Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Johnny Tremain, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age
Pride vs. Humility
Patriotism and the Revolutionary War
Violence
Moral Integrity and Class
Summary
Analysis
1. It’s only by chance that Johnny sees the Lytes’ coach leave Boston. Late in August, rumors fly that the Lytes are in trouble and will return to the safety of Boston, so Johnny begins hanging around by the gates. Johnny dozes off after dark and wakes to the sound of a rumbling coach, with a “human wolf pack” howling behind it. The British guards at the gate run out with torches and drag the Lytes’ coach, now missing a wheel, through the gates. An officer helps Mr. Lyte out of the coach; the old man is clearly gravely ill. Miss Lavinia asks for Dr. Warren, since he’s the best. Then, Cilla approaches Miss Lavinia to say the silver was left—and she’s going back to get it.
Keep in mind that the “human wolf pack” pursuing the Lytes is made up of Whigs—Johnny’s allies. Describing them in this way highlights that even people who believe the same as Johnny (and who are, within the world of the novel, on the side of good) are capable of violence and of spreading terror. The passage goes on to humanize everyone involved when Miss Lavinia asks for Dr. Warren, despite him being a Whig. This also happens when Cilla insists on going back for the silver, though one would expect she’d have little impetus to protect valuables for a family she emphatically doesn’t like.
Themes
Miss Lavinia clearly doesn’t care about the silver, but Johnny approaches Cilla. Cilla explains that Mr. Lyte had a fit when the mob came earlier than Mrs. Bessie said it would. Johnny finds he admires Mrs. Bessie even more for making sure the Lytes got out safely, even though she detests them—though he knows Sam Adams wouldn’t think this noble. Cilla continues to say she must return for the silver, so Johnny says he’ll take her. Dr. Warren, after declaring that Mr. Lyte must never get upset about anything again, lends Johnny his horse and chaise and writes him a pass.
As far as Johnny is concerned, it’s noble to go out of one’s way to protect people, even if the people in question aren’t one’s favorite. But he also realizes that the higher-up Whigs, like Sam Adams, don’t feel the same way. Mr. Adams would, Johnny believes, support the mob in roughing up both Mr. Lyte and Miss Lavinia. Since Mr. Warren comes to see Mr. Lyte, it seems reasonable to assume that he may agree more with Johnny: protecting people and their health is more important and noble.
Themes
2. Everything is calm and silent as Johnny and Cilla ride to the Milton estate. They enter through the front gate, which the mob smashed—they were clearly tired of seeing the rising eye. After entering through the back door, Cilla lights candles inside. Though the Lytes left in the middle of dinner, somehow, the estate looks like it's been abandoned for years. As Cilla gathers the silver, Johnny wanders the house. In Mr. Lyte’s office, Johnny can tell where Mr. Lyte had his fit. He finds a book hollowed out to form a box, filled with letters. Johnny pockets them for Sam Adams. Then, he opens a heavy Bible the front, where the Lyte genealogy is.
There’s an almost otherworldly tone in the passages that take place at the Lyte country estate. This gives the impression that what happens there is taking place somewhere entirely different from Boston, where Johnny can, as he does here, look for where he fits into the Lyte family without worrying about looking bad for wanting to know the truth. Still, though, Johnny remains a loyal Whig when he pockets the letters for Mr. Adams.
Themes
Johnny follows the family tree down through several Lavinias, none of them his mother. Finally, he finds a Lavinia born in 1740 scratched out. She married a Doctor Charles Latour and they both died in Marseilles before Johnny was born. Johnny knows he was born in France, but none of this makes sense. If this is Johnny’s mother, then Johnny is Mr. Lyte’s grandnephew. He cuts the pages out, in case he needs them later. Cilla calls for Johnny; she wants him to take his cup back. Johnny insists he is better off without it. Standing by Cilla’s fire, Johnny considers that his grandfather built this house. But he realizes the mystery of his lineage doesn’t matter. He burns the family tree he cut from the Bible and helps Cilla close the shutters.
At first, it’s both confusing and thrilling for Johnny to figure out where he belongs on the Lyte family tree. Taking the family tree with him for later suggests that initially, Johnny does have thoughts of pursuing his claim of being a Lyte family member. However, rejecting the cup and then burning the family tree symbolizes Johnny letting go of any connection to the Lytes. While his lineage is a compelling mystery, Johnny realizes that what really matters is where he fits in and feels at home now: in Boston, with the Whigs and the artisan class.
Themes
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Now, the house feels haunted by the Lytes, including Johnny’s mother. Johnny knows he heard her voice that night in the graveyard. He returns to Cilla, and when she says the house is in good order for the Lytes’ return, he says they’re not coming back. Johnny thinks of his family members as he shutters the kitchen and then stands outside with Cilla. She observes that it feels like a funeral. As they ride for Boston, they pass Minute Men marching. A young boy plays pathetically on a fife. Johnny’s heart lurches: these men haven’t seen the British soldiers, with their muskets and bayonets.
