Carl Johnson

Carl Johnson, also known as CJ, is the main protagonist of the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas game.

Carl is a former gangbanger representing the Grove Street Families. After his younger brother Brian was killed, Carl moves away to Liberty City to try to escape his past, only to be forced to come home five years later to bury his mother Beverly, who was killed in a drive-by shooting at their own house.

Unfortunately, he's picked up by the LSPD's C.R.A.S.H. Unit almost immediately after arriving, and subsequently framed for killing Officer Ralph Pendlebury (an Internal Affairs investigator, murdered mere minutes beforehand by C.R.A.S.H.), and dumped in rival gang territory.

Appearance
Carl is a tall and muscular, African-American. He has a short buzzcut hair and facial hair, and has dark eyes.

Carls' default attire consists of a white top, black baggy pants and brown sneakers.

Personality
CJ is markedly different from the previous playable characters in the Grand Theft Auto series. While Claude and Tommy Vercetti are both depicted as completely heartless and feeling no regret for all of the people that they kill, CJ is depicted as having a considerably less violent personality, occasionally giving his targets a chance to redeem themselves. An example is his failed attempt at convincing Eddie Pulaski to see that he was no more than Tenpenny's pawn in the mission High Noon. Furthermore, CJ displays genuine remorse for having to kill Ryder and Big Smoke, who he considered close friends. However, CJ has no problem with killing members of other gangs, and willfully slaughters any that get in his way of reclaiming Grove Street Family turf or try to sabotage his businesses, though in return, the gangsters are trying to kill CJ also. CJ's naïve personality, inexperience, and face-value interpretations of other characters' responses occasionally leads them to question CJ's intelligence (The Truth, Catalina). CJ, like his brother Sweet, holds a deep seated loyalty towards Grove Street and the hood, as seen in his reaction to the resentful attitude of his friends and siblings early on. Though, towards the end of the game, while Sweet was in prison, and CJ was making progress in San Fierro and Las Venturas, the unattended Grove Street became Ballas turf and was filled with crack dealers. CJ tries to get his brother to abandon the hood for their assets elsewhere, but he is quickly convinced into re-taking the turf. Despite his young age, Carl often handles situations in a professional manner. This is shown during the mission The Meat Business when Carl keeps encouraging Ken Rosenberg to calm down and remember that "you're the boss".

Abilities
His default fighting style is basically good old fisticuffs, and involves wild haymakers. That said, it's around as effective as any of the trained fighting styles he learns. His Boxing moves consist entirely of punches, and his Kung Fu moves are all kicks. When he reaches maximum skill with the 9MM pistol, Tec-9/Machine Pistol SMG's, or the Sawn-Off Shotgun.

Trivia

 * On rare occasions, motor officers may call out Carl by his last name or nickname when he is arrested. Members of most street gangs also recognise him (this includes all Los Santos based gangs, the San Fierro Rifa and the Da Nang Boys.)
 * Carl's Shamal call sign in Saint Mark's Bistro was CJ101.
 * Some of Carl's idle animations consist of him singing "Nuthin' But A G Thang Babe", "Express yourself, cuz I'm from Grove Street", "Never gonna get it, never gonna get it, biatch", "you drop the bomb on me", "move your body, dum-dah-dum, move your body", "take your time and let me LOVE you girl" "Rollercoaster! OH-OO-HOO-HOO!", or just humming.
 * It is possible that CJ is a Christian. In the mission, First Date, Carl tells Catalina that he is a "God fearing peace-loving man of the people". Like Franklin Clinton, Carl can purchase several religious tattoos (most notably a Virgin Mary tattoo and a cross) and a Cross Chain sold at Didier Sachs, further supporting this theory.
 * However, Carl may have told that to Catalina sarcastically, especially given the actions that CJ commits throughout the storyline. In addition, in the opening cutscene, Big Smoke references "the book" (presumably the Bible), to which Carl replies, "what fucking book?", implying he's unfamiliar with religion.


 * If CJ becomes fat enough, his head will always face slightly to the side when stood still.