Johnny Got His Gun Analysis
"I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in." stated by George S. McGovern, an American Historian and Author. The historical fiction novel Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo takes a similar stance as McGovern on the topic of war. Johnny Got His Gun was written in the post war period after World War I, right before World War II. The Anti–War message of the historical fiction novel Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo is highly effective in its goal of persuading the reader to the anti–war cause through the characterization of Joe's past family experiences, Joe's past war experiences, and Joe's present situation in the novel. The effective persuasion in Johnny Got His Gun comes from Joe's PTSD and war experiences, Joe's memories and reflections of his past life, and Joe's thoughts during his present condition. The PTSD that haunts Joe after his time at war contributes to the anti–war message of Johnny Got His Gun. The past war experiences that continue to haunt Joe attribute to the recurring anti–war statement. Joe being haunted by his war experiences is evident from the relief he feels from not having to hear the noises of war anymore once he realized he has gone death. Joe comes to the realization that his hearing loss may be bearable by making the statement "He never wanted to hear the biting little castanet sound of a machine gun or the high whistle of a .75 coming down fast or the slow thunder as it hit or the whine of an airplane
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dignity because he could no longer interact with other humans. It was the author's idea of the worst case scenario that could have occurred to a soldier who was injured. The description of his injuries gave the reader a picture of what it would be like to have lived with no legs, arms, or a face.
It was a gruesome thought that helped personalize the story by making the reader feel bad for the main character. At this time many perceived fighting in a war to be noble but for most of the soldiers it was anything but noble.
Many times television shows, movies, and books had glamorized war, but that was not the truth. This book showed the harsh reality of war that most people didn't know existed at the time. War is something that no...show more content... Obviously this is not a good solution, which is why we must find other ways to solve our disputes. This book changed my attitude towards war and the men who fight in them.
As evidenced from the past tense verb in the title of the novel, Johnny Got His Gun takes as its focus the aftermath of war for a soldier, rather than the optimistic, patriotic prewar time frame upon which other novels–as well as the original song "Johnny Get Your Gun"–focus. Although the novel remains clear about the fact that Johnny received his injuries from an exploding shell, Johnny does not ever think back to combat warfare. The novel takes as its opponent not combat warfare but rather the mentality of warfare and organization of modern warfare by the moneyed classes. Joe's memories related to the war, such as the Lazarus story, or the story of the man with a flap over his stomach, do not directly deal with warfare. Instead, these various memories create a sense of the incomprehensible decay, injury, and pain that result from war. Joe remembers the stories with a wry tone that gives a sense of the absurdity of each of the situations–such as the rumor about the man who lost his face only to return home and die at his wife's hands. In this sense, the use of the war in the text remains true to its use in the title of the novel: the war exists as a precondition for senseless and grotesque injury and