This trip to the country house impresses on Johnny that things are changing rapidly in the colonies. The Lytes will soon not be as powerful as they once were. So, when Cilla observes that this feels like a funeral, she’s referring not just to the end of the Lytes’ reign in Boston, but also to the end of the colonial era (American independence is only several years away now). Still, Johnny remains unconvinced that the Patriot soldiers have what it takes to confront the British.
Themes
3. It bothers Johnny that Rab doesn’t have a proper musket. The boys discuss this issue all the time. Rab believes his only chance to get a modern gun is to steal one, and he insists the war won’t start and give him a good opportunity until spring. He needs a gun by then. With Aunt Lorne’s blessing, Rab arranges to buy a gun from a farmer who purchases them from British soldiers. On the morning the handoff is supposed to take place, Johnny hears a fuss in the marketplace. He runs there, and a woman tells him the British caught a farmer, a soldier, and another man involved in gun smuggling. They’re all being taken to the Province House to be dealt with.
Johnny remains uncomfortable with violence, but he cares deeply about Rab and Rab’s safety. So, it follows that Johnny is so supportive of Rab getting a musket: this is how Rab will hopefully make it through the coming conflict alive. However Rab’s failed attempt to purchase a musket highlights the high stakes inherent to trying to get a black-market gun from the British right now. The British might say, at least, that the colonists are just “yokels and farmers” and aren’t scary at all, but even uneducated “yokels” become dangerous when they’re properly armed.
Themes
At the Province House, Johnny realizes that the British soldier was likely a double agent. The farmer looks cold and money-hungry, and Rab looks shaken. They all go inside and an hour later, Colonel Nesbit leads drummers, soldiers, and a cart containing the tarred and feathered farmer. When Colonel Nesbit begins leading the procession to each of the Whig papers, making threats, Johnny runs ahead to the Observer’s office. Rab is there. He explains that Colonel Nesbit said he was a child who needs a popgun, which just makes Johnny laugh. Once the British have passed, Rab observes that the British soldiers will make good targets. Johnny is frightened; he can’t yet think of Lieutenant Stranger, Sergeant Gale, or Major Pitcairn as targets.
In describing the three people involved in the handoff, it becomes clear that Rab was the only person involved who genuinely wanted the musket for a purpose—that is, to fight for what he believes in. The farmer reads as far less righteous because he just wanted money. Though the novel associates Rab’s desire for the musket with his burgeoning maturity, the fact that Colonel Nesbit sees Rab as a child works in his favor here. The condescension humiliates Rab, but he gets out of this altercation alive and having suffered almost no consequences.
Themes
4. It’s still summer, but it’s starting to feel like fall. Johnny and Cilla are in the Lytes’ apple orchard, catching up on the Lapham family gossip: Madge ran off with Sergeant Gale, so Mrs. Lapham married Mr. Tweedie herself. She’s Mrs. Maria Tweedie now, which isn’t so bad—a girl has to think about who she marries and how his name fits with hers. For instance, Cilla says, she couldn’t marry Rab. Johnny is suddenly angry. They agree that Rab is wonderful, and Cilla reveals that he’s bought her sweets before. But Cilla says Cilla Silsbee is awful, though Priscilla Tremain is fine. She says she’s been thinking about it since they were 11. They were such kids then—but she’s so pretty now.
Though Johnny and Cilla are still beating around the bush some, this conversation is notable in that this is the first time that either of them is willing to openly, plainly state that they share a crush on each other. No matter what her mother has to say, Cilla clearly is thinking a lot about marrying Johnny someday in the future, highlighting just how mature she’s become over the last year and a half. Johnny hasn’t quite caught up yet though. He’s willing to admit to himself that he likes Cilla and thinks she’s pretty, but he’s still letting his jealousy and pride get in the way of expressing his true emotions.
Themes
Cilla packs up her sewing to go inside, and a British soldier earning some extra money at the Lytes’ leaps to open the door for her. Johnny thinks he’s ridiculous, but he now realizes that Cilla is grown-up and beautiful. He begs Cilla to come back outside, refuses to believe her when she says the soldier’s name is Pumpkin, and then says that he agrees: Priscilla Tremain is a great name. Cilla says nothing, but she gives Johnny an apple and walks away. Johnny vows to keep the apple forever as a symbol of his love for Cilla. But Rab eats it off the windowsill and, after Johnny starts a fight about it, Rab reveals that it was wormy anyway.
