“You can always hear the people who are willing to sacrifice somebody else’s life”
-Dalton Trumbo, Johnny Got His Gun
I’m writing this review after reading the book for the second time (I read it in high school [10 years ago, OMG]) and totally confirmed that this is a great piece of fiction, absolutely worth reading.
Before my second reading, a lot of details were blurred, and I barely remembered important fragments. I was only sure that I really liked this novel and that, certainly, it´s a book different from the fiction I use to read.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I liked this book because what I read, or because of the passion and entusiams our teacher showed about Trumbo and his work. After a second reading, now I’m certain that this is a quite unique book: a very strong message powerfully delivered.
Johnny Got His Gun is a heart breaking and deeply moving novel, the main character is masterfully developed and thanks to Trumbo’s brilliant narrative you get to know him and understand both his past and his present.
“There are plenty of laws to protect guys’ money even in war time but there’s nothing on the books says a man’s life’s his own.”
-Dalton Trumbo, Johnny Got His Gun
Trumbo successfully manages to deliver a complex situation: the suffering of a soldier who awakes and tries to find out where he is and what has happened to him. You come to know little by little the terrible situation Johnny is experiencing. Trumbo uses flashbacks to tell the tale of a young man who is fighting in a ‘war for democracy’. These flashbacks are more than just an ordinary literary device: Trumbo is not only trying to tell a story, he is making a statement: he wants to make clear that each soldier, each young man fighting in war is a human being, someone who loves, who struggles, who has dreams, a loved son, a hard worker: a person. Like you, like me.
Beyond the literary value of this work, one of the things I enjoyed the most, were the considerations and thoughts of the main character. Trumbo tells more than a war story, he takes advantage of Johnny’s thoughts and memories to state his anti-war and pacifist agenda.
To read this novel, considering it merely as an entertaining piece of fiction is a waste of Trumbo’s talent and ingenuity. This book made me seriously think about war, its motives, and the fact that war victims have generally nothing to do with the original conflict nor with the background reason.
“Make the world safe for democracy?” That is the question that Trumbo wants us to answer. Why are wars fight for? Is freedom actually the outcome of war? Young soldiers are told they fight for freedom and yet, how much freedom do dead soldiers bring back home after war?
I truly believe it’s necessary to make a thoughtful consideration about the true motives and reasons of war. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying that dying for a cause isn’t worth it, on the contrary, very few things are so heroic and brave as giving your life for others. That is precisely the reason I thing that misleading someone to fight a war is one of the most treacherous and evil acts. Therefore, Trumbo’s attempt to make people think about this other reality of war seems to me a brave and stand out action, an attempt worth sharing.
“There’s no word worth your life”
-Dalton Trumbo, Johnny Got His Gun
You can like this review on Goodreads
A comment on the movie: How is it possible that one of the worst movies ever filmed is basen on one of the best books ever written?
Raúl Omar Tépox 