the novel s structure and symbolism of johnny

Johnny Got His Weapon

Dalton Trumbo is perhaps best known for his Communist opinions and for his involvement in the HUAC committee in Hollywood and for his work in film production company industry. Nevertheless , Trumbo’s works of fiction are generally regarded as several of his ideal work. In one of those well-regarded and most likely best-known books, Johnny Received His Weapon, Dalton Trumbo uses a third person point of view and stream of consciousness-like syntax to characterize the exceptionally complex and changing romance between the child and his father.

Trumbo’s book is definitely structured within an exceptionally exceptional way. The most striking element of its framework is Trumbo’s extensive use of flashback. The passage regarding the main heroes fishing trip with his dad is a good example of Trumbo’s utilization of flashback, since it is written in a reflective standpoint of the child on a camping trip with his father and his friend. “They had been arriving at this place ever since having been seven, inches says Trumbo, “Now having been fifteen and Bill Harper was going to arrive tomorrow¦ Down the road for the first time in all trips together he desired to go fishing with someone other than his father (Trumbo). While the third person point of view relatively isolates someone from the situation, it also makes that more interesting for the reason that it focuses on just how innovative the situation is at their relationship. In other words, the third-person perspective amplifies that the boy is growing up and is also breaking away from the once close relationship this individual and his father had once shared. The application of third person point of view likewise highlights a striking generational gap between father and son. On one hand, the kid wants to arise “Early inside the morning” to visit “Fishing” along with his friend Expenses Harper. One the other side of the coin, his dad, who is presumably old, tired, and relatively boring, “Doesn’t want to go fishing” as he’s tired and “[Going to] rest all day” (Trumbo). Not only does standpoint illuminate a generational big difference, it also characterizes the changing nature of their relationship. That is, they were when best friends whom did anything together, nevertheless are developing apart as the boy grows up and becomes his own person, not requiring the once invaluable support and interest of his doting father.

Additionally , Trumbo uses stream of consciousness-like syntax to define the innovating relationship of father and son. This is particularly evident once Trumbo says, “For quite some time his dad didn’t declare a thing. Then he said why sure go along Joe¦ A little afterwards [he asked if] Costs Harper [has] a fishing rod? ” to which the boy responded that Bill does not have a pole (Trumbo). The boy’s daddy in turn tells his son to “take my fly fishing rod and let Bill use yours” as he wasn’t going angling with all of them and thus acquired no work with for it (Trumbo). The fact which the boy’s daddy gives his son his prized pole, the “only extravagance his father had in his whole life, ” the kind of symbolic transferring of the torch between father and son (Trumbo). In other words, the pole is a sign for both the newfound independence and freedom of son and for the changing nature with the relationship between father and son (from loving and almost mutualistic to loving but independent). Similarly, Trumbo’s make use of such active, stream of consciousness-like syntax during which the boy’s doing some fishing trip is described towards the end of the passing underscores the boy’s pleasure for his new liberty and the changing nature of his relationship with his father when Trumbo says, “He got up and gave Bill his road and took his father’s intended for himself¦” (Trumbo). The boys then attended their sportfishing trip, wishing that they get something and yearning intended for an experience devoid of adult guidance, again showcasing the power of just one fishing pole.

In effect, the son is now his individual person who will not particularly will need his father anymore. And through the use of third-person point-of-view and symbolism, Trumbo not only makes the aforementioned evident, but as well makes it very clear that the two, even though the son is becoming his own man, will always be close to each other and may still have a good relationship regardless of what happens in their lives, which can be underscored when the boy ironically destroys his father’s rod, signifying that the father’s damaged trust in the boy and foreshadowing the gruesome fate of the boy.

Functions Cited

Trumbo, Dalton. Johnny Got His Gun. New york city: L. Stuart, 1970. Print.