hiram was killed in the moonshine raid. Secondly, his experience in the car with bullets flying sealed his fate to move away from violence and seek a quieter life of work.