Johnny Got His Gun Essay

710 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: What is johnny got his gun about essay

War is gruesome. War is brutal. War is horrible. These statements are definitely the main focus throughout the book, Johnny Got His Gun. This book reveals the harsh reality of war, which is usually not discussed. Johnny Got His Gun portrays how war can ruin someone's life or even leave them dead by revealing the true story of Joe Bonham or known as Johnny in the book. The book is narrated by Johnny, a soldier from World War I that has no legs, arms, or even a face due to a mortar shell hitting very close to him. He cannot hear, talk, or see but remains alive and conscious which influences him to have a great hatred for war. Johnny's negative thoughts about war are undoubtedly revealed throughout the novel. The author of Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo, was born in 1905 in Montrose, Colorado into a financially unstable family. Trumbo found his passion for writing when he began studying at the University of …show more content…

The novel suggest that people like Johnny have nothing to gain by fighting in a war on terms of others. Johnny is skeptical of the words "liberty" and "freedom" because he knows they can shift in meaning and often only benefit a few people, "Somebody said let's go out and fight for liberty and so they went and got killed without ever once thinking about liberty. And what kind of liberty were they fighting for anyway? How much liberty and whose idea of liberty?" Johnny explains that the liberty the soldiers are fighting for are likely to be unknown. He also states that liberty is not promised, therefore, it is not worth risking the liberties someone already has, "I like the liberty I've got right here the liberty to walk and see and hear and talk and eat and sleep with my girl. I think I like that liberty better than fighting for a lot of things we won't get and ending up without any liberty at all." This shows that the pain, injuries, and deaths are not worth an abstract cause such as

Show More
Related

  • How Does Johnny Tremain Change

    300 Words  | 1 Pages

    Nothing in life is permanent, everything one day will have to change. A basic necessity of life, change is the fuel that keeps our society moving. In the novel Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes, Johnny Tremain, a fourteen-year-old boy gifted in craftsmanship, experiences changes in all aspects of his life. From a crippled hand to fighting against the British for his country's independence, war transforms Johnny Tremain from a selfish child into a patriotic hero. As the war relentlessly continues, Johnny learns the effects that it has on him as he must focus on the real issue rather than centering around his individual concerns. By reading this novel, we can learn from Johnny how in times of conflict, young men like him must mature into men who

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried And The Red Convertible

    2294 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...and wounds soldiers but murdering their spirits. War hurts families and ruins lives. Both stories showed how boys became in terrible situations dealing with war.

    Read More

  • Who Shot Johnny By Debra Dickerson's Who Shot Johnny?

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    When you think of Hispanics, the first thing that comes to mind is, obviously a group of men mowing your lawn or an uneducated single mom with five young kids. Most people think that we, Hispanics, do not know how to speak English at all or are illegally in the United States. All Hispanics have been put into the category of the stereotypical Hispanic by Americans. We are all viewed falsely the same way uneducated, illegal, and all Mexican.

    Read More

  • Johnny Got His Gun Themes

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    Both pieces of literature have characters that trick, pressure and glorify others into war. In Shenandoah the guard watches over the camp that consists of all young men soldiers. The way that he gets these men is mainly by forcing them. Another example is when the guards went to Charlie's farm in order to recruit all his sons. They sensationalize the war but Charlie and his family know the truth and refuse to go. In Johnny Got His Gun the masters of war use propaganda to glorify the war and occasionally “force” men to fight. They convinced the young men it is exciting and have an obligation to serve their country. The masters of war make it sound amazing. This is nothing close to the truth. While both pieces have characters that push war into others and convince them to fight, only one piece really has a bigger impact. In Shenandoah the only specific way of convincing others to join the war is through verbal contact of convincing. The guards showed up at the farm of Charlie and tried to get his sons. In Johnny Got His Gun, there is a bigger impact because Joe has large mental and physical injuries. At the end of the story Joe explains to reader that he is very disappointed in himself with the fact that he fell for war being glorifying. He wishes to share the horrible tragedies of war but instead he is silenced by the masters of war in order for them to continue tricking men into joining the war. Although it is clear that both texts have masters of war that glorify the war greatly, it seems that Joe’s experience with the masters of war is more significant and has more impact on the character himself. Both the masters of war from the pieces of literature hope to continue what they are doing to others even if they know it is

    Read More

  • A Narrative of A Revolutionary Soldier

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...in the War for Independence. He gave little reason to not believe the experiences he described, and was even careful to warn the reader that his memory may not be serving him as well in recollecting all the events. Even in his criticism of the government, he does not portray an image that would suggest he did not believe in the cause of independence, neither did he take an anti-Unites States government position. He is simply attempting to explain what happened during his time as a participant in the war, and he convincingly does so in his narrative. As he reflects upon his experiences he acknowledges the soldiers’ great sacrifice, the sacrifice of their youth, their bodies, and even their futures. While he was only a private soldier, and most of his life an ordinary citizen, Joseph Martin represents the American hero who gave his life for the cause of Independence.

