# George — You Can’t Win character guide

> George in You Can’t Win by Jack Black.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** George Dixon, Dixon, poor old George, old George, Georgie, XIV George

**First appearance:** 0002-you-can-t-win

## Snapshot

A scarred, cunning veteran turned pioneering safe-breaker, George teaches the narrator the yegg's trade and embodies the road's hard-won code of loyalty.

## Who they are

George is a battle-scarred ex-soldier who parlayed an apprenticeship in a safe factory into a career cracking the very make of box he once studied, boasting he never worked a day outside prison since the army. His dead, pale-blue eyes betray nothing of the busy brain behind them, yet he takes the young narrator under his wing in prison and vouches for him among the 'best people.' His blend of ruthlessness and rough honor shapes the narrator's education in the underworld's unwritten rules.

## In the story

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/iv)

Jack's cellmate in the upper tier of the prison; he advises Jack and later Jack learns he is a distinguished criminal.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/vi)

The narrator's father; listens to his son's story, gives a fatalistic farewell, and disappears from his life.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/viii)

The narrator; arrested and jailed after Smiler's death, follows Smiler's advice to remain silent.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/ix)

One of Jack's cellmates who, along with Sanc and Johnnie, controls the prison inside and embodies the underworld code of character.

### [The Four-Thousand-Dollar Haul and the Yegg Convention](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/x)

Mentioned as Foot-and-a-Half George; Mary asks about him and he is to be visited in prison.

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/xiv)

George Dixon, the little colored champion fighter, whose money Black steals in a hotel burglary in San Francisco.

### [Chapter XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/xv)

Jack's mentor in safe-cracking; a methodical thief who abhors murder and enforces a strict code. He is past fifty and shows no desire to quit his trade.

### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/xvi)

Foot-and-a-Half George is mentioned in the narrator's stories to other travelers, recounting his finish and the narrator's getaway.

### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/xix)

Hannibal, an old acquaintance, knew of Jack Black's connection to Foot-and-a-Half George, who was killed.

### [XXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/xxiv)

Foot-and-a-Half George is reported dead by Black.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters/george
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters