Analysis Of Johnny Got His Gun By Dalton Trumbo

Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo is an anti-war novel that tells the story of Joe, a veteran who lost his arms, legs and part of his face in World War I. He is unable to communicate with people directly, as he cannot see, hear, or move. He is trapped between the living and the dead and acts as a voice for the dead. While events continue to unfold, he looks back on when he went to war, and what happened. The book has a distinct voice and Trumbo uses many elements to convey his message. In his criticism of war and endeavour to convince people of its futility and how neither side truly benefits from it, Trumbo explains that myths and narratives involving war were manipulative and wrong, uses imagery so the reader can directly witness the consequences
He begins the book with Joe is saying goodbye to his family and leaving, and he remembers some of the pro-war propaganda that he had seen, such as “their lives if necessary that democracy may not perish from the face of the earth” (36). Trumbo is bringing up the idea that going to war was a noble cause, and if you die it would be justified. Joe later says that “ a man will have to die in order to protect his life,” and explains that people have never asked the dead if dying for a cause is worth it (116). Joe, however, is almost dead. He is unable to move, feel, or communicate. Trumbo is conveying the idea that the stories that people go to war for are wrong, the end result is not what the government is saying it is. Also, he is saying that nationalism or strong feelings towards a specific country are dangerous. The government is able to take advantage of those feelings and use them to convince people to go to war. They can make it seem like losing their lives was a good thing, that they have to die in order to be a good citizen, and if those people hold where they come from as very important, they will go and die to fulfill what their country has set for them. His use of the myths and narratives lets him talk about the fundamental parts of why people go to war. Many people go to war based on these ideas of nobility and necessity, and Trumbo thinks that the government is wrong in using systems that convince people to go to war. Myths and narratives are some of his central tools in the book, and he uses them to bring up the idea that people may not actually be receiving what they signed up