Bledstein 1

Chapter Three: Once Upon a Time in Liberty City

Rockstar Games followed Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas by moving to the next
generation of game consoles for the following entry in the series, Grand Theft Auto IV, and with
the shift came a change in the skin colour of its protagonist. Unlike CJ, GTA IV player-character
Niko Bellic is not black; but, as a recent immigrant to the games setting of Liberty City (based
on New York), he faces a contrasting and complex form of racial alterity. Given the complexity
of his otherness, I will provide a brief overview of the ways in which immigrants have and have
not been defined as white throughout American history. The multiplicity of definitions my
chapter presents highlights the need for powerful technological architecture to exhibit the
subtleties of Nikos experience, and I will demonstrate how GTA IV uses its new technology
towards this aim. The game complements the updates with media forms within the game which
represent for the player the alienation Niko feels as an immigrant. As he traverses Liberty City,
he receives constant reminders of both his immigrant status and the impetus for financial
achievement implied by the so-called American Dream, as well as the disconnect between
these two elements and its effect on his alterity. GTA IVs depiction of its protagonist captures
aspects of the complexities of immigrants otherness in the United States through the
technological advances from the earlier games, Nikos economic successes and woes in Liberty
City, and his final self-definition, due to his own attitudes and those of others, as an immigrant.
Early definitions of Americanism complicate the relationship between Nikos immigrant
status and his whiteness, since some would consider him to be American. In a letter titled What
Is an American, 18th century writer Michel Gullaume Jean de Crvocouer outlines a relatively
broad conception of American nationality. In response to the query posed by his letter, de
Crvocouer writes, He is either an European or the descendant of an European, hence that

Bledstein 2
strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country (54). De Crvocouers
understanding of Americanism highlights a crucial difference between CJ and Niko. Whereas the
strange mixture of blood de Crvocouer identifies as constituting the American population
could include an 18th century Niko, CJs lack of European heritage would exclude him. While
Nikos ancestors could have have been considered American by thinkers such as de Crvocouer,
CJs ancestors could have been legally enslaved in the United States. Being himself an
immigrant to New York, de Crvocouer had a firsthand perspective on the experience of
American immigration during the period (Painter 106).
Even if de Crvocouer would limit the possibility of CJ being American but allow Niko,
other prominent thinkers maintained that immigrants should be othered. Ralph Waldo Emerson,
an exemplary figure of 19th century American discourse, does not share de Crvocouers idea of
the openness of Americanism to all Europeans and their descendants. In an 1852 journal entry,
Emerson writes, Our idea, certainly, of Poles & Hungarians is little better than of horses
recently humanized (Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson 77).
Aside from the harsh stigma of Emersons words, the countries he identifies are particularly
relevant to Niko given his origin in an unspecified Eastern European country. Beyond Emersons
disregard for the humanity of people from Hungary and Poland, he also establishes American
nationality as not including them. Emerson writes, The inhabitants of the United States,
especially of the Northern portion, are descended from the people of England and have inherited
the traits of their national character (The Early Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson 233). Under
Emersons view of American citizenship, Niko could not be considered amongst the inhabitants
of the United States.

Bledstein 3
But in spite of views such as Emersons, the distinction authors have outlined between
race and colour reveals the privileges and benefits Niko experiences relative to CJ. As Thomas A.
Guglielmo explains, the two factors were often distinct characterizations of Americans in the mid
19th to mid 20th century. Guglielmo writes, While Italians suffered for their supposed racial
undesirability as Italians, South Italians, and so forth, they still benefited in countless ways from
their privileged colour status as whites (33). In spite of Nikos potential racial undesirability,
he still shares the privileged colour status enjoyed by Italian immigrants. This distinguishes
him from CJ, who most definitely does not share this privilege.
The separation of race and colour implies that immigrants from different countries can
unite beyond national boundaries while still reifying conceptions of race in the U.S. In Stefano
Luconis description of Philadelphia in the 1970s, he outlines how immigrant groups united
across national boundaries by contrasting themselves against people with more melanin in their
skin. Luconi writes, Italian Americans and Irish Americans developed a common identity out of
their tendency to hold African Americans responsible for the deterioration of their own standards
of living (179). GTA IV reflects this common identity through Nikos alliances with the Irish
American McCreary family and the Italian American Jimmy Pegorino. Whereas CJs strongest
loyalty remains with the black Grove Street Families, even if he occasionally works for
characters such as the white Truth or the Asian American Woozie, Nikos life reflects a greater
porousness of ethnic boundaries.
The possibility of allegiances between immigrants and their descendants from different
nationalities suggests the dominance of immigrant status over other aspects of identity in Liberty
City, a suggestion GTA IV emphasizes through Nikos ambiguous country of origin. Although he
is clearly marked as Eastern European through his thick accent and references to his Balkan

