Johnny Tremain: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

1. Mr. Quincy takes Johnny, Rab, Cilla, and Isannah to the Afric Queen. Several Whigs stop to laugh about how Quincy embarrassed Merchant Lyte earlier, though Quincy also warns Johnny to watch out for proud Mr. Lyte. Isannah goes on about how much Miss Lavinia liked her, which annoys Johnny—Isannah is so full of herself. After dinner, Johnny decides to sleep in a stable and then find work on a ship. The next day he finds a captain who will hire him, but Johnny can’t afford to buy the blankets, boots, and warm clothes he’ll need. So, Johnny decides to disobey his mother and sell his cup to Mr. Lyte.

Johnny slips into Mr. Lyte’s office. The man is clearly furious with Johnny, especially when Johnny offers to sell the cup for 20 pounds. Mr. Lyte refuses, snatches the cup, and blocks Johnny’s exit. He calls for the two clerks outside and tells them they’re witnessing Johnny confessing to stealing the cup and returning it. Then, he asks one of the clerks to fetch Captain Bull. Bull, Mr. Lyte explains, is sailing to Guadalupe, and perhaps Johnny should accompany him. As Captain Bull enters and bows, Johnny slips out and runs to the Boston Observer. Uncle Lorne is there, and Johnny asks to work delivering papers. Rab, who’s making ink in the courtyard, says Johnny can deliver papers and learn to ride. Mr. Lorne tells Johnny the details of the job and that Johnny will sleep here, with Rab.

2. Rab leads Johnny to the stables to meet Goblin, the horse. Rab assures Johnny that the trick to Goblin is to remember that he’s been abused, and he’s frightened of everything. In the barn, Rab brings out a pale horse with brown flecks, a rich brown mane and tail, and blue eyes. He shows Johnny how to saddle and lead a horse, and then he borrows the landlady’s old horse for Johnny to ride. On the Common, acres of meadow, Rab and Goblin lead Johnny and the nag cantering across the fields. This is Johnny’s first and only riding lesson. He begins riding Goblin himself every day and then talking to the horse in his stall. Soon, he overhears Uncle Lorne and Rab talking about how Johnny is doing surprisingly well with Goblin. This makes Johnny proud, but emulating Rab, he tries not to show it.

The first week, Johnny delivers papers on the landlady’s nag. The three-day trip through surrounding towns is confusing at first, but Johnny comes to love it and Goblin—he loves galloping the flashy horse to inns to deliver papers. Before long, Johnny is also well-informed about politics and has become a Whig. He falls off often but discovers that he can coax Goblin back to him with apples.

Before long, Johnny settles into his new life. He learns that another secret club, the Boston Observers, meet in the loft where he and Rab sleep. He eats his supper with Aunt and Uncle Lorne and their infant, and Johnny also begins caring for Goblin himself. Soon, he’s spending the days he doesn’t deliver papers delivering post on Goblin. And he learns how to write with his left hand. Some days, Johnny sits in Mr. Lorne’s library and reads all manner of books. Aunt Lorne brings him snacks and occasionally asks him to watch the baby, whom Johnny calls Rabbit. Johnny adores Rabbit and tries not to let Aunt Lorne see it, but he’s unsuccessful.

3. Johnny likes his new life, but he misses the Laphams. He’s thrilled when one Thursday, he runs into Cilla and Isannah at the town pump. However, seeing Cilla carrying the heavy yoke, something that always humiliated Johnny, makes him sad. She explains that Mr. Tweedie won’t let Dove or Dusty go, so it’s her job. Johnny offers to carry the water most of the way and suggests that they try to meet at the pump on Thursdays. As they argue about this, Isannah approaches a clergyman who thinks she’s beautiful—he gives her sweets intended for his wife for reciting a catechism. Johnny thinks Cilla is letting Isannah be too gluttonous, but he promises to come on Thursdays and Sundays. He loves and misses the girls.

4. The only disappointment in Johnny’s new life is that Rab seems so self-contained, as though nothing upsets him. Rab would be the same no matter how poor or rich he was. Johnny, on the other hand, changes his personality as his fortunes change. Rab begins asking Johnny about his behavior, such as why he calls people “squeak-pigs.” After this, Johnny begins counting to 10 in situations where he would’ve insulted people before. This leads to him getting to eat apple pie and meet Sam Adams after one of Adams’s enslaved girls accidentally throws water on him. After this, Adams often invites Johnny in and employs him to ride.

Johnny only sees Rab come out of his shell twice. Once, while in Lexington with Rab’s folks, Rab’s grandfather, Grandsire Silsbee, puts on a post-harvest dance. Rab flings himself into dancing and is quite the ladies’ man. At the dance, Johnny forgets entirely about his hand. Afterward, Rab says that Johnny has just made things bad for himself by acting like his hand is disgusting. If he doesn’t acknowledge it, nobody will care. The other time Rab comes alive is when the Webb twins visit the butcher with their cat. The butcher’s boy tries to kill the cat, but Rab and Johnny intervene and return to the press before the constable arrives. Rab clearly likes fighting, though he doesn’t have much to say. From Aunt Lorne, Johnny learns that this is just how Silsbee men are.