In Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun, the victims of World War I are expressed through the eyes of the main character, Joe Bonham. Joe loses his arms, legs, eyes, nose, mouth and ears after a bomb falls on him while fighting in a war that is, in reality, not his to fight. As he lies on a hospital bed, Joe slowly realizes that he has lost nearly all of his limbs and realizes that he will have to adapt to his current circumstances in any way he can. He spends his time reflecting on the lack of communication he is able to convey and relating his irregularities to the inhuman qualities of war. While Joe illustrates many different issues that are up to him, one of the most important topics is the idea of his voice, or lack thereof. Throughout the novel Johnny Got His Gun, Joe tries to propose some ideas with which he can communicate with the doctors in the hospital, and hopes that this will lead to probable recognition from people who are not aware of his consciousness. Say no to plagiarism. . Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Joe realizes that because he has lost his mouth among many other things, he needs to think deliberately in order to communicate with the outside world. The outcome of his decision to fight in the war ultimately meant that his life ended in his early twenties. This being the case, Joe tries to express his anger but finds that he cannot scream or make any other loud noises. He can't converse with anyone but himself: "It was as if someone had put a mattress over his face and held him there." He lies helplessly, already silenced by the absence of his mouth. He uses his vision and hearing loss to sense when doctors open the door and enter the room. After being strapped to a hospital bed for over four years, Joe concludes that feeling the vibrations of each nurse's footsteps is an important part of communication. This instinctively brings back memories of when he was a child and when he and Bill Harper, an old friend, used an unusual form of communication. They used Morse code to entertain themselves when they were limited to certain areas of the house. Joe still remembers this code and immediately starts typing "SOS" in his head. Now, “All he has to do to make his way through people… is lie down in bed and go to the nurse.” Joe lifts his head and drops it onto the pillow, tapping again and again, three dots, three dashes, three dots. Ultimately, Joe defeats the odds; the man without a mouth, without a nose, without eyes, without ears, without legs, without arms, would finally be given a voice. Now that Joe has found a new ability in himself, he feels that he has regained a good deal of all that was lost. He hits his head repeatedly with euphoric satisfaction until his neck grows tired; however, his hits are persistent. When Joe feels the vibrations of the approaching nurse, he taps with more intent and wants a response. At first, the doctors don't want to hear from Joe, unaware that he is trying to talk to them using morse code. He thinks doctors will be happy to hear it; instead, they drug him to keep him quiet. After some time passes and Joe realizes that he is suddenly surrounded by doctors, he continues to tap his head repeatedly. Once the doctors understand what he is trying to do, they respond to him by asking: “What do you want”? Instead of ignoring Joe, the doctors ask him a very broad and blunt question. His response isn't immediate, but above all he knows what he wants. He desperately needs to get out so he can “feel the.
tags