Topic > The Father Figure and Growing Up: Johnny Got His Gun Analysis

In an excerpt from the novel, Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo shifts from an apprehensive tone to a resigned one using the boy's changing perspective, focused detail, and sophisticated diction demonstrating that with concentration and determination one can become an adult successfully. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Trumbo tells the story as an outsider, to highlight the importance of the relationship between father and son. He is able to divulge the feelings of both father and son: "It was an ending and a beginning and he wondered how he should tell his father." Trumbo is able to create a universality around their strange situation by making it represent puberty and the boy's transition from adolescence to adulthood. During this time, a shift in dominance occurs between the men in the home and it becomes a power struggle as it rebalances once puberty is over and both are equal in manhood. Trumbo was also able to tune into Joe's specific dilemma by considering context clues and eye contact: "He sat in front of the fire and looked at his father and wondered how he was going to tell him," which he manipulated to fit his needs. own personal opinions and life experiences. However, the focus is on the boy's inability to read his father's opinion about him having a new fishing buddy and leaving his childhood as a fisherman in the past, where he can learn from it and become the fisherman who it should have become. The detail is based on the understanding of a father-son relationship that changes with knowledge and experiences. The whole concept of development comes from the boy's life stage during the fishing trip: “They had been coming to this place since he was seven. He was fifteen now and Bill Harper was coming the next day.” Joe and his father created their own father-son tradition to immortalize their biological and emotional connection that grows stronger as the years pass, his location the sustainable variable that will connect them forever. Their bonding time focuses on growth and the effects of maturity on their relationship; there will come a time when the boy can no longer count on his father's protection and will have to become the man of the house. Trumbo's selection of details also relates to its complex setting, which focuses on the simplicity of language and human interaction. It begins by setting the stage for the relationship between Joe and his father: "They fished in the lakes and when they slept at night, the roar of the water from the streams that connected the lakes rang in their ears all night long," underscoring the shared importance of position in relation to their respective roles in each other's lives. Therefore, demonstrating Joe's fear of telling his father that he wants to share their bonding time with another boy who is going through the same transitions. Details come and go as Joe's apprehension reveals his feelings about the inevitable change in their father-son relationship that he refuses to accept as adulthood slowly takes its toll on him. Trumbo employs sophisticated diction to further illustrate Joe's metamorphosis from his father's shadow out into his own reflection. Joe's time with his father revolved around the art of concentration: fishing. Each time they ritually brandished the same fishing rod, so much so that it became an extension of their being. The more time they spent together on their adventures, the more the rod and the act of fishing became more and more important to their growing, “precious” relationship..