Johnny Got His Gun Analysis Essay

With many coming-of-age stories, how the relationships between the main characters are presented become essential to how the stories unfold. Throughout the given passage of Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo uses careful selection of detail, insightful points of view, and dynamic syntax that mimics and illustrates the changing relationship between a young man and his father.
The first paragraph in the passage opens up in a very descriptive manner, painting a clear image of the scenery and allowing the first glimpse into the intimate bond that the two men share. Instead of being energetic, chaotic, or even unsettling, the “nine thousand feet” of isolation between the camping trip and the rest of civilization is met with comfort and ease, something that seems to reflect the way the father and son feel about each other. There appears to be no discomfort between the two, as they are fully content to “[sit] across from [each other] and [stare] into the fire” in silence. It becomes clear that the two are very comfortable with each other and the special relationship that they’ve shared for years. Trumbo continues to slide in these insightful details as the relationship begins to change throughout the passage, displaying the depth of the characters and the feelings they share towards each other. The background of the father’s prized fishing rod, for example, allows for much insight. Trumbo includes how rod means so much to Joe’s father that it was “sent… away to a man in Colorado …show more content…
However, as the son slips away from the “bed… of pine needles” with the father’s rod “without awakening his father,” it becomes clear that even though the boy has gone through a period of growth and is ready to “leave the nest,” his father is still by his side and the relationship between the two, while changed, will only grow as a