Bledstein 4
homeland, the game never names his exact nationality. Instead of giving Niko a particular
national identity through which the player can understand him, his position as an immigrant
dominates his ontology. Niko is an Other, and one whose alterity comes from his immigration
rather than his particular nationality.
Rockstar turns to a more powerful game engine to capture the subtleties and ambiguities
of the otherness Niko faces as an immigrant. The studio replaces the RenderWare game engine
used in the series for GTA III through GTA: San Andreas with the more modern R.A.G.E. engine
and Natural Motions Euphoria animation software (Boyer). As Brandon Boyer explains, the new
software focusses on depicting characters in a realistic manner without the restrictions and
limitations of more traditional animation techniques. Characters move and adapt realistically to
their given situations on the fly, resulting in a series of unique experiences and payoffs. This
increased realism in the representation of people allows for greater player empathy with the
character. Tom Bissell describes this effect: Nikos real pathos derives not from the gimcrack
story but how he looks and moves, which contrasts with the woeful character models in GTA:
San Andreas (168). Bissell also relates the modelings strength to the representation of Nikos
pursuit of financial success through consumerism, since, You know, somehow, that Niko, with
his slightly less awful new clothes, feels as though he is moving up in the world (169).
As the impact of R.A.G.E and Euphoria demonstrates, engines are crucial to the
compositions of videogames, suggesting the cruciality of a more powerful engine to Rockstars
project. In Unit Operations (discussed in chapter one), Ian Bogost explains the essential control
engines have over games expressive capacities. Bogost writes, Game engines move far beyond
literary devices and genres. Unlike cultural categories like the modern novel or film noir, game
engines regulate individual videogames artistic, cultural, and narrative expression (56). As a

Bledstein 5
result of this regulation, the use of a new engine for GTA IV allows for vastly different artistic,
cultural, and narrative expression. Just as the shift from a two-dimensional environment to a
three-dimensional one between GTA 2 and GTA III allows for the socio-political possibilities for
the series realized in GTA: San Andreas, the transition from RenderWare to R.A.G.E and
Euphoria enables the further critical potential of the gameplay structure demonstrated in GTA IV.
In addition to the software upgrades from the previous incarnations of the series, GTA IV
adds new ludic mechanics to contrast Nikos experience with that of previous GTA protagonists.
In combat, Niko enjoys a cover system which allows him to hide from enemy fire using cars,
walls, and whatever other barriers the player can find. Nikos opponents are able to take cover as
well, but the net result is still a much easier and more fluid combat experience than the one
afforded by GTA: San Andreas. Even though Niko often feels isolated by life in Liberty City, he
has opportunities for shelter throughout the urban environment unavailable to CJ. Despite the
marginalization Niko feels as an immigrant, he is surrounded by potential spots of respite,
whereas CJs life as a black man in San Andreas gives him no similar places to instantly escape
violence.
Nikos relative safety during combat is complemented by GTA IVs navigation system,
which embeds within the games ludic structure a different relationship between the player and
the virtual topography from earlier in the series. Niko has a GPS which shows the player where
to drive in order to get to a desired location, making navigation in GTA IV radically easier than
movement in any prior game. As Zach Whalen describes, the lack of this ease in GTA: San
Andreas necessitates a simplified map in order to make its environment navigable. Whalen
writes, Paths in GTA:SA function crucially both as spatial maps of the citys space, providing
conduits for the ease of travel that amounts to mastery of the space, and also as temporal threads

