Johnny Got His Gun
by Dalton Trumbo

It was written between World War 1 and World War 2, but it was not published until after WWII ended. Dalton Trumbo was a member of the Communist Party, and publishers were worried about the sales of an anti-war novel at a time when Liberty Gardens, Uncle Sam, and pro-Democracy ideas were the focus.

This book shows the realities of war. The book is divided into two parts calld “The Dead” and “The Living”. The first part is very depressing. John realizes that he has no arms, no legs, no hearing, no sight, no mouth, and no ability to talk. He is a living mind trapped in a dead person’s body. He fades in and out of consciousness. The book is hard to follow because it is known for little punctuation and long rambling sentences. It isn’t polite English, but war isn’t polite either. Tales about his life before the war are told, but they always end in bitter remarks about how he’ll never be able to do that again.

He tries to commit scuicide, but realizes that there is no possible way for him to kill himself. He is on forced breathing, he has a feeding tube, and he doesn’t have arms or legs. After that, he begins to think. And he tries to keep time.

Only great authors can keep the reader interested in a man that is unable to move or communicate. Excitement comes when John is able to calculate the time between nurse visits, days, and nights, after failed attempts. This brings us to the second part of the book.

In “The Living” things begin to be brighter in John’s life. He figures out that if he moves the only part of his body that he can move, his head, against the pillow, he can tap in Morse Code. He taps SOS every waking hour, hoping that someone will realize and bring him out of loneliness. The nurse thinks that he is crazy, and she gives him a tranquilizer. Enter the chapter about pretty colors, nice music, clouds, and strange people. Then, one night, he gets a new nurse. She finally understands and gets a doctor to look at him. The doctor asks, “What do you want.” He wants to be taken out and about. He wants to show the women that he is their son. He wants to show the girls that he is their brother. He wants to show the men that he is their future. He wants to show the boys that he is war. War is not glorious.

If all of those thousands of boys like him are killed or injured or tortured in a foreign land, for the sake of someone’s democracy, is it really worth it?