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Johnny Got His Gun Essay

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“Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die” - Herbert Hoover. In the end, Glory and signing up to protect the liberty and freedom of a country is not on the minds of the youth who are wounded, screaming for their mothers, and bleeding to death. The novel Johnny Got His Gun, written by Dalton Trumbo, is centered around the life of Joe Bonham,19, after he was wounded in France after being drafted into the military during the first World War. The movie, Shenandoah, directed by Andrew V McLaglen, is an American Civil War film focused on the life of Charlie Anderson and his family. Although he does not believe in the war for his moral beliefs, he is forced to take action when his youngest son, Boy, is captured by the Union …show more content…

Before being drafted - upon the United States’ entrance into World War 1 - Joe was an average young adult. He had experiences with many jobs and relationships as well as being influenced by the war propaganda that made fighting in wars for the feel of glory and protecting the liberty and freedom of America every citizen’s duty. In contrast to Johnny Got His Gun, the main character in Shenandoah, Charlie, does not believe in the glorification of war the way Joe does. In the beginning of the movie, Charlie is focused on more domestic matters like going to church, taking care of his family, and keeping the family farm in shape so they can make a living. Charlie is experienced to know that wasting your life on the belief of dying in battle for glory is fake and only a way for the government to get the young and poor to fight in their wars, but eventually Charlie and his family must go to war in order to save a member that has been captured. In the end, both parties -Joe and Charlie’s family- suffer similar loss to some extent because of Joe’s original belief about glorifying war and being drafted into the military, and Charlie’s decision to not glorify war but instead to wait until the war had affected him and his

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