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Johnny Got His Gun

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"Johnny Got His Gun," by Dalton Trumbo, is a powerful novel. The Bantam paperback includes a fascinating introduction by Trumbo, written in 1959 with a 1970 addendum. The intro notes that the novel itself was written in 1938 and published just after the start of World War II. An "About the Author" page at the book's beginning notes that the Colorado-born Trumbo was one of the screenwriters blacklisted during the McCarthy era.

"Johnny" tells the story of Joe Bonham, an American soldier who is horrifically wounded and disabled in World War I. The book is told from Joe's perspective as he struggles to understand and cope with his situation. His mind wanders back and forth between his past, including his war experiences, and his immediate condition. Thus we get a non-chronological but full picture of his complete life so far.

Dalton's prose style in this book made a strong impact on me. At times he seems to be assaulting the reader without mercy as he shows us the horror of war and its terrible human cost. But the book also includes passages of hope, triumph, and heartbreaking beauty. Joe is an unforgettable character, and this truly disturbing book remains a profoundly relevant work of American fiction.

Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976) was a fascinating person. A confirmed communist in America's Hollywood, he marched in lockstep wherever the Party ordered. He started screenwriting in 1935 as a confirmed anti-Nazi, but when the Russo-German pact was announced, Trumbo embraced pacifism as a way to keep the U.S. from acting against the Nazis. The book "Johnny Got His Gun" dates to this period.

After Hitler double-crossed Stalin, and invaded the Soviet Union, Trumbo dropped his pacifism like a live grenade, and worked on such pro-war movies as "A Guy Named Joe" and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo." When the icy winds of the Cold War began to blow, Dalton moved back towards pacifism, writing the screenplay for the movie version of "Johnny Got His Gun" in 1971, during the height of the Vietnam War.

So, if you want an interesting book, by one of Hollywood's great writers, then read this book.

There was a time when war was still noble and ticker tape fell freely on the heads of veterans; our American heroes. There was an era in US history when wars ended with extravagant parades while lovers were reunited after years apart. Dalton Trumbo's chilling novel, Johnny Got His Gun, is about that era--but there are no heroes here. This tale has nothing to do with the romantic homecomings and thrilling American victories. Johnny Got His Gun is about the atrocious reality behind the glitzy Hollywood definition of warfare. Set during World War I, Trumbo's novel tells the story of a brutally injured and disabled man. Isolation has never known such lonliness. The main character, Joe Boeham, describes himself as the "living dead man." He has no arms, no legs, no face, no tongue to speak, no ears to hear, and no eyes to see. This book is the thoughts of Joe Boeham, slipping in and out of time. He describes his past and you can feel the despair in him as he describes his present; his future. The authour's lack of punctuation gives the reader the notion that Joe Boeham has simply a string of thoughts; beginning nowhere and refusing to end. Boeham's goal in life is merely to live. No, not to breathe, not simply to have a steady heartbeat but rather to find in himself some remaining human characteristic. Lying beneath the surface, Dalton Trumbo incorporates Boeham's opinions regarding the draft, warfare in general, and fighting for a word: democracy. A thought provoking, page-turner, Johnny Got His Gun, is not a book you'll soon forget. This is a masterpiece that has touched the masses helping in the struggle to end the glorification of war.

In the extraordinary novel, Johnny Got His Gun, the author, Dalton Trumbo, reveals the truth about war by illustrating the struggles of a crippled man through the use of stream of consciousness. The story describes a man's journey after he is wounded in battle during WWI. The man, Joe, is a paraplegic who has no arms, no legs, and is deaf, blind and unable to speak. His every day struggles and feelings are revealed to the reader through examples of his past and his inner most thoughts.

