Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther is a classic work of literary merit. The genre of the memoir is one that will never die. The life of young Johnny Gunther takes place in the 1940’s, but the courage and wisdom he portrays can be understood forever. The message Johnny sends will endure the test of time. Johnny Gunther goes through countless surgeries, hospital visits, and painful illness. Yet, despite his troubles, Johnny is surprisingly upbeat and optimistic. It is not that he is naive, it is simply that he does not want to show his anguish to the people around him. His fortitude shines through him and surrounds every one he meets. Gunther uses light in various ways in his memoir. When Johnny is at home, with friends, or studying the light is always present. This symbolizes him getting to be him with out a single thought of the disease, in essence his happiness. When Johnny is getting worse, or more bad news is brought forward the room always seems dark or full of shadows. Even though it is dark there always seems to be a little light. For example a crack in the door with light beaming through, the moon hitting his face, the sun lighting up a corner of the room. This symbolizes even in the worst of times Johnny finds a shred of hope. Instead of using his energy for self-pity he uses it constructively. He is a very bright young man and when school was no longer an option he was crushed but instead of letting it get him down, he wrote all his teachers and pleaded for tutors. Despite concerns for his doctors he took test, studied, and constructed lengthy science experiments. Even though Johnny knows death is inevitable it does not stop him from learning as much as he can while he can. He even takes his college entrance exam and is accepted into Harvard University. Johnny shows bravery in the worst of circumstances. Just as Johnny’s courage shines through so does his fast maturity from child to adult. His childhood was stolen away from him by his illness but instead of sulking he pulls himself together. He takes every difficulty in stride, and gets through them. Even when he is feeling down he hides it for he does not want anyone else to feel his pain. Being a seventeen year old boy he wants to do the things all other seventeen year old boys do.
As you read the book Johnny Tremain from the front to the back you see a young boy change into a mature man. Although you cannot see into the future of Johnny Tremain, you know that he will be respected and make wise decisions as an adult because he learned from his many mistakes at a young age. He changes from being proud to humble, having a fiery temper to being understanding and calm, and from selfish to a very caring man. As all of these pieces fit together to get a mature young man. At the end of the story, a woman posed a question. “’How old are you Johnny’ she asked. ‘Sixteen.’ ‘And what's that-a boy or a man?’ He laughed. ‘A boy in time of peace and a man in time of war.’”
In this memoir, James gives the reader a view into his and his mother's past, and how truly similar they were. Throughout his life, he showed the reader that there were monumental events that impacted his life forever, even if he
After he burnt his hand Johnny got kicked out of the Lapham's house. At first glance, the accident looked like it was going to ruin his life but it in fact, made it better. The incident made him get a job with the Lornes, it involved him in the Revolutionary War, and he met good friends (just to name a few). Although his injury to his hand greatly affected Johnny's life other events also helped Johnny through with his transformation. Distributing newspapers for the Lornes was a big event that changed his life.
...the future to see that his life is not ruined by acts of immaturity. And, in “Araby”, we encounter another young man facing a crisis of the spirit who attempts to find a very limiting connection between his religious and his physical and emotional passions. In all of these stories, we encounter boys in the cusp of burgeoning manhood. What we are left with, in each, is the understanding that even if they can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, we can. These stories bind all of us together in their universal messages…youth is something we get over, eventually, and in our own ways, but we cannot help get over it.
S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders demonstrates how two completely different characters, Johnny and Dally can have significant similarities. Although Johnny and Dally grow up in very similar conditions the way that each reacts to it differs greatly. Johnny understands that love is important in the world, but with the little experience of affection thinks it is useless and will only break a person. Even though the two view life differently they both do not put much meaning in their own due to the past experience of feeling useless and a burden. To summarize, Johnny and Dally share a very similar burden but look at life differently as a result of it.
Throughout life individuals face many challenges testing their values and personality one situation at a time. In the evocative novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton themes of growing up and innocence are shown. Ponyboy is not your average 14 year old he is part of a gang known to many as the Greasers. He encounters many situations testing his values and beliefs. Having lost both his parents recently he and his brothers stick together like a true family but this relationship is tested when Darry hits Ponyboy. He also experiences the loss several close friends in a very short period of time. Throughout this novel, Ponyboy encounters many life changing experiences that prove he is a dynamic character.
	How would you cope if you were going to die? In the memoir Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther, his son Named Johnny is faced with this situation. At an early age, Johnny was found with a brain tumor, and struggles to survive. Johnny later died from the brain tumor. Johnny was loved by many people; much of whom tried his/her best to help Johnny through this ordeal. Although Johnny was faced with death, Johnny faced death with courage throughout the book.
Before Johnny died from his severe burns and broken back he gave Ponyboy a book, Gone With The Wind, he found a note from Ponyboy saying “stay gold”. Ponyboy’s friendship with Johnny is so strong that he is persuaded to write an English assignment about his experiences. Johnny mentions that saving the children was worth sacrificing his own life. Johnny thinks sacrificing his life for the children is worth his life, because they still have their whole life to live and Johnny was going to get arrested if he would have lived. Johnny wants Ponyboy to do better for himself, and he believes he can achieve anything because he is strong.