Bledstein 6
connecting the narrative together (153-154). The ease of travel within GTA: San Andreas
allows the player to feel a mastery of the space, which differs from the affect produced by
Liberty City. Unlike CJ, Niko remains unfamiliar with his urban environment, even though he
can navigate it with ease.
Without the need to recreate the feeling of easy spatial mastery required by earlier games
in the series, Rockstar focusses more on environmental fidelity. Mark B. Salter notes the greater
efforts towards realism the developers make, as they use time lapse recordings to watch traffic
patterns and rain, as well as photographs of over 100,000 locations in New York, to make Liberty
City look and feel as much like its real-life counterpart as possible (379). The heightened realism
of GTA IVs environment contrasts with Vice City (the environment of GTA: Vice City, released
between GTA: III and GTA: San Andreas) and San Andreas, which Bogost and Dan Klainbaum
explain as being more based on popular cultures conceptions of their real-world parallels
(Miami and California, respectively) than the places themselves. Bogost and Klainbaum write,
These environments are not re-creations of real urban locales, but rather remixed, hybridized
cities fashioned from popular cultures notions of real American cities, which lead to hybrid
virtual cities whose cultural rules prove more salient than their physical geography (162). By
contrast, the physical geography of New York has a much greater bearing over Nikos life in
Liberty City, giving the player a more immediate experience of the existences of immigrants in
real American cities.
Niko needs people to help him navigate the games amalgamation of the real and virtual
New York City, and the game provides a host of communicative mechanisms for him to find such
resources. GTA IV introduces a cellphone into the series ludic structure, allowing Niko to call
and text his friends, lovers, and business associates for social outings and employment. As Niko

Bledstein 7
spends more time in Liberty City and interacts with more of its residents, the list of contacts in
his phone becomes larger and larger. But the game also emphasizes the tenuousness of these
connections, and Nikos overall social network in Liberty City, since NPCs will shun him for a
late or missed arrival for a planned engagement, leaving him to be the lost and alienated recent
immigrant he is upon arrival. As Irene Chien writes, Within the games strange logic, you can
run down people on the street with impunity, but you will be punished for ignoring a phone call
from your cousin (81). Niko can commit acts of violence with relative ease, but the precious
few social connections he makes in his strange new home are far more fragile.
In conjunction with the challenges Niko faces as a recent immigrant to Liberty City, the
phone exemplifies what Bogost calls procedural rhetoric (Persuasive Games 44) (discussed in
chapter one). According to Bogost, the procedures of software such as videogames can function
rhetorically, making arguments in the manner of words or images. Bogost writes, A procedural
model like a videogame could be seen as a system of nested enthymemes, individual procedural
claims that the player literally completes through interaction (43). The players interaction
with the phone argues for the challenges of Nikos life as an immigrant. The procedure of
needing to use the phone in order to make and maintain social contacts demonstrates to the
player, ludically, the struggles Niko faces as a recent arrival to the U.S. and Liberty City. The
cellphone is just one of the many nested enthymemes throughout GTA IV making procedural
claims about the difficulties of Nikos experience of alterity.
In addition to the phone, Niko can also communicate through the internet, making him
even more connected, but the value of his connections remains questionable. He can use online
dating services, but the women he meets assess him and potentially reject him based on the state
of his vehicle and his clothing. The former can only be stolen, and the latter must be purchased,

Bledstein 8
thereby directly relating Nikos criminal activity and wealth (which comes, mostly, from
criminal activity) to his romantic satisfaction. Niko also receives offers to steal vehicles from the
luxury car dealer Brucie, making the games internet, much like the real-world internet, a virtual
space wavering uncomfortably between being a site of labour and one of pleasure. The position
of the internet becomes even more dubious due to the struggles of Nikos cousin Roman, his
initial contact in Liberty City, who, in the narrative, falls into debt in part due to internet
gambling and needs Niko to help him out. Niko jocularly imitates Roman and his internet woes,
saying, Isnt America great? I get to sit in front of a computer and play Mr. Rich Man and get
into debt with crooks? The internet certainly has benefits for Niko, but it also contributes to his
alienation.
Nikos loneliness as an immigrant in Liberty City only gets further affirmed by the
xenophobia broadcast to him through the games television shows, which, like the phone and the
internet, are an addition to the series for GTA IV. Niko watches the animated Republican Space
Rangers, in which an angry soldier responds to an aliens lucid statement in English (albeit
delivered with a British accent) by saying, This son of a bitch doesnt even speak American!
The scene has a particular relevance to Niko due to his heavy accent, which the game leads the
player to imagine would only infuriate a Republican Space Ranger even further. The shows
xenophobia is matched by the inflammatory Weazel News, in which a headline declares,
Ethnics are at it again. Weazel News is on the scene, hovering at a safe level in our chopper, all
while a faceless group of men assault people with baseball bats. Nikos solitude while he
watches TV means that he has no way of knowing how other Liberty City residents react to the
racism, but the presence of the shows and their messages tell him that he is not welcome.

Bledstein 9
The shows also convey messages about the importance of financial success, and they
become all the more meaningful to Nikos conception of economic achievement due to his
access to them within the game. On the series Im Rich, Niko hears an announcer vaunt of the
wealth of WASP icon Lyle Cleepthorpes V, who imports his labour from Mexico for pennies,
making him mega ultra party time rich. Not only does Cleepthorpess financial success earn
him a spot on TV, but he achieves it at the expense of immigrants who undoubtedly face some of
the same struggles as Niko. The insults to immigrants continue in the faux-documentary A
History of Liberty City, in which the narrator denigrates the poverty of early immigrants to the
city, who crowded together like a nest of cockroaches. The narrator makes the citys history
particularly relevant to Niko by adding, Just like the Liberty City of today. These messages
about economic success and immigration become all the more meaningful due to the games
narrative structure. Niko cannot easily watch the shows prior to the end of the first act, when his
and Romans apartment in Broker burns down and they move to an apartment in Bohan, which,
unlike the first place, has a TV. By the time Niko can watch TV with ease, he achieves some
measure of financial success, but the programs remind him of his continued marginalization.
The phone, internet, and television constitute a complicated relationship between Niko
and different media forms which develops the complexity of the otherness he experiences.
Patrick Osborne explores the relationship between the glut of media and the life of crime to
which Niko turns. Osborne writes, With a relentless barrage of socializing agents, GTA IV
socializes both the player and Bellic to desire the American Dream yet continually undermines
his/her agency to acquire it through conventional channels. As a result, GTA IV promotes
criminal innovation (123). Niko hears messages imploring him to want financial success, but he
has no easy way of acquiring it. Accordingly, the variety of socializing agents only further

Bledstein 10
represent his alterity, and there is a direct connection between it and the criminal innovation
which comprises the bulk of the games narrative and gameplay.
The games opening moments exemplify the connection Osborne identifies as being
delivered through the in-game media and larger narrative structure. Nikos first task is to drive
himself and Roman to the apartment they will share in Broker, which Niko discovers, in horror,
to be cockroach infested and tiny. Niko chastises his cousin for lying about the wealth he said
they would experience in Liberty City, saying, In your letters to my mother, in your letters to
me, all I hear about is Mr. Big, Mr, Roman, living the American Dream. Sports car, women,
money, the beach, opportunity. I come here, and the only thing big about your life is the
cockroaches. I will problematize Nikos equivalence of women and money in chapter four,
but the specific mention of cockroaches bears discussion here. In A History of Liberty City, he
hears immigrants being compared to a nest of cockroaches, and cockroaches also define the
negative beginning to his life as an immigrant. Thus, the conjunction of these two moments
demonstrates the connection between the relentless barrage Osborne describes and Nikos
desire to make money.
The game also demonstrates the challenges Niko will face in his new hometown on his
boat ride to meet Roman. A cutscene depicts Niko passing by the Statue of Happiness, a not-so
thinly veiled stand-in for the Statue of Liberty. As the player will discover if she chooses to visit
the statue later on in the game, the inscription on the statues tablet reads:
Send us your brightest, your smartest, your most intelligent,
Yearning to breathe free and submit to our authority,
Watch us trick them into wiping rich people's asses,
While we convince them it's a land of opportunity.

Bledstein 11
As with the cockroaches, the statue gains a recursive power once the player reads the inscription,
but the symbolic connection between the Statue of Liberty and immigration gives the image a
symbolic power nonetheless, particularly given that it comes in the games opening moments. As
Niko approaches Liberty City, the caustic message he does not yet realize he sees bears a closer
relationship to what his experience will be than the land of opportunity Roman describes.
Although Niko does not literally end up wiping rich peoples asses, the unsavoury activity in
which he must partake to survive does not make for an ideal existence.
The discourse established by the Statue of Happiness gains further meaning through
Nikos discussion of the circumstances under which he leaves his homeland. Rather than
originating from a free choice, his decision to emigrate comes as the result of the poor situation
in his country of origin. Niko explains, After the war finished, I couldnt get a job. Nobody
could. So I, uh, did some dumb things and got involved with some idiots. As Niko emphasizes,
economic hardships make his country unlivable. He does some dumb thingswith some
idiots, which implies criminal behaviour, but even these are set in motion by a lack of viable
employment opportunities. From the beginning, the game frames Nikos journey as being
instigated by circumstances out of his control as opposed to a willful decision.
As bad as Niko makes his home country sound, he does not find easy economic success
in Liberty City, forcing him to take less than desirable work. Roman owns a cab depot which
Niko can work for as a driver, a tempting option given the challenges he faces making money
early in the game. Cab driving is not directly embedded in the narrative, but Niko can call
Roman, select Job on the phone, and he will receive information on where to pick up
passengers whom he can then drive to their desired destinations. On the surface, this mechanic
bears a strong resemblance to a similar component of GTA III through GTA: San Andreas, in

