Johnny Tremain Essay: Where Liberty Is My Country

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Where liberty is, there is my country. Benjamin Franklin. The story takes place in 1773 in Boston Massachusetts. Johnny Tremain was a silversmith apprentice. In the middle of working on a Sunday he burned his hand to the point to where he couldn’t use it at all. After not being able to find a new line of work, Johnny turned to a family called the Lytes, who his deceased mother told him was his birth family, who almost had him arrested. His friend Rab then offered him a job at the printing press.
Many people agree that Johnny was a selfish brat, but some believed that his experience with the sons of liberty would change his behavior. Johnny should have joined the Sons of liberty for three: reasons. He would have a paying job, he would …show more content…

Johnny tried to make himself unlikable by others. He was extremely selfish when he was working on the sugar basin. He disobeyed his master’s orders to not work on the Sabbath day so that he could finish the order on time, causing him to burn his hand. When Johnny joined the sons of liberty he gained a better respect for authority after working with people like Paul Revere, John Adam, and John Hancock. Some people think that Johnny should not have joined the sons of liberty. They argue that Johnny would have been in constant danger from the British soldiers. If the British soldiers found out about their plot against the king they would treat him harshly. This does not hold up because they already treated everyone harshly. In addition, the same people argue that he was crippled. Johnny burned his hand and he would be unable to do any jobs. This also could not hold up because he would only have to use one arm or his arm fixed. Neither of these two arguments – Johnny being in danger from the British soldiers nor the fact that Johnny was crippled – would have been enough to keep Johnny from joining the sons of liberty.
Johnny should have joined the Sons of liberty for three: reasons. He would have a paying job, he would change as a person, and he would make real friends. Johnny not only changed himself, but also others around him by being an