Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Johnny Got His Gun, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Horrors of War
The Value of Life
Elites vs. Common People
Time and Memory
Summary
Analysis
Joe feels like he’s swimming through cool water, trying to make it to the surface before he drowns. He tries to relax, remembering how when he started swimming as a kid, he learned that you could float on your back for a long time if you relax. As Joe regains his senses, he realizes that the people in the hospital are operating on him. He can’t hear them because he’s deaf, and with the bandages over his head, he can’t see them either.
Joe’s feeling of drowning reflects how he is at the mercy of forces larger than himself. It reflects not only his current injured condition but also his larger status as a common, drafted soldier in a war that is much bigger than him. People operate on Joe, and Joe can’t even tell what they’re doing to him, further establishing Joe’s lack of agency.
Themes
Joe feels the people in his room taking his bandages off. He itches all over and wishes they’d pinch him less. He pays attention to the parts of his body they’re touching and realizes with horror that they’re touching a stump on his shoulder because his left arm has been amputated. Joe is angry, feeling that his doctors should have had to sign a paper or something before just cutting his arm off. Joe wonders how he’ll ever work again without a left arm.
Joe feels a sense of injustice over losing his arm. While he blames the doctors, it seems that the problem is even larger and that perhaps what really upsets Joe is the unjust system of war that led to him getting injured in battle in the first place. Once again, Joe feels that he is at the mercy of people and forces more powerful than he is.
Themes
Joe wonders what they did to his amputated left arm. Do they bury it respectfully or throw it out like trash? He wonders what happened to the ring he had on that hand and wants it back. It’s a moonstone. He remembers Kareen giving it to him and how she kissed him one day after he got drafted and the day before he left for Europe.
Joe realizes that his arm, which is very important to him, probably doesn’t merit a proper burial from the government. Similarly, his ring from Kareen is important to him but also matters little to the government. Joe starts to realize that perhaps even his own life is disposable in war.
Themes
In Joe’s memory, he and Kareen are kissing when Old Mike Birkman, Kareen’s father, enters the house and interrupts them. But after Kareen explains that Joe leaves for war the next day, Old Mike tells them both to go into Kareen’s bedroom since they might never get another chance. Old Mike warns Joe to treat Kareen respectfully.
Under different circumstances, Old Mike Birkman might have stopped Joe from sleeping in Kareen’s bedroom with her, but Old Mike seems to recognize that the war is making Joe grow up early, and so he allows Joe and Kareen to act like adults.
Themes
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At first, Kareen is shy, but eventually she gets naked and goes to bed. Joe also takes off his clothes and joins her. They embrace, and Kareen begs him not to leave. He puts his left arm under her to cushion her as they kiss. The whole night, they hold each other tight, not sleeping much. In the morning, Old Mike brings them breakfast. Reluctantly, Joe gets out of bed to face the cold room, then he heads off to make his train.
Joe and Kareen embrace each other, showing how Joe used his arms to connect with other people before his injury. The cold temperature in the morning outside the bed represents the cold reality that Joe will have to face when he goes to war. Temperature plays an important role in the story, since despite everything Joe has lost, he still has the ability to feel, including changes in temperature.
Themes
As he boards the train, Joe sees his mother, his sisters, Kareen, and Old Mike there standing on the platform to see him off. People in the crowd repeat patriotic quotes from Abraham Lincoln, Patrick Henry, George Washington, the song “Johnny Get Your Gun,” and more. Johnny’s memories blur together, interspersing patriotic quotes with the image of Kareen begging him not to go. He thinks about Kareen and how he’s lost her. Then he realizes that has not only lost his left arm, but his right arm as well.
“Johnny Get Your Gun” is an old song that became particularly popular during World War I. The title of the book—Johnny Got His Gun—differs from the song, with the novel’s past-tense title suggesting that it focuses not on the hopeful feelings at the beginning of a war but instead on the aftermath. This passage shows how people justified going to war as a patriotic duty. But this hopeful beginning to Joe’s journey quickly fades once he realizes that he’s missing both his arms.
Themes
