Johnny Got His Gun Themes

Imagine a day in your life where you can’t interact with the world. You can’t walk to the bathroom or hold a mug and drink coffee out of it. You can’t see the food you’re consuming or listen to the music you love. That’s what the daily life of Joe Bonham feels like. In the book Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo, Joe Bonham faces the devastating consequences of going to war. He loses his face, arms and legs and struggles every day to live an ordinary life. Not being able to communicate with anyone the majority of the time, Joe recalls the memories and flashbacks of his life to occupy himself. Many of these memories include characters and people that he knew so he could imagine their faces and personalities. Some of these characters that Joe thinks about are Kareen, Bill Bonham, and the two nurses.
Before the war, Joe was living a regular life and had a girlfriend named Kareen. When he left for the war, she was five foot one and was nineteen years old. To Joe, Kareen was the most wonderful woman he had met, and it was disheartening to let her go when everything was just going right. Before Joe left for the war, he spent his last …show more content…
In the book Johnny Got His Gun, by Dalton Trumbo, Joe Bonham’s life is changed forever because of the consequences of war. He loses all of his body parts including his face, and can no longer live an ordinary life. Without anything to do or see with his blown off eyes, Joe recalls the memories and flashbacks that occurred in his life. His past becomes the only thing he can think about, and in many of his memories he mentions people that he interacted with. These people include his girlfriend Kareen, his father Bill Bonham, and the two hospital nurses. Joe thinks about how these people affected his life, and whether or not he will be able to see his girlfriend ever again. He admires them for what good they have brought him and values the times that he will never be able to live