...nce can often lead them to new dangers as they have to face the troubles and conflicts of adulthood even if they are not prepared for it due to their vulnerability of being a youth. This is easily supported by Connie’s influence on her choice of sexual music, the idealistic simulation of being an icon, and her incapacity to fully comprehend a situation as she gets exploited and mistreated from an adult. Ultimately, the short story indicates the evolution of Connie and her interaction with Arnold has shaped the way she viewed the world as she is calling out for her mother and stepping into a realm that is beyond her awareness. Joyce Carol Oates reminds the American culture that without regulations, support, and a sense of role models when crossing the threshold of maturity, it can often lead to many crises and imminent grief because of the imprudence of teenagers.
“Life can’t be cured, but it can be managed,” (Vizzini 447) was said by one of my favorite authors. He wrote a book called It's kind of a funny story, and the main character, Craig Gilner, is my modern day hero. Craig Gilner is a typical average fifteen-year-old boy. Well, if a typical fifteen-year-old boy goes to an Ivy League high school, feels depressed all the time, and is in a hospital being treated for depression, then yes Craig Gilner is the poster child for typical fifteen-year-old boys. Craig did not have a hard life, but he knew from a young age that something was not right. Craig liked to get under the family table and draw maps of New York, the city he lived in, for hours, and he could
One of the many sources, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton exhibits that memories are important in defining a person. Two of the most prominent figures in the book are Johnny and Ponyboy. Ponyboy recalls Johnny’s background information that shaped who he saw as a friend. Ponyboy once said that “I remembered Johnny-his face all cut up and bruised, and I remembered how he had cried when we found him, half-conscious in the corner lot. Johnny had it awful rough at home-it took a lot to make his cry” (Hinton 4). Ponyboy’s considerate companionship with Johnny is all defined by his past. Johnny’s pitiful stature makes Ponyboy a more proactive person. His new protective attitude towards Johnny depicts both of their new identities. The fact is that at home, Johnny’s “…father was always beating him up, and is mother ignore...
Johnny once was a teen who wasn't cowardly, and stood up for his gang. He was a good man in a rumble and kept his mouth shut around the police, but things changed when he was jumped by the Socs. The assault left him more anxious than ever, and ended up carrying a six-inch switchblade in his back pocket, despite that he was the most law-abiding of the gang. In addition, Johnny didn't do well in school, he had failed a year in school and never made good grades (Hinton 65). But even so, Johnny is more than a quiet, anxious kid who does poorly in school. Notably, when Ponyboy and Johnny were hiding in the church, the pair occasionally read a book called Gone with the Wind in order to pass the time. While they were reading, Ponyboy remarked, "It amazed me how Johnny could get more meaning out of some of the stuff in there than I could--- I was supposed to be the deep one... and I guess his teachers thought he was just plain dumb. But he wasn't. He was just a little slow to get things, and he liked to explore things once he did get them" (Hinton 65). This shows that he is able to comprehend the message and/or significance of a story or concept, albeit it takes him a long period of time. Although he was high-strung, quiet, and seemingly believed to be dumb by his teachers, Johnny is, in truth, quite reflective and
The novel, Death Be Not Proud, by John Gunther, is the story of the struggle of a child to stay alive. Johnny Gunther Jr.'s constant hope got him out of bed every morning with a positive attitude. His outright opposition to the fact that he was going to die and his determination not to, kept a fiery spirit in him so that he didn't give up. Johnny's stubborn determination to not accept defeat at so early an age, along with the tremendous courage he showed when realizing that he must accept his defeat, is a strong point portrayed in this novel. Johnny's hope, determination, and courage kept his death at bay. One of the main reasons that Johnny remained alive for so much longer than he should have lived, was the hope that he possessed. He hoped every day of his illness that he would get better, that his parents would be spared their grief, or that some doctor would come up with a revolutionary idea that would heal him. Because of his hope, Johnny never complained or protested during the entire course of his illness. He always obeyed the doctors' wishes and followed their instructions to a "T" because he wanted so desparatly to get well. Although he realized that eventually his life would end, he still never gave up the hope that perhaps he could outsmart his fate to die, if just to steal a few extra hours. Each day, until his last, the determination Johnny had to get well, live a normal life, and even maintain his schoolwork was phenominal. After being away from school for sixteen months, being tested constantly by doctors, and having a rapidly deteriorationg brain, Johnny still managed to graduate with his class and be accepted into Harvard. Throughout his illness, Johnny always had an unwavering will to survive, to awake the next morning and find that he was well, that he had only been dreaming the nightmare of his illness. When Johnny awoke each morning however, he felt the bandage on his head and realized that he was living this horrific nightmare. But even through this tremendous disappointment, Johnny kept fighting, determined to recuperate. Johnny should be admired for not giving up under the intense emotional burden of knowing that each breath may be his last. Johnny's story is one that will be remembered because of the courage he had.
Nonetheless, this really is a tale of compelling love between the boy and his father. The actions of the boy throughout the story indicate that he really does love his father and seems very torn between his mother expectations and his father’s light heartedness. Many adults and children know this family circumstance so well that one can easily see the characters’ identities without the author even giving the boy and his father a name. Even without other surrounding verification of their lives, the plot, characters, and narrative have meshed together quite well.
The fact that Johnny had to be parted from his mother to acquire his insight is significant too. Wordsworth's parents died, leaving him, and that one of his major recurring themes is the attempt to return to that childhood innocence of when they were alive. Seen in this light, the fact that Johnny is an idiot, an over-grown child, becomes more than just a detail of plot. Wordsworth allows himself a happy ending in this poem: after complaining to the Muses that he has been their slave for fourteen years, he has mother and son re-united. Johnny's "glory" (l. 462) is that he can retain the uniqueness of his viewpoint and observations, and not sacrifice that state of childhood innocence.