Bledstein 12
which the player ferries passengers around the city in a manner reminiscent of the arcade game
Crazy Taxi. But whereas the mechanic begins with the player-character stealing a taxi in the
earlier games, the direct connection between cab driving and Nikos only family member in
Liberty City frames it as a central part of his life. Romans need to own a taxi depot and the
economic impetus for Niko to work for him highlights the financial challenges faced by both
characters.
Nikos financial struggles, in conjunction with the discourses of financial success
surrounding him, lead him to stress the importance of money over concerns of ethics or personal
safety. In the mission Escuela of the Streets, ex-convict Manny Escuela asks Niko to kill a few
local drug dealers. Once Manny says, Ive got money, Niko responds by saying, In which
case youve got help. Niko reveals similar concerns in Holland Nights, in which he responds
to corrupt cop Francis McCrearys query about what he requests in exchange for completing a
mission by saying, I want to get paid. In both of these cutscenes, Niko values money above
concerns of safety or ethics. The discourse of the value of financial success in Im Rich affects
him, leading him to value money over sheer survival, though his lack of alternatives suggests
that surviving means taking jobs and making sure he gets paid as well as possible for them.
But in spite of Nikos struggles, other characters do not recognize the extent of the
challenges he faces as a recent immigrant to Liberty City, making his difficulties all the more
frustrating. In Final Mission, Francis dispatches Niko to kill lawyer Tom Goldberg, who is
prosecuting Francis for corruption. He tells Niko to go on a job interview with Tom to get him in
position to kill him, saying, Youre an immigrant. Theyre almost legally bound to interview
you. While Franciss premonition proves correct in this case, Niko and Romans experiences of
needing to drive cabs and commit petty crimes for money do not generally reflect the statement.

Bledstein 13
The game further emphasizes the economic implications of this mission by not allowing Niko to
enter the office unless he wears shoes purchased at Liberty Citys most expensive clothing store,
Perseus. Niko gets the interview, but he must shed the sneakers he wears when he first arrives to
the city in order to do so.
Franciss remark also draws attention to Nikos immigrant status, something which
happens repeatedly in the game and highlights his alterity. When he goes on a date with
Michelle, a friend of Romans girlfriend Mallorie, she says, You look like you just jumped off
the boat, Niko. Handsome man like you should get some new threads. Brucie invokes similar
rhetoric when Niko pins him down during a friendly tussle in Search and Delete, saying,
Thats some Red Army shit, serious. Both of these statements seem to be intended more as
friendly than hateful, but they evoke Nikos foreignness nonetheless. Brucie and Michelles
emphasis on his immigration calls attention to Nikos otherness, which otherwise risks becoming
obscured due to his appearance. Richard Slotkins description of the setting of many American
World War II films in the Pacific theatre rather than in Europe helps to explain the need to
verbally identify Nikos alterity. As Slotkin explains, the enemy was white in the European
theatre, contrasting with a simpler, more dramatic, and more hate-provoking portrayal of the
opposition in Japan (484). Like the Germans and Americans Slotkin describes, Nikos skin
colour resembles that of Brucie and Michelle, but their language reminds him that he remains an
immigrant in their eyes.
Not only do these references call attention to Nikos identity as an immigrant, but the
hostile climate towards immigration throughout Liberty City attunes the player to the
protagonists alterity. On the talk radio station Public Liberty Radio, which, like the talk radio
throughout the GTA series, can be heard in any car in which the player-character drives, an

