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Character Analysis Of Joe Bonham In Johnny Got His Gun

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Time in its simplest form is a measurement of our life here on Earth. It is up for humans to determine how to invest that time, and make a meaning or substance of it. Each person is unique in their own way, with a set of values and beliefs that curate the actions that humans will make. War and the decision to become involved in it is a personal investment of a person’s time, and that person must decide whether their investment in a war is personal to them. Two of these people are characters. Joe Bonham, in the novel Johnny Got His Gun is a young soldier who made the decision to fight in World War I, but suffers immensely devastating injuries and is trapped within his mind to deal with them. Similarly, Charlie Anderson, from the American …show more content…

Joe is living in the early 1900s, during a time of war that relied heavily on the physical effort of Americans. Joe is an American who gets drafted for war, and is forced to invest his body for the cause. “He had no legs and no arms and no eyes and no ears and no nose and no mouth and no tongue.” (Trumbo 62). Joe realizes that he lost his entire body from the war, and that he made the ultimate sacrifice. His values and beliefs did not line up with those of the war, and he begins to wonder why he gave up his extremities for it. Joe is a victim of the glorification of war that confused him into believing that his investment in that war was personal, when, in fact, it was the act of manipulation by the masters of war. Arguably, though, Joe is not completely naive to the fact that he was manipulated, “Somebody tapped you on the shoulder and said come along son we’re going to war. So you went. But why?”(Trumbo 109-110). Joe says it himself that he merely went off to war because of another American telling him to. Not because he wanted to fight for his country, nor because the cause was close to his heart, but because of an act of manipulation and selfishness. Similarly, Joe also questions why Americans would actually made the decision to fight without being drafted, “If they talk about dying for principles that are bigger than life you say mister you’re a liar. Nothing is bigger than life.” (Trumbo 119). While Joe’s investment was coerced into him, he knows that some Americans choose to fight out of their own values and beliefs. His beliefs cloud him, however, with the idea of choice. Joe did not get the opportunity to choose his own destiny, and he is trying to protect those who do have the choice, and protect them. His newfound dedication to protected those who are manipulated into thinking they are invested in war is quite profound

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War is one of the most complex yet completely understood subjects to read or write about. Tim O’Brien has captured the true essence of being drafted into a war. “The Things They Carried” is a novel composed of multiple short stories; Each taking the reader through the perspective of the narrator showing his multiple landscapes, situations, and changing feelings from being drafted into the Vietnam War to surviving it. These stories really help one understand the effects of war on someone’s mind as well as body. Tim O’Brien is the main character and protagonist in this novel.

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In Chapter Five of the novel, Janie describes Joe’s impact on the people of the town of Eatonville and his unique dominance qualities: “There was something about Joe Starks that cowed the town. It was not because of physical fear. He was no fist fighter. His bulk was not even imposing as men go. Neither was it because he was more literate than the rest.

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War is not something that occurs in one’s life and goes away. It is something that leaves a permanent track on the people that undergo it, which can sometimes negatively alter the way someone acts. Louie Zamperini and Mutsuhiro Watanabe are examples of people who have been affected by the war, causing them to act differently them what they used to. In Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand displays the true stories of soldiers, showing that war is an extreme event that can sometimes bring out the worst in people. Louie Zamperini is one example of how the war unfavorably affected how he acted.

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The key theme of The Round House is pursuit of justice. Initially Joe wanted his father, Bazil, who works as a tribal judge on the reservation, to find and punish his mother’s perpetrator. He was actively trying to help his dad as much as possible by reading case files from his father’s previous cases, but over time however he realized, “All of the cases that my father judged were nearly as small, as ridiculous, as petty.” (Erdrich, 48) When he realizes that his father has never handled a case like this, he is enraged. This also motivates to take justice in his own hands and start his own small investigation at the Round House, “I had

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Not only does Joe show the cruelty through the stories of brutal and inhumane treatment of people in the past but he also shows the cruelty in his own treatment after he breaks through the silent barrier of communication. Joe has just broken the barrier with his tapping of morse code, the nurse and the individual who knows morse code understand what he is trying to do. The unknown individual and Joe have a very simple conversation which ends with the crushing of all Joe’s hopes for a real life, “What you ask is against regulations who are you” (page 235). Joe at this point has given

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As a result, “Joe [strikes] Janie with all his might” (80) due to his feelings of having to forcefully face his insecurities and the imminent loss of his

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Furthermore, Jeffries states that service members fought to avoid shame as well as to support their fellow troops. Additionally, many of the troops fighting were relatively unconcerned with Roosevelt’s plans for America. “Only 13 percent could name three of the ‘Four Freedoms’ that FDR had declared as the nation’s war aims- freedom of speech and religion, freedom from want and dear- while one third could name none. Studies indicated that just one in twenty GIs fought for such a clear idealistic reasons as the threat to democracy,” (Jefferies, 172). These soldier’s opinions of the war were far different from the “proud” American citizens who were willing to give up a great deal to win the

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