Jonny Got His Gun
Johnny Got His Gun starts off in a very intriguing way. The main character, Joe Bonham, describes the ringing of a telephone that no one will answer. He answers the phone and after hanging up he tells his boss that his father has died and he needs to go home. Joe gets a ride home from one of his fellow workers and finds his father dead in his living room. After his fathers dead body is carried out of the house Joe wakes up to silence and darkness. The chain of events that played through his mind had been merely a memory of the day his father died. Throughout much of the novel almost everything that happens is a memory or dream that Joe has. Joe fades in and out of consciousness during the novel. He recalls memories of minuscule things such as his mothers cooking, along with important events like his moving to Los Angeles. After several memories Joe regains consciousness and realizes that both his arms have been cut off. This brings back the memory of a ring that his girlfriend kareen gave to him before the war. He remembers the times he had with Kareen and cries in his head. In a state of panic Joe flashes through several more memories. Once he cools down he tries to move his legs and realizes that both his legs have been
amputated as well. After realizing that he has no legs Joe tries to scream but fines he has no mouth, no tong, and no sense of smell. He is in an English hospital bed completely wrapped in bandages. Shortly after, Joe once again falls unconscious and begins to have more memories about past friends and working experiences. Once he awakes he remembers where he is and that he is all alone. He then resolves that he will occupy his mind with deep thoughts rather than memories of the past that only make him feel worse. In the comparison of “us” verse “them”, Joe juxtaposes two different groups of citizens. He depicted “us” as the lower class members of society like him, against “them” who are the wealthy ruling class. Joe criticizes the men in power of a country for manipulating the less privileged into fighting wars that don’t affect them. There is nothing cowardly about wanting to live in Joe’s opinion, and ideals aren’t worth the tragedy of war. In a last effort to preach his message through his deformation, Joe attempts to save men’s lives by persuading them to stop fighting a wealthy mans war. Through the thoughts of the main character Joe Bonham, Johnny Got His Gun overwhelmingly advocates that all war should be avoided at any cost. When Joe was asked through Morse code “WHAT DO YOU WANT”, he gave a very noble response. Joe replied that he would like to be used as an exhibit displaying the tragedies of war. After seeing the horrors of war Joe hoped to dissuade many men like him from joining the army, and instead leave the men in power to fight their own war. This action is very symbolic of the
Some topics in this essay:
Shortly Joe,
Joe Morse,
Reflecting Joe,
Joe Bonham’s,
Los Angeles,
Joe Bonham,
Johnny Gun,
Joe Joe,
war joe,
morse code,
joe realizes,
“us” verses “them”,
dream joe,
throughout novel,
joe occupies,
tragedies war,
character joe bonham,
memories past,
stop fighting,
main character joe,
fighting war,
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Approximate Word count = 1107
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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