Johnny Tremain

Is a 2D movie better or a 4D parody of the 2D movie better? In this analogy, the 2D movie is comparable to a historical fact account, and the 4D parody is comparable to a historical fiction article. Whether people prefer a historical fact account or a historical fiction version, both have their advantages and disadvantages. The historical fiction book Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes, is set in Boston prior to the start of the American Revolutionary and ends after the battle of Lexington and Concord. It centers on the life of a silversmith apprentice who became a patriot. An important event in the book is the Boston Tea Party; the book’s description of the Boston Tea Party is given through the main character’s eyes. It includes extra information

A fictional story is not a list of events, but a tale with a storyline and plot. People reading historical fiction stories won’t interpret the history as a random thing in the past. Instead, in their quest to understand the plot, they have to work to look for correlation and causation between the historical events. This is very important for understanding history, as it allows readers to strongly connect all the small events within the big historical event together in their mind instead of viewing those events as separate things. For instance, in the book Johnny Tremain, the narrator says “The work on the Dartmouth and the Eleanor finished about the same time. The Beaver took longer”(Johnny Tremain 149). The narrator also says “England had . . . gone far in adjusting the grievances of her American colonies. But she insisted upon a small tax on tea. The stubborn colonists. . . were insisting they would not be taxed unless they could vote for the men who taxed them”(123). These passages are both quick description of the entire event of the Boston Tea Party in Johnny Tremain. However, the narrator also humanizes the event by connecting them to Johnny Tremain’s involvement in the actual event. Right after the Sons of Liberty meet to plan the Boston Tea Party, Johnny asks Rab if he was going to be involved: “‘Rab . . .

It may have less impact on the reader because it is not in a first person perspective. The point of view is different. Reading a historical fiction version helps readers see things from a different perspective. Rather than just learning about an event, readers can see it through someone’s eyes. They would be able to experience the thoughts of someone who personally “went through” the event. Readers lose all of this in a historical fact account. By plainly reading historical fact, readers cannot experience the event and all of the obstacles and excitement that comes with it. The best description of thought in the article “The Boston Tea Party” is “American colonial leaders were not satisfied”(“The Boston Tea Party”). That is barely any information on how the people felt! Imagine learning about the story in the first-person, “feeling” all the excitement of the Boston Tea Party, the anger towards the British, the anxiety leading up to “party” with all the planning and whatnot; the historical fiction version just makes for a much more memorable account of the