Dalton's fictional character, Joe Bonham, is exactly what his name states, just a regular "Joe." Before the war he had a girlfriend and a family that loved him. He went to school, had summer jobs, and hung out with friends, then came the war. He and all the other "Joes" had to leave behind the ones they loved and go defend a country that could not defend them. Throughout the novel Joe experiences flashbacks into his past. He recalls a summer when he spent a day performing the most grueling labor of his life. At the end of the day he laid there and felt his body ache in anguish as he said, "There was nothing real but pain." He then awakes from his past only to realize his present condition, to which he refers to himself as a "basket case." Another memory that he described was that of the last night he spent with Kareen, his girlfriend. They both knew that they might never see one another again, so they spent his last remaining hours of his civilian life together. As he awakes from this perfect moment in time he remembers his disable figure, and prays that Kareen or his family would never see him in that state. Dalton uses Joe's thoughts and feelings to paint a picture of perfection and simplicity before the chaos of war.

The most evident form of communication throughout the novel is the use of Joe's thoughts, also known as his stream of consciousness. Dalton uses this method to create a character that you can't help but think is real. His wants and desires are the same as every human being, yet he is unable to accomplish them due to his helpless physical condition. In one scene he is lying in his hospital bed and feels the sun shining through the window on his body. He feels a sense of floating. "It's fine Kareen floating here. Lie back more like this like that. Isn't it nice Kareen I love it I love you." This is one of his more pleasant thoughts as compared to the gruesome pictures of pain and fear, shall I mention the rats? I didn't think so. The thoughts of Joe are ones of hope and determination, they leave the reader feeling that if a blind, deaf, and mute cripple can accomplish what he did, the By Golly, so can I! Joe Bohnam may not be a real man, but through reading this novel you realize that there are men in this world just like him. His thoughts are what allow the reader to be able to grasp the true feelings and effects of his character.

In conclusion, this book creates a controversial sense of both nationalism and disgust. To know that there are people in our country that are willing to die for a cause and yet some of those very people are injured and left completely incapable of a real life. Trumbo's anti war views are clearly expressed in Johnny Got His Gun. He took a normal guy with a normal life and turned it all upside down to reveal the true effects of war. This intense book will make you cry and it will make you think. Trumbo accomplished his goal with me, I challenge you to read the greatest book that I have ever read and see how it will change your own thoughts.

JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN is extremely raw and realistic. Dalton Trumbo's gut- wrenching look at war is very captivating. The plot reveals a war described as a journey to sacrifice, the road to hell, odyssey of suffering, and as a bloody mess. This book is Dalton Trumbo's best work ever. It is a must-read for anyone who has not seen the trials and tribulations of a war vet. Trumbo gives a multi-faceted in-depth at one man's suffering. The soldier comes out of war remembering the repugnant stench of combat, While traumatized and disabled in the hospital, the smell of memories past and his life's distorted direction haunts him. Even though it was written over thirty years ago his rotted view on war remains relevant today. Even if you have not lost a loved one to war this book will make you feel as if you have. As a person with partial paralysis and muscle atrophy, I identify with the soldier and recognize that Dalton Trumbo is an empathetic genius who captures the rage and feelings in a handicapped war vet's struggle to live life.

I read this book first almost 25 years ago, when in my early twenties. Recently, I nagged a friend into reading it, and decided to again read the whole book to determine if the considerable effect it had on me in the 70s was simply a reflection of my age at the time.

It wasn't.

The book is still as powerful as it ever was. I do not see how anyone can read this and not be profoundly affected. A line in the synopsis on Amazon.com indicates the book was written about World War I. Actually, no specific war is ever mentioned - only the initial publishing date would infer that. Rather than 1939, it could have been written in 1959, 1969, or even 1869 - war is war and only the technology changes.

The copy I have has an addendum dated 1970 by the author. Read it - it enforces the notion of the waste of war.

If I were a high school English teacher, my seniors would HAVE to read this to graduate. Same if I were a college professor. But even more than that, this should be required reading for ANY politician at the national level.

Rereading this book at the age of 46 has not changed my opinion - absolutely no other piece of literature has had such a profound effect on my life.

Buy it, read it - then pass it on.

I loved this book. You might find it interesting because I am a Conservative and should be warning everyone about this type of book. Trumbo really gets to the core, the root of war and the feelings it brings up. We are taken to the most horrible condition a person could be in and read his thoughts, read his wishes, read his horrors. Read this, be changed and be informed.

