Johnny Got His Gun

infobox Book |
name = Johnny Got His Gun
title_orig =
translator =


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author = Dalton Trumbo
illustrator =
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language = English
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genre =
publisher =
release_date = 1939
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media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = ISBN 9780806512815
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"Johnny Got His Gun" is an English language antiwar novel written in 1938 (published 1939) by American novelist and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. [ [http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/johnnygun/facts.html sparknotes] facts]

Author and context

Dalton Trumbo was born on December 5, 1905 in Montrose, Colorado. Trumbo dropped out of the University of Colorado and joined his family in Los Angeles in 1925. Many of protagonist Joe Bonham's early memories are based on Trumbo's early life in Colorado and Los Angeles. The novel was inspired by an article he read about the Prince of Wales' visit to a Canadian veterans hospital to see a soldier who had lost all of his senses and his limbs. "Though the novel was a pacifist piece published in wartime, it was well reviewed and won an American Booksellers Award in 1940." [ [http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/johnnygun/context.html sparknotes] context]

Serialized in the "Daily Worker" in March 1940, the book became "a rally point for the left" which had opposed involvement in World War II during the period of the Hitler-Stalin pact. Shortly after the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union, Trumbo and his publishers decided to suspend reprinting the book until the end of the war. After receiving letters from individuals requesting copies of the book, Trumbo contacted the FBI and turned these letters over to them. Trumbo regretted this decision, which he called "foolish," after two FBI agents showed up at his home and it became clear that "their interest lay not in the letters but in me".Dalton Trumbo. "Johnny Got His Gun". Citadel Press, 2000, [http://books.google.com/books?id=LnnMLLk2uU4C&pg=PA5&lpg=PP1&output=html&sig=roPgN-QwCYEEj0YKC0GC5dnEfC8 pg 5] , introduction] [ [http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/519epeqo.asp?pg=1 Kerry's Little Red Bookshelf] , Allan H. Ryskind, "The Weekly Standard", September 6, 2004]

Characters

*Joe Bonham - Joe Bonham is the narrator and main character. "The novel mainly consists of his reminiscences of childhood and his current struggle to remain sane and, finally, to communicate." [http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/johnnygun/canalysis.html sparknotes] analysis]
*Regular Day Nurse - "As a caretaker, capable of great humanistic love, the regular day nurse stands apart from the terse medical establishment, represented by the Morse code man, yet is not capable of the perceptive sympathy of the new day nurse."
*Joe's father - Joe's father, Bill Bonham, courted Joe's mother and raised a family with her in Colorado. "His character comes to stand for Joe's nostalgia for an older way of life."

Plot

Joe Bonham, a young soldier serving in World War I, awakes in a hospital bed after being hit by a mortar shell. He gradually realizes that he has lost all of his mobility and his senses except for touch — he has lost his arms, legs, eyes, nose, ears, tongue, both jaws and all of his face — but that his mind functions perfectly, leaving him a prisoner in his own body. He tries to die by suffocating himself but he has been given a tracheostomy, which he cannot remove or control. He attempts to communicate with his doctors by banging his head on his pillow in Morse code. His wish is that he may be put in a glass tube and tour the country, to show people the true horrors of war. His wish to die is never granted, however, and it is implied that he will live the rest of his natural life in this condition.

As he drifts between reality and fantasy, he remembers his old life with his family and girlfriend, and reflects upon the myths and realities of war. He also forms a bond, of sorts, with a young nurse who senses his plight.

Title

The title comes from the phrase "Johnny get your gun", [ [http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/johnnygun/themes.html sparknotes] themes] a rallying call that was commonly used to encourage young American men to enlist in the military in the late 19th and early 20th century. That phrase was popularized in the George M. Cohan song "Over There", which was widely recorded in the first year of American involvement in World War I; the versions by Al Jolson, Enrico Caruso and Nora Bayes are believed to have sold the most copies on phonograph records at the time.

Adaptations

On March 9, 1940, a radio adaptation of "Johnny Got His Gun" was produced and directed by Arch Oboler, based on his script, and presented on the NBC Radio series "Arch Oboler's Plays." James Cagney played Joe Bonham on that broadcast.

"Johnny Got His Gun" was adapted into a stage play by Bradley Rand Smith in 1982, and has since been performed all over the world. Its first, off-Broadway run starred Jeff Daniels. [ [http://www.johnnygothisgunthemovie.com/about.htm Johnny Got His Gun the movie ] ]

In 1971, Trumbo directed a film adaptation of the novel, starring Timothy Bottoms as Joe Bonham. The novel was adapted to film again in 2008, starring Benjamin McKenzie in a "Live on Stage, On Film" production.

References in popular culture

Clips of the 1971 film version were used in the music video for the Metallica song "One". The song itself comes from an idea presented by drummer Lars Ulrich to singer James Hetfield that was very similar to the book. Instead of enduring a long and arduous negotiation for rights to the film, Metallica decided to buy the movie outright, in order to use it in their video.

References

External links

* [http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/General/JohnnyGotHisGun.html Excerpt from Johnny Got His Gun]
* [http://www.archive.org/download/ArchOboler01/1940-03-09johnnygothisgun.mp3 James Cagney performs Johnny Got His Gun on Arch Oboler's Plays]
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* [http://www.dulce-et-decorum.nl/index.php?q=node/34 Publishing House Dulce et Decorum published a Dutch translation of Johnny got his gun.]
* [http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?swf=http%3A//s.ytimg.com/yt/swf/cps-vfl56573.swf&video_id=le4IXq7urig&rel=1&eurl=http%3A//www.dulce-et-decorum.nl/index.php%3Fq%3Dnode/110&iurl=http%3A//i1.ytimg.com/vi/le4IXq7urig/default.jpg&t=OEgsToPDskI3CLVbX2RydP7DztJd9JrG&use_get_video_info=1&load_modules=1&fs=1&hl=en As a result of the publication of the Dutch translation of Johnny got his gun this video was made.]