Lo 1

Solomon Lo

Mrs. Mann

AP English Literature and Composition - Block 2

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

intentionally weakening their relationship, Trumbo characterizes how Joe demonstrates

 Lo 2

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

about the weakening of their relationship.

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
 Lo 3

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

develop relationship with their peers instead of themselves.


Account of Revisions
Revisions I Made
1. Throughout the essay, I have added
Joe’s name instead of only referring to
him as the son
2. I made sure to add line numbers so
that it would be easier to reference the
passage.
3. I have revised my introduction so that
it talks about how parents are the first
people that the child recognizes and
trusts, and not necessarily that they
depend on the parent.
4. I changed my thesis based on the
advice of my writer’s workshop group
that Joe’s actions aren’t based on guilt,
but on love and thoughtfulness.
5. I have revised my statement about the
point of view because it was limited
instead of omniscient.
6. I corrected my quote to use a more
concise piece of text to talk about the
syntax of the passage.
7. I revamped my essay about the
specialized syntax to discuss the love
and thoughtfulness that Joe feels
towards his father, and not the guilt,
because that’s factually wrong.
8. I incorporated a better example of
selection of detail so that it more
accurately describes the nuance of the
father's response.
Lo 4
Rationale
1. The improves the clarity and
conciseness of my essay because I
now no longer have to always refer to
Joe as “the son,” and the reader also
has a better understanding of the
person I’m talking about because I’m
directly addressing Joe by his name.
2. This improves the clarity of my essay
because it is now easier to reference
the quotes that I discuss.
3. I made this change since it has a better
effect, since the old introduction may
be misconstrued to where the child has
to rely on the parent in order to have
the relationship, when in reality, they
don’t. Instead, children are friends
with their parents because they
immediately trust their parents, while
it takes time for them to build up trust
with other people.
4. This fixes a flaw in my thinking that
Joe was feeling guilty for performing
this action, when in reality, it makes
more sense that he was simply being
loving and thoughtful because he
wanted to avoid hurting his father, but
not guilty because this isn’t
necessarily something that is wrong.
Instead, it’s a change in preference.
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
 Lo 5

passage, since Joe doesn’t actually feel

guilt, but is driven to say things in the
manner that he did because of the
amount of love and thoughtfulness
that he had towards his father.
8. I needed to add how the father was
reacting, since I had neglected to do so
in my rough draft.

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

my quotes that didn’t add anything to my evidence.