How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Beyond him, in the semi-darkness, running across mud flats, was the one road which connected Boston with the mainland. And here the gallows—on which Mrs. Lapham promised him to end. He turned back from the lonely place. The gallows and the graves of suicides frightened him a little. (3.5.1)
Yeah, this is a creepy scene. It reminds us of something out of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The shadowy road that leads out of Boston seems symbolic of the shadowy road that leads out of life, especially since the gallows and the graves of suicides are here. There's a certain amount of (thankfully, inaccurate) foreshadowing going on, but this is where Johnny's headed if things don't look up fast.
Quote #2
He believed that the case of the theft, all that interested him at the moment, was "dead open and shut against the boy." And might he ask the death penalty? There was too much thieving going on in Boston. Poor apprentices were getting out of hand. The gallows had been too long empty. (4.5.16)
Merchant Lyte plays hardball, and the offhand way in which he asks for the death penalty shows a real lack of value for the lives of the poor. How does Johnny's experience of the justice system relate to James Otis's iconic words, "A man can stand up?" (8.5.65).
Quote #3
He looked in the birth and death room. It was once more used for storage. It seemed strange beyond belief that he had ever lain so long in the room. And in a way he had died in that room; at least something had happened and the bright little silversmith's apprentice was no more. He stood here again at the threshold, but now he was somebody else. (7.4.12)
The metaphorical death Johnny describes seems as sad as any literal death. His life has completely changed, and he has also changed a lot as a person. The accident divides his life in two. What did Johnny lose? What did he gain?