Bledstein 14
exchange between a caller and gubernatorial candidate John Hunter demonstrates the racism
Niko experiences. Im sick of these illegal immigrants, a caller says. America should be for
people like me. We invented freedom. Rather than condemning the callers sentiments, John
responds by saying, Immigration reform is very important. As I say in my campaign blog, it is
not hate, it is patriotism bottled up. Hunters response demonstrates the acceptability of racism
in Liberty City. Even if Niko is not illegal, he also is not amongst the people the caller says
America should be for. Nikos indeterminate, but still foreign, accent distinguishes him
immediately from the stereotypical Brooklyn accent of the caller. Johns condonation of the
statement as patriotism bottled up shows the normalcy of xenophobia in Nikos environment.
As a result, in part, of these declarations of racism, Niko is othered, and his alienation
becomes worsened by his lack of a distinct cultural identity. In contrast with the celebration of
predominantly black genres in the radio stations of GTA: San Andreas (discussed in chapter two),
no singular identity emerges from the radio stations of GTA IV, and certainly not one Niko can
claim for his own. Kiri Miller writes of the experience of playing GTA: San Andreas: Moving
with CJs body, interacting with CJs friends, living in CJs neighborhood, and hearing with CJs
ears all serve to suture the state of San Andreas to hip hop culture, a well-established arena for
staging conflicts between individual expressivity and oppressive restrictions (433). By
comparison, the world of Liberty City does not have a strong connection with any such wellestablished arena, leaving Niko on his own to fight the oppressive restrictions he faces as an
immigrant.
Unlike CJ, Niko does not have a clear cultural identity, making the idea of Americanism
all the more enticing to him. After he tells Francis in a cutscene that he only wants to get paid
for doing the corrupt cops bidding and he explains that Niko must kill a drug dealer, Niko is

Bledstein 15
taken aback by the request. Isnt that police work? he asks. Sureand the moon is made of
cheese and the streets is paved with gold. Wake up, Francis replies. In this scene, Niko shows
more faith in American institutions than the native-born (with Irish ancestry) Francis. Although
Niko is still happy to take the job once Francis agrees to pay him the $5,000 he asks for, he
seems to believe in the power of the police, whereas Francis knows that they do not have the
strength or control he would like. Niko trusts the capability of organizations such as the police,
showing that he accepts, to a certain extent, the nationalistic discourse he hears in the media,
thereby making his continued marginalization all the more tragic.
Nikos embrace of America and its ideals becomes most fully salient in the games two
possible endings, both of which show him defining success through realizations of American
cultural ideals. In One Last Thing, Niko can choose whether or not to conduct a heroin deal
with frequent enemy Dimitri Rascalov. If Niko does it, the game concludes with him murdering
the Russian Dimitri, before which Niko says, Welcome to America. Speak English. If Niko
does not do it, the game concludes with him murdering Jimmy Pegorino, who betrays him. Prior
to the killing, Jimmy refers to him as immigrant dipshit, to which Niko says, You want to
know something funny? The commission, the old families? I know some of those guys. And
they thought you were a fat fucking joke. In both of these scenarios, Niko appears to buy into
notions of Americanism which only confirm his alterity. His exhortation to Dimitri to speak
English reveals Niko defining American nationality in a manner similar to the conservative talk
radio caller or the Republican Space Rangers. His decision to insult Jimmy through his lack of
respect and success constitutes a view comparable to the one expressed on Im Rich or A History
of Liberty City. Niko achieves a form of happiness in his new country, but he defines his success

Bledstein 16
through a perspective of privilege he will never be able to embody, thus leaving him still marked
as an othered immigrant.
The conclusion of GTA IV contrasts strikingly with the finale to GTA: San Andreas
(discussed in chapter two), thereby showing how each game reflects its particular form of racial
alterity. Adam W. Ruch writes of Nikos endings, The game shows not only that the American
Dream narrative is a myth but also that the city has no particular interest in the narrative of any
one individual. Once Niko defeats his nemesisin itself a hollow, meaningless actthe city is
no easier for him to live in (345). Niko continues to believe in the American Dream narrative
until the end, and the fact that the city is no easier for him to live in as the result of his belief
makes it even more disheartening. By contrast, the allusions to the Rodney King riots and the
murder of Officer Tenpenny, whom the courts do not prosecute, are more suited to the alterity CJ
experiences. Both CJ and Niko are Others, and the games featuring each protagonist reflect,
albeit in limited ways, the respective circumstances of the characters racial otherness.

Bledstein 17

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Bledstein 18
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