Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Solomon Lo
Mrs. Mann
11 January 2019
A Distancing Relationship
When children are young, they have a strong relationship with their parents because their
parents are the first people they come to recognize and trust. This causes them to spend a lot of
time with their parents and leads to a strong companionship and friendship. However, as children
grow older, this parent-child bond must grow weaker as the child develops friendships with other
people and naturally becomes more distant from their parents, preferring the company of their
friends and peers to that of their mother and father. In Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun,
this distancing relationship is characterized between Joe and his father through the utilization of
a third person point of view, specialized syntax, and a pointed selection of detail, which are used
to characterize the love and respect that both Joe and his father have for each other as they come
to terms with this weakening parent-child relationship as Joe starts on this process of becoming
more independent and developing a relationship with a friend instead of his father.
Trumbo utilizes a third-person limited point of view through Joe to illustrate his internal
struggle as he ponders how he will tell his father of his desire to sacrifice their time together so
that he can fish with Bill Harper. The narrator describes how Bill Harper “wondered just how he
was going to tell him. It was a very serious thing...His father had always preferred his company
to that of men” (Lines 15-16, 20-21). Knowing that he was breaking away from his father and
thoughtfulness and respect by portraying how he carefully plans how he is going to inform his
father that he prefers his friend over his father as a companion for their next fishing trip. Instead
of treating the matter lightly, Joe’s love for his father drives him to think of a tactful way to bring
up this new change in their relationship, however inevitable it might be. By trying his best to
avoid hurting his father, Joe shows that he respects his father and doesn’t want him to feel sad
In addition to this third-person point of view, Trumbo also uses specialized syntax to
show the mutual respect that Joe and his father have for each other when Joe suggests how he
was going fishing with Bill Harper instead of his father. The narrator depicts how Joe tries to be
as considerate and accommodating as possible, where the narrator states that Joe said, “I do so I
think if you don’t mind I’ll...meet Harper and he and I will go fishing” (Lines 32-34). By
intentionally illustrating how Joe stumbles over his words, Trumbo conveys Joe’s nervousness as
he confesses to his father about wanting to go with Bill Harper instead of him, where he risks
confrontation and complaints in response to his proposition from his father, someone he still
deeply loves even though their relationship is distancing. Additionally, the emphasis on how Joe
barely adds in how “if you don’t mind” epitomizes Joe’s respect for his father, where Joe is
willing to defer to his father even if it goes against his own wishes. By recognizing how his
actions are hurting his father and trying his best to reduce the damage done to his father’s
emotions, Joe exhibits the thoughtfulness that he has for his father.
Trumbo also utilizes pointed selection of detail to show how the father also responded
with love and respect for his son as he accepted the fact that he was going to have to give up
some aspects of his relationship so that his son could become more independent and make
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friends outside of the family. After allowing Joe to go on a fishing trip with Bill Harper instead
of himself, his father went above and beyond what Joe had expected by offering up his fishing
rod for Joe to use. The narrator states how even Joe “knew it was a great thing...It was perhaps
the only extravagance his father had had in his whole life” (Lines 43-46). Through this simple
action, the father simply recognizes the need to allow Joe to develop a relationship with Bill
Harper, but he also indirectly encouraged it and gave Joe his blessing by allowing him to use the
only prized possession that he had in his life. By allowing Joe to have his special fishing rod, the
father conveys to Joe that he fully supported Joe becoming more independent, since he wouldn’t
have performed this action if he were simply being polite. This demonstrates the father’s love for
Joe, where he prioritizes his son’s happiness over his own enjoyment of Joe’s company.
By utilizing these examples of a third person point of view, specialized syntax, and a
pointed selection of detail, Trumbo illustrates how Joe and his father both demonstrate love,
respect, and thoughtfulness to each other as they end their parent-child tradition of always going
on this fishing trip together, and start of a new era of Joe preferring to fish with his peers instead
of his father. Through this complex interaction, the respect and love between Joe and his father is
instrumental in evolving their relationship in a proper way as Joe becomes more independent and
his father relinquishes some aspects of their parent-child relationship to allow Joe to have more
freedom and to become friends with Bill Harper. Though the process of a child prioritizing
outside friends instead of their parents can be emotionally hurtful, the amount of love, respect,
and thoughtfulness that Joe and his father have for each other serves as a model example for how
a child can maintain a decent relationship with their parents while their parents allow them to
Account of Revisions
1. Throughout the essay, I have added 1. The improves the clarity and
Joe’s name instead of only referring to conciseness of my essay because I
him as the son now no longer have to always refer to
2. I made sure to add line numbers so Joe as “the son,” and the reader also
that it would be easier to reference the has a better understanding of the
passage. person I’m talking about because I’m
3. I have revised my introduction so that directly addressing Joe by his name.
it talks about how parents are the first 2. This improves the clarity of my essay
people that the child recognizes and because it is now easier to reference
trusts, and not necessarily that they the quotes that I discuss.
depend on the parent. 3. I made this change since it has a better
4. I changed my thesis based on the effect, since the old introduction may
advice of my writer’s workshop group be misconstrued to where the child has
that Joe’s actions aren’t based on guilt, to rely on the parent in order to have
but on love and thoughtfulness. the relationship, when in reality, they
5. I have revised my statement about the don’t. Instead, children are friends
point of view because it was limited with their parents because they
instead of omniscient. immediately trust their parents, while
6. I corrected my quote to use a more it takes time for them to build up trust
concise piece of text to talk about the with other people.
syntax of the passage. 4. This fixes a flaw in my thinking that
7. I revamped my essay about the Joe was feeling guilty for performing
specialized syntax to discuss the love this action, when in reality, it makes
and thoughtfulness that Joe feels more sense that he was simply being
towards his father, and not the guilt, loving and thoughtful because he
because that’s factually wrong. wanted to avoid hurting his father, but
8. I incorporated a better example of not guilty because this isn’t
selection of detail so that it more necessarily something that is wrong.
accurately describes the nuance of the Instead, it’s a change in preference.
father's response. 5. This corrected a factual mistake that I
had, since we don't know the thoughts
of the father.
6. This allowed me to make the point
faster and more efficiently, since it
isolates the relevant parts of the text.
7. This conveys the true meaning of the
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The meeting with my group helped me truly develop the points that I wanted to talk about
in my essay, but didn’t properly think about before committing them to paper. The discussion
with my group helped me realize that it wasn’t guilt that was driving a lot of Joe’s actions, but
rather the love and consideration that he had for his father, and the fact that he didn’t want to hurt
his father by going with his friend. Additionally, Erika also gave me the helpful advice of
including line numbers next to my quotes so that they’re easily identifiable. I took Erika’s advice
because this allows the reader to be able to find the quote inside of the passage easier.
“Additionally, I took Erika’s advice that my conclusion thesis restatement was too similar to the
thesis in my introduction, so I took this advice to make sure the reader isn’t bored by my
conclusion. I also took Nafi’s advice to incorporate a better ending into my essay, and I took this
advice so that my essay doesn’t end so abruptly. Finally, I took Kalyan’s advice to use more
applicable evidence in my essay, since some of the quotes could be replaced with other quotes
that more accurately describe what’s taking place. I took this advice because I saw how I
emphasized some of the wrong parts of the passage, and included some unnecessary phrases in