    Read More

  • Johnny Tremain Essay

    842 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Metamorphosis of Johnny Tremain   Johnny Tremain is like a butterfly; he went through a transformation. Johnny Tremain is a book by Esther Forbes about a crippled boy during the American Revolution and the events he endures. Johnny Tremain was a very dynamic character because people and events affected him.   People change main characters in many books. Johnny Tremain is no exception.

    Read More

  • Stud Terkel’s The Good War

    614 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Garcia’s sense of the absurdity of the war is particularly keen. It is first evident to him in a request to board a battleship with fires near the ammunition. He refuses, but escapes punishment because of his role in rescuing people from the water. This same value for human life and knowledge of the futility with which it was often lost in the war pervades his story. He recounts a man being killed by friendly fire after lighting a cigarette, the death of his girlfriend from American artillery shells fired at planes, and the Japanese woman and child he shot in the pacific. John is eager to fight in the war at first, taking a cut in wages and even petitioning the president to be allowed to serve. This patriotism is replaced by a sense of guilt and fear once he must actually kill people. He thinks he committed murder when he shot the Japanese woman and child, and is haunted by the grief of the families of the soldiers he kills. He says he drank because it was the only way he could overcome the guilt and kill someone. Once the war was over he no longer needed alcohol and stopped drinking, but a permanent change in his view of himself and warfare is evident. He is still continually troubled in his dreams by the woman and child he shot, and while he was initially eager to join the war, he refused to use violence as a policeman afterwards and thinks that if countries are going to war they ought to send the politicians to fight.

    Read More

  • Kent State University Shooting Essay

    1360 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shootings at Kent State University What happened at Kent State University? This is a question that many Americans were asking following the crisis on the Kent campus. In the days preceding May 4, 1970, protests, disruption, and violence erupted on the university grounds. These acts were the students’ reaction to President Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia.

    Read More

  • Attitude in All Quiet on the Western Front

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    to deteriorate the human spirit. Starting out leaving you're home and family and ready to fight for you country, to ending up tired and scarred both physically and mentally beyond description. At the beginning of the novel nationalist feelings are present through pride of Paul and the rest of the boys. However at the end of the war it is apparent how pointless war really is.

    Read More

  • My Brother Sam Is Dead Essay

    749 Words  | 2 Pages

    “You may know principle, Sam, but I know war,” (Collier and Collier 21). Mr. Meeker is trying to tell Sam about the brutality of war because he has been through war and knows the actuality and Sam does not. Sam wants to fight, but does not know the reality of war where as Mr. Meeker does and does not want to fight. “After a few things like that you don’t give a damn for anybody but your friends anymore,” (Collier and Collier 173). Sam’s views on war have changed after he finally experiences a battle for the first time. Sam realizes that his father was right and that, “War turns men into animals,” (Collier and Collier 173). Many people still today face the grim brutal realities of war after being misled about the glories of

    Read More

  • All Quiet on the Western Front : Horroer of war, Effects of war on the soldier, and Nationalism

    674 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is war really like all together? What makes war so horrifying? The horror of war is throughout All Quiet on the Western Front. For example Albert says the war has ruined them as young people and Paul agrees. “Albert expresses it: "The war has ruined us for everything." He is right. We are not youth any longer. We don't want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces. The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war.” (Remarque, Chapter 5). The way the war has affected each soldier has changed them forever. The boys who were once school boys will never be the same.

    Read More

  • Sonya Hartnett's The Midnight Zoo

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Every war is everyone’s war”... war will bring out the worst in even the strongest and kindest people. The book tells about how ones greed for something can destroy everything for both people and animals leaving them broken beyond repair, leaving them only with questions… Will they ever see their family again? Will they ever experience what it’s like to

    Read More

  • Morals of The Milagro Beanfield War

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Milagro Beanfield War, written by John Nichols, demonstrates several themes on life. They range from the interactions of the rich and the poor to the hot arid farming climate in New Mexico. All of which have significant importances in this famous novel. Perhaps the most important theme that is represented in this novel is the idea that people should do what is wright no matter the consequences. People are constantly faced with the choice of right and wrong. What they choose not only effects themselves, but everyone else involved. That is why being true to yourself is being true to everyone. "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? Yet if I am for myself only, what am I?"(p. 1). This theme carries the plot throughout the book.

    Read More

  • johnny tremain essay

    423 Words  | 1 Pages

    This book starts in the pre-revolutionary time. At the beginning of the book, Johnny Tremain, is working as an apprentice to Mr. Lapham. Mr. Lapham is a blacksmith. Johnny’s parents died in a fire several years before, and this is why he lived with the Laphams. He worked there with enthusiasm for several years until he hurt his arm, scolding it in hot metal. After the accident, Mr. Lapham told Johnny that he needs to find a different profession, but he can stay with the laphams.

    Read More

  • In Another Country of Hemingway

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    The word "war" is always horrible to man especially with who has been exposed to. It is destruction, death, and horrible suffers that has been with all man's life. In the short story "In Another Country", Ernest Hemingway shows us the physical and emotional tolls of the war as well as its long-term consequences on man's life. He also portrays the damaging effects that the war has on the lives of the Italians and even of the Americans.

    Read More

More about Johnny Got His Gun Essay

Open Document