"Johnny Got His Gun" [View All]

by Dalton Trumbo



Written in 1938 and published in 1939.

As relevent today as it was then.

This book is one of the few that have haunted me. Perhaps from reading
it at such a young age, 12, is to blame. I do not really think so. If
you have read it, you know what I mean. For the longest time, ringing of
an old rotary phone made me think of this book.

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/trumbojohn.htm

Joe wishes the phone would stop ringing. It goes on and on. That must have been some awful wine he drank last night (or was it cognac? or was it absinthe?) because his head hurts so much it could burst. Who could let a phone ring on and on like that? Perhaps it's not a hangover, perhaps he's sick. Even hangover headaches aren't this bad. And someone really should answer that phone.

Struggling through the fog of the pain in his head, Joe goes to answer it. And suddenly he knows why it's ringing. It's ringing to tell him that his father has died. Head pounding, Joe takes the call and receives the news from his mother. He's done that before. Head still pounding Joe realises he's dreaming. Yes, he's sick, it's not a hangover. Fading in and out, feeling by turns afraid and peaceful, dreams sometimes serene, sometimes frightening, it is a while before Joe realises how badly hurt he is. He's covered in bandages from head to toe, and he's deaf, he can't hear anything at all that is real. But despite his deafness that phone just keeps on ringing. And yet it is worse even than that. Joe is so horrifically injured that he can't move, will never move again. Worse even still, he has lost four of his five senses; the only one remaining to him is the sense of touch and that merely passive.

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I found Johnny Got His Gun horrific. I found it sad. I found it frightening. War is horrific. War is sad. War is frightening. It also made me think. It is important when presented with a choice, especially with a choice between supporting the making of war or the making of peace, that we are aware of the full implication of that choice and the effect that it has not only on world politics but on individual people. I think you should read Johnny Got His Gun for that reason. It will make you think too. You may be a pacifist yourself, you may not. It may change your mind, it may not. But you'll be aware of another, more personal, implication of the choice you are making and that is an important thing. It is hard to read, it hurts to read it. But isn't that as it should be? War is hard. War hurts. Dalton Trumbo himself found his book gave different answers to his questions in each of three conflicts, in both world wars and in Vietnam. He is right to ask us to stop and question the choices we are making today until we are sure they are the right ones.

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A worthy read.

edit to add this link of excerpt of the book:http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/General/JohnnyGotHisGun.html