It takes Johnny realizing that he has rivals for Cilla’s affection to realize that if he wants to have a chance at marrying her someday, he needs to voice his desires and be genuinely nice to her. Johnny gets so caught up in the apple’s symbolism because he’s feeling the flush of first love, but Rab quickly brings Johnny back to earth when he eats the apple. The wormy apple could be a sign that things won’t go well between Johnny and Cilla—or it could just highlight Johnny’s youthful naivete as he reads into everything about his relationship with her.
Themes
5. It’s fall now, and Mr. Adams asks Johnny to summon the Observers for the last time. He’s afraid that Gage knows about and will hang them, and he asks Johnny to make the best punch he ever has. As only British soldiers and well-connected Tories have citrus, Johnny visits Mrs. Bessie for the fruit. She happily fills his bag. They discuss disapprovingly how Izzy pretty much does tricks for limes, and she shares that Cousin Sewall went and joined the Minute Men. Mrs. Bessie warns that things are getting dire. Indeed, 22 of the Observers have left town to avoid arrest.
The class differences between Johnny and the Lytes shine through in this scene, which shows that the Lytes are well-connected enough to have citrus. Further, Mrs. Bessie implies that she has little power to intervene where Isannah is concerned. The little girl now fully embodies the “Izzy” persona, performing for others just so she can get whatever she wants. Finally, Johnny reads as somewhat naive when Mrs. Bessie has to tell him how dire things are, as though he genuinely didn’t already know.
Themes
Unlike previous meetings, this one starts with the punch bowl, and Rab and Johnny stay for the whole meeting. The men discuss how Gage sent a group to seize weapons and gunpowder in Charleston before any Minute Men could be notified. The issue, Mr. Adams says, is in Boston: had they known sooner here, they could’ve notified the Minute Men in time. In a side conversation, other men discuss the success at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Johnny hears a man ask if they could still work out their differences with England, but Adams says he’s done working for peace. He’ll work for war, and a great country will rise out of that war.
By portraying Johnny as simply listening in on various conversations, the novel allows readers get an overview of what’s going on in and around Boston. War is now on the forefront of people’s minds; the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia worked to find a common cause for the colonies to rally around, and it also encouraged colonies to establish their own militias in case of war. (At this point, the Congress didn’t go so far as to insist that the colonies should be independent from England.) There are also issues with the spy network in Boston right now, which poses problems for the under-armored Minute Men, as the British are trying to take their weapons and stores.
Themes
Just then, heavy footsteps sound below—it’s James Otis, though he was specifically not told about the meeting. Sam Adams grumbles that Otis has nothing new to say, but everyone stays politely as Otis comes upstairs and sits with some punch. After a minute, he asks Sam Adams to continue the speech he interrupted. But when Adams says they’ll fight to “free Boston from these infernal redcoats,” Otis interjects. He points out that the British have been extremely reasonable. No, they’ll fight for Americans’ rights, and for the rights of men everywhere. Johnny is entranced by Otis’s words; Otis talks about shooting the British for the sake of Americans 100 years from now, and about inspiring the poor in France and Russia to fight for freedom. Even poor Englishmen will benefit.
Johnny himself has seen the British be “reasonable,” as Mr. Otis suggests. Indeed, Johnny likes many of the officers he carries messages for at the Afric Queen. Instead, what Mr. Otis describes is a coming revolution that will not only give colonists the right to self-governance but will also create similar revolutions worldwide. Indeed, the American Revolution did inspire the French Revolution that began not long after, in 1789, so Forbes’s inclusion of France in this passage is significant. Further, it's worth considering that Forbes was writing during World War II, when Americans were again fighting for their freedoms. It’s possible to read Forbes’s Otis as talking indirectly about World War II’s brave soldiers, as well.
Themes
After asking Johnny to refill his tankard, Otis continues. He says that supposedly, he lost his wits when the customs official hit him in the head. Some of them will lose their wits, some will lose their property. They’ll all have to make sacrifices, and some will give their lives and their futures. Otis looks at Rab as he says this. Then, turning back to Sam Adams, Otis says that he must go to Philadelphia and pull all the strings he needs to make this war happen. As he stands to go, he says they must all give all they have, “Only that a man can stand up.” After Otis leaves Mr. Adams tries to return attention to the spy system, but it takes a minute for Otis’s spell to lift. That night, Johnny lies awake, thinking of Otis’s words. A new world is coming.
War, Mr. Otis insists, has costs—indeed, he seems to imply that Rab and other young men like him will die in the coming conflict. But though Otis insists it’s essential to remember the steep cost of war, he also makes it clear that they’re fighting for something good and righteous. They’re fighting for the rights of men everywhere, who, after this war is over, will be able to “stand up” proudly. When it takes so long to regain order at the meeting, it speaks to the power and potency of Otis’s words. He’s touched a nerve and has put the coming conflict in context, giving it a reason and a purpose.
Themes
