Book Review: Johnny Got His Gun

The novel “Johnny Got His Gun” was written when Dalton Trumbo in 1939, and was inspired by the real life story of a Canadian soldier that lost all his limbs, and he was even visited by the Prince of Whales. This book was then awarded the National Book Award, given to the bestselling book in America. This book talks about the main character, Joe Bonham waking up in a hospital, noticing that he lost all his limbs, along with all his facial features, including his eyes. Bonham lost his sense of hearing, sight and smell, but his brain still works perfectly fine. Not being able to accept this reality, Bonham tried to commit suicide but soon realizes that he could not even end his own life. He began remembering the horrors of war, which plagued him like nightmares that never ended.

He then overcame this depression and managed to give his life a purpose, by using his only sense left, the sense of touch, to feel the warmth of sunrise and tally the visits of nurses in the hospital. He then managed to accomplish his goal of counting 365 days. He imagined things that made him happy, and thought about the good times he had in the past, before the war. Four years went past and one day Joe felt someone put a medal on his chest and he began to remember the horrors of the war again, this time being angry at the way that soldiers like him get injured and ruined, while generals stay unscathed and they, not the soldiers, get the fame.

He realized that he could sense vibrations of the people entering and exiting the ward, which gave him an idea to use vibrations, particularly Morse code to communicate with the outside world. He tried it the first time, but the doctor thought that he was having a seizure, and sedates him. When he wakes up, a nurse spelled “Merry Christmas” on his chest, and he uses Morse code to reply. This time, the nurse understood it and asked another guy who knew Morse code to come. That guy asked him what he wanted to do and he answered that he wanted to go outside to show the people what war does to people like him, to inspire people and in a sense creating peace. However, that guy said that it was against the law to let him out of the ward. The conversation became heated and Joe felt the nurse sedating him again. Before fading away into sleep, he thought in his mind that the only reason why he could not be shown to the outside world is that if that were to happen, no wars could be fought, and the higher ups can no longer order the lower class to fight wars for their own desires.