Literary Devices in Johnny Got His Gun
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Well, that's the literal setting, at least. It's also Colorado at the very beginning of the twentieth century, Los Angeles circa 1914, and the trenches somewhere in northern France circa 1918. Joe'...
Narrator Point of View
Despite the fact that we're always inside Joe's head, Johnny Got His Gun is told in a third-person voice, meaning that Joe never refers to himself as "I" except in direct thoughts. It's a bit stran...
Genre
This one should be pretty self-evident. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that this book definitely isn't a glorification of war. War dramas don't necessarily need to be pro-war (by which we me...
Tone
Alanis Morisette may not have a very good grasp of irony, but Dalton Trumbo sure does. Irony is a huge part of this novel; it's probably the main way it gets its anti-war message across. After all,...
Writing Style
No, Dalton Trumbo isn't missing the punctuation keys on his typewriter. While he might not use any words that will send you running to a dictionary, his insistence on mimicking the language of an a...
What's Up With the Title?
Wait, wasn't this guy's name was Joe? Who's this Johnny dude?Fear not, Shmoopers, for you have not misread an entire novel. The title Johnny Got His Gun comes from a popular ballad from 1917 called...
Plot Analysis
Your Average JoeThings start out pretty normal for Joe. Well, yes, his father dies, but that's not hugely abnormal. We start out thinking that Joe is just a guy like us.How Did It Happen?This is wh...
Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis
You might say that Joe is literally unfulfilled: he has no limbs or senses. His desire becomes to reconnect with the world in his new condition.It's, again, literally a dream stage: all of Joe's me...
Three-Act Plot Analysis
Johnny Got His Gun is going to have a bit of an unconventional structure for this kind of plot analysis, because there are multiple ways of determining what the central "conflict" of the story is....
Trivia
Think that the existence of someone like Joe is impossible? Think again. The idea for Joe Bonham came from a real Canadian soldier who lost all of his limbs and senses fighting in World War I. (Sou...
Steaminess Rating
There is sex in this novel, but you're not going to get any play-by-play descriptions, and in one case, the sexual act is downright depressing. Given that this is a book that spends a great deal of...
Allusions
Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (11.3)Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (11.3)James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans (11.3)Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (11....