In the novel Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. Trumbo uses repetition, excessive description, and diction, to develop the theme of helplessness.
In the novel, Joe has gone through a series from flashbacks of his childhood days. In these recollections, helplessness is commonly seen within Joe, and the people who appear in them. In Joes first flashback, he is working out on the desert with a bunch of Mexicans. He has just been through a bad break up with his girlfriend Diane and decided to run off with a boy named Howie and get a job. Joe repeats the word "hot" saying how his "muscles ached" from all of the work that they had to do. Despite the pain, Joe is unable to take his mind off of his ex girlfriend. As he laid in bed he continues to …show more content…
Joe has fallen into another one of his flashbacks. He notices that he is floating in a river with Kareen. He warns her to keep her head above the water because if she goes under he would be unable to save her because he can not swim. Joe starts to drown, and he begins to panic. "he strained his muscles...trying to raise his nose out of the water but it wouldn't come up" "how can a man swim if he hasn’t got arms? he sank down and down and finally drowned" (58). These quotes emphasize the feeling of helpless ness that Joe is experiencing. He is trapped he says "there's nothing to do because you cant run..."(58). Joe begins to describe the willow trees and the sound of bombs and whistles. Joe starts wake up from the flash back and begins to recognize that he is in a hospital and begins to panic when he notices that he is blind. Trumbo uses excessive description of Joes panic attack "he began to smother and pant... he was breathing hard and fast...he could feel his chest rise and fall" (61). This use of excessive description also shows how helpless Joe felt, so much that "he got a wild eagerness to die to kill himself" (61). When he finally begins to calm down. He comes to the conclusion that he was breathing involuntarily and "he couldn’t live and he couldn’t die" (63). He was a prisoner, held hostage in his own body. Once again feeling the fear of helplessness, joe falls into another …show more content…
When Joe is working in a bakery he meets a man named Jose. Jose was a very humble and honest man. Jose used to be a chauffer for a very rich New York girl who fell in love with him. He than moved to California saying he couldn’t marry a girl who he didn’t love although he was very poor and living on the streets. Jose came to California to find a job in the "studios" When Jose finally got the job at the studio that he's always wanted, he wasn’t as happy as his coworkers would have expected him to be. Jose had received his job from a man names "Jody" who as Jose explains "given him a fine job..." when he had nothing. Jose would find it difficult to quit. Trumbo uses "indebted", "terrible problem", and "emergency" to highlight the helplessness that Jose felt. Jose felt so helpless that he even did things that he said were not "gentlemanly" He started to use violence. Jose drop a box of pies thinking that it would get him fired, however his plan failed. Still feeling helpless Jose describes what he's doing as "dishonorable" and says that’s he's a "wretch". The use of these words also serve to highlight how helpless Jose felt and how desperate he was to get fired from his job. He went to desperate measures and decided to knock over one hundred and eight pies, finally resulting in him being fired from his
In the novel, Joe has gone through a series from flashbacks of his childhood days. In these recollections, helplessness is commonly seen within Joe, and the people who appear in them. In Joes first flashback, he is working out on the desert with a bunch of Mexicans. He has just been through a bad break up with his girlfriend Diane and decided to run off with a boy named Howie and get a job. Joe repeats the word "hot" saying how his "muscles ached" from all of the work that they had to do. Despite the pain, Joe is unable to take his mind off of his ex girlfriend. As he laid in bed he continues to …show more content…
Joe has fallen into another one of his flashbacks. He notices that he is floating in a river with Kareen. He warns her to keep her head above the water because if she goes under he would be unable to save her because he can not swim. Joe starts to drown, and he begins to panic. "he strained his muscles...trying to raise his nose out of the water but it wouldn't come up" "how can a man swim if he hasn’t got arms? he sank down and down and finally drowned" (58). These quotes emphasize the feeling of helpless ness that Joe is experiencing. He is trapped he says "there's nothing to do because you cant run..."(58). Joe begins to describe the willow trees and the sound of bombs and whistles. Joe starts wake up from the flash back and begins to recognize that he is in a hospital and begins to panic when he notices that he is blind. Trumbo uses excessive description of Joes panic attack "he began to smother and pant... he was breathing hard and fast...he could feel his chest rise and fall" (61). This use of excessive description also shows how helpless Joe felt, so much that "he got a wild eagerness to die to kill himself" (61). When he finally begins to calm down. He comes to the conclusion that he was breathing involuntarily and "he couldn’t live and he couldn’t die" (63). He was a prisoner, held hostage in his own body. Once again feeling the fear of helplessness, joe falls into another …show more content…
When Joe is working in a bakery he meets a man named Jose. Jose was a very humble and honest man. Jose used to be a chauffer for a very rich New York girl who fell in love with him. He than moved to California saying he couldn’t marry a girl who he didn’t love although he was very poor and living on the streets. Jose came to California to find a job in the "studios" When Jose finally got the job at the studio that he's always wanted, he wasn’t as happy as his coworkers would have expected him to be. Jose had received his job from a man names "Jody" who as Jose explains "given him a fine job..." when he had nothing. Jose would find it difficult to quit. Trumbo uses "indebted", "terrible problem", and "emergency" to highlight the helplessness that Jose felt. Jose felt so helpless that he even did things that he said were not "gentlemanly" He started to use violence. Jose drop a box of pies thinking that it would get him fired, however his plan failed. Still feeling helpless Jose describes what he's doing as "dishonorable" and says that’s he's a "wretch". The use of these words also serve to highlight how helpless Jose felt and how desperate he was to get fired from his job. He went to desperate measures and decided to knock over one hundred and eight pies, finally resulting in him being fired from his