War is war. Innocent civilians die, families are ruined and soldiers are smashed to pieces on the battlefield. This book is gruesome. But it also serves as a valuable tool for those who question the wisdom of blindly following leaders into combat.

This book is written with a fury. It is also one of the most horrifying accusations against war. To this end, it is arguably one of the best anti-war books ever written. Mothers and fathers should read this book before allowing their children to march off to war.

It is the honesty and sincerity of this World War I tale that allows it to pass the test of time. "johnny got his gun," is a book that documents the gross stupidity that accounted for nine million corpses.

In "Johnny Got His Gun", Dalton Trumbo wrote the most powerful anti-war novel of the modern era. Even though the book was written just after World War I and could never have imagined the horrors of modern warfare, the nightmarish scenario seems too vivid and feasible.

Joe Bonham regains consciousness in what he percieves to be a hospital. Gradually, he begins to discover that his limbs are missing. A war wound has also seemingly robbed him of most of his face as well as the senses that are centered there. Left in this nightmarshly dark and silent world, Joe is left to explore his mind. Memories and his reasoning about time pass many of the early pages in the book. Almost accidently, Joe remembers the morse code and tries to utilize it. The problem was finding a nurse or somebody that understood him.

When Joe is able to communicate with another human, he realizes that his struggles were futile. He could never be taken from the hospital or allowed to communicate with the outside world as he is the ultimate horror of war. This sets Joe on a tirade of the explotive nature of war in a truthful assessment of the government's use of people in war.

"Johnny Got His Gun" is a staggering achievement not only in literary terms, but because this book has survived for so many years despite its controversial nature. During various times since its original publication, it has spent time out of print. Perhaps this is because the author was willing to make a truthful assessment of war, not as a matter of liberty, but as a waste of human life.

The misfortune suffered by authors of novels with social, cultural or political ramifications is a disproportionate response to the novel's message, while attention to the quality of the writing is lost in the book's affect. This novel's power resides not only in its message, but in the way in which that message is conveyed. Trumbo's masterpiece is not just a resonant statement against war, but a unique and indispensable contribution to American literature. His Joyce-like stream-of-consciousness fuses the text with a magnificent flavor. The language sprawls gloriously across each page. "I do not read; I eat," Simone Weil writes in "Waiting For God." Trumbo's language invites readers to eat rather than read, to flip the pages as though they would light one's fingers on fire if held too long.

His brutally honest style is quotidian yet magical. It is the kind of simplicity embraced by such mythical literary voices as Ernest Hemmingway or Czeslaw Milosz. In fact, "Johnny Got His Gun" shares the plight of 20th century polish poets, who forcibly eliminated all romantic, inflated, grandiose or flowery imagery from their literature in response to a world so ugly that romanticism seemed a dishonest veil over the reality of a bloody century. Trumbo's reaction to that reality is similar, as his sparklingly mundane voice demonstrates.

It is not only in his language, however, that Trumbo rises to the occasional of the best literature in American history. This is also a work of extraordinary imagination. Touchingly human flashbacks to times in the life of Joe, the main character, evoke moving meditations on love, family, and friendship, as well as a rather disturbing portrayal of working life in the depression era. "To talk with Lucy to be with Lucy to lie with Lucy was like finding peace in a heathen country it was like breathing the air of a place you love when you're sick and dying for a breath of it," Joe thinks to himself while in his hospital bed, deaf, blind and limbless, "To see her smile to hear her bright chatter to watch her bony little fingers fly as they worked the crochet needle with the night noises of Paris a foreign city just outside the window was enough to make anybody feel better and less lonely." Trumbo captures the devastating sorrow of a man who will never know the sensations of life again, from love to yellow puddles of leaves in the gutters of October. Finally, Trumbo's patient and vivid account of Joe's circumstance, that of a severely incapacitated victim of war, is so thoroughly haunting that, despite the improbability of such a catastrophic injury, Joe's situation becomes frighteningly real and believable. By now we all know that "Johnny Got His Gun" stands as perhaps the most heartfelt and effective indictment of war, but it is to the benefit of American literature that it be recognized as the work of a monumentally talented writer.