Book Report 3 - Johnny Got His Gun

Trumbo, Dalton. Johnny Got His Gun. New York. Carol Publishing Group: 1994.

I am going to be honest, here. I heard about this book because of a Metallica song. One day, I wanted to know what the song "One" was about so I looked it up on Wikipedia. The lyrics are based on and said in the perspective of te main character Joe in Johnny Got His Gun. That led to me get interested in reading the book because I started researching it and the plot seemed really interesting and the book is a classic anti-war book. So, I went to the library and checked it out. The novel takes place during World War I and in a hospital.
The story is told completely through the thoughts of Joe Bonham. It starts out with him hearing a ringing noise in his ears. This sound provokes a memory of the day he got a telephone call that he got from his mother that told him his father had died. The novel does this throughout; Joe will be reminded by certain things and they will provoke memories from his past. Joe wakes up to find he can't see because he is covered in bandages. He also realizes he is deaf. He goes in and out of cinciousness and wakes up again to find the doctors are cutting off his arm. And then after a memory of the girl he loves, Kareen, he finds the doctors are cutting off his other arm and he goes into a panic. A memory of drowing prompts him to move his legs. When he can't, he realizes both legs have been amputated as well. Joe panics and tries to call out but he realizes he has no mouth,tongue, or palate. He tries to hold his breath but he can't, because his lungs are sucking in air from somewhere below his throat (probably a machine?). He moves his face muscles to see what else is wrong with him and he feels that there is a huge hole in his face. His eyes, mouth, nose, and ears are gone. He goes into anoher great panic insid of his head. Time passes and Joe thinkas about the past and how he must teach himself to differentiate sleeping and waking. Joe starts thinking deeply about war and the true meanings of liberty. He questions what people say when they're fighting for liberty. This part of the book is definitly my favorite. It is pages and pages of excellent points and thought-provoking questions. Joe tries to entertain his mind and he thinks about hw he wants to start to keep time. The reader finds out Joe got like this. There was a howling noise and he dove into a dugout and there was an explosion. So, it's obvious he was hit with a shell. Joe decides to try to keep time by keeping track of when a nurse visits him and the temperature. He successfully does this, and gets happy when he feels the sun rise. A year passes. He has memories of the war before he was hit. Two more years pass. Joe feels himself being prepared for visitors and when they come, they pin something on his chest and he feels a kiss on his forehead. He realizes he is being awarded a medal by generals. Joe gets furious since they have never even been injured in battle and they place a medal on him. He thrashes around in hope of exposing his mangled self. He feels them leave and he realizes he is able to feel vibrations to tell when someone is there. Joe then starts tapping "SOS" in Morse Code with his head on his pillow. His nurse doesn't understand so she just pushes her hand on his forhead to calm him. He then loses track of time because he keeps tapping. A doctor injects him and his mind goes foggy and he gets numb. He then has strange visions in his mind. Joe awakens and finds he has a new nurse. She is much more kind and she actually traces out the letters of "Merry Chirstmas" on Joe's chest with her finger. Joe understands andhe gets happy. Joe starts tapping SOS again and the nurse responds by tapping his forehead. She leaves and comes back with a man who taps "What do you want?" Joe tinks for a while and taps out an explanation. He talks about how he wants to be part of an exhibit that would warn people of how awful war really is. The man laves and comes back. He taps, "What you ask is against regulations. Who are you?" Joe gets very upset and holess. Out of desperation he repeatedly taps, "why?" He then realizes they are injecting him again and he realizes they will not let him speak. They do not want people to know about the true horrors of war. Joe imagines an uprising where he and his fellow peace-lovers use the guns they get from the ruling forces against them.
Joe pretty much is the plot. Everything is told through his thoughts. He just an innocent man that was thrown into a war and he ended up like he did. You can see how he changes from just simply not knowing why he was going to war to passionately being against it.
I really enjoyed this book. It was very powerful and had many great points about war and the true meaning of liberty. The main point of it obviously, was to protest war. I recommend this book because it can really open someone's eyes who hasn't really thought about how awful war is.
The author did a great job of getting inside the head of the main character. In paritcular, the parts where he realizes all the things physically wrong with him, he goes into a very realistic panic. It is written in the way a human would actually hear their thoughts. So, if I was in Joe's position I would also go through those panics caused by loss and claustrophobia. The book also ended realistically. When Joe said he wanted to show the terrors of war, they shut him down because they would be less likely to be able to recruit people in the future. Also, the fact that it ended this way leaves moreof an effect on people. So, I wouldn;t want the book to end any other way.
The author, Dalton Trumbo, ws not known to me before reading. I do not know any of his other works and it kind of looks like this book was a one-hit-wonder for him. So, I do not plan on reading anything else from him even though this book was realy great and powerful.