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Charles Cao

Mrs. Mann

AP Lit

10 February 2019

A Son and Father: A Coming of Age, an Altered Relationship

Many teenagers may rebel and lash out at their parents to assert their own independence,

their own coming of age. Becoming more distant from their parents, sometimes they sour their

relationships with them. In contrast, in Dalton Trumbo’s novel ​Johnny Got His Gun​, the young

man, Joe, and his father’s relationship is still considerate, understanding, and caring for each

other. It was once centered on fishing, a tradition for just the two of them, but as Joe ​matures

over time, he becomes increasingly more independent​, altering their relationship to where the

son has more control over it. Yet, they both respect still each other; while his father, respecting

that his son has his own responsibilities and thoughts, recognizes that his relationship with his

son has shifted, his son, respecting his father’s well-being, also worries how the change in their

relationship will affect his father.

Once, the father and son were inseparable on their fishing trips; they only had each other

for company, but as Joe becomes older, he also becomes less close with his father. He recognizes

that the relationship with his father will change, and his father recognizes that his son is no

longer the seven-year-old who fished with him, but a teenager who is increasing deciding by

himself on how to live his life. Joe “knew it was something that had to happen sometime;” he

knew that the relationship he had with his father in the past would end and how his father has to

accept a new relationship. Trumbo’s use of only third person limited point of view is to only
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highlight the son’s thoughts and his changing views on his bond with his father. Joe knows the

relationship will soon be different, yet, he still worries about his father, hesitant on how his

father would accept this change and would deal with this different relationship. He “wonders …

how he should tell his father” about him breaking off their past relationship. He still respects his

father, though the relationship may not be the same as before, when they were close, especially

while fishing. Trumbo’s inclusion of only ​the son’s thoughts is to display how the son is

concerned about how his father would react to the end of their tradition​, where only the two of

them fishing in summer, and the altering of their relationship. The son worries that his father will

not accept this change in the relationship that is inevitable. Through the son’s thoughts from

when he was a child to when he became a teenager, we see how the son has become more

independent, but still retains the regard for his father.

Joe’s father, in turn, holds his son in high regard, respecting his decisions, aware that his

son is separating with him as he becomes older. They are no longer so personally connected

through fishing. Before Bill Harper, the friend that is replacing the father on the fishing trip,

joined Joe, the father and son only fished with each other as the “father always preferred his

company to that of men and [Joe] had always preferred his father’s company to that of other

guys.” While they will no longer as close as they were, ​his father recognizes that his son is

independent​, with more responsibility, and presents his son what is important to him. Not only

was the son given his father’s fishing rod, but the responsibilities and memories that came with

it. The son is given control over their relationship as he has changed it by going fishing with Bill

Harper without his father. The son is making decisions for himself, thus he can also decide the

relationship with his father. He chooses to end the tradition of fishing with only his father, and
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the father, understanding his son’s sense of self, accepts this change. Portraying how important

the fishing rod is to the father, Trumbo intricately depicts the rod, “the amber leaders and

beautiful silk windings,” and stresses how much the father treasures it. This rod was “perhaps the

only extravagance his father had in his whole life.” Entrusting his son with such a “valuable”

item, the rod, the father lets his son go to determine his own life and be in control of the

relationship with his father. Trumbo, depicting how the ​father gives something to his son that he

treasured greatly ​as “there was nothing else that his father treasured more,” characterizes the

father as someone who understands the son’s independence. His son is now more responsible;

the rod is a symbol for the father’s acknowledgement of his son leaving him, a valuable gift to a

maturing, teenage son. To the father, the son is no longer the son of the past, who only fished

with him; his son now has grown up. Their past relationship had the tradition of fishing, “every

spring” the father sent his rod to be revitalized and “every summer” they went to the same place

to fish. Yet, this time, this tradition is gone; the son no longer fishes solely with his father but

fishes with his friend.

The son wants to fish with Bill Harper, breaking his annual father-son trips, but he also

feels guilty for leaving his father and taking his father’s rod. ​Trumbo’s diction conveys a feeling

of regret as the son abandons the father. When handed his father’s rod, he feels “a little lump in

his throat” as his father gave him his rod even when the son decides to not fish with his father.

This shows how his son does still think of his father’s feelings. The son wonders how “deserting

his father” might dishearten his father, his son leaving to go fish another person with the father’s

precious rod. A focal point of the two’s lives, fishing is now altered. While, Trumbo clearly

depicts the son thoughts and struggles with leaving his father for a friend and altering a
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relationship, the father’s thoughts are not shown. Through the use of dialogue without

punctuation, Trumbo depicts the father as someone who is honestly letting his son go. While

Trumbo’s syntax lacks commas or quotations marks, he simply depicts a clear portrayal of the

father as someone who relinquishes to Joe some control of their relationship and accepts this

change. The lack of punctuation only emphasizes the father’s words, the message he conveys to

his son and the respect he has for his son’s independence, his son’s coming of age, as it lays bare

the father’s thoughts on his son. Replying to Joe’s question to bring a friend, he only says “why

sure go along Joe” and means that Joe is responsible to make his own choices, understanding

how Joe is troubled by the thought of abandoning his father and breaking their custom of fishing

only with each other.

Dalton Trumbo’s novel ​Johnny Got His Gun​ explores the topic of a teenage boy’s

coming of age and how the relationship between him and his father has changed. Some parents

may believe that their children’s increasing independence may not mean that they are blooming

into mature adults, but becoming entangled in vices. Others believe that letting their children

take control over their own lives and relationships is beneficial, allowing them to become

mature, thoughtful adults. This novel depicts how the father to acknowledge his son’s

independence and how they both continue to respect each other. It shows us one side of

parenting, how a parent allows their teenage children to make their own choices.

Account of Revisions
REVISIONS I MADE:
Explain, in detail, the changes you
made. Include quotations/examples to make
the revisions apparent to the reader. ​Make
sure your revisions are both small and large
scale.
The major issue with the essay is the lack of
organization and cohesion between the
evidence and analysis. I did not plan out
what I was to write, so before making clear
edits to the essay, I decided to make a plan
on how to write the essay (what was the
thesis, what the body paragraphs, what
techniques the author uses).
Also, there are many claims that needed to
have textual evidence to support it. It felt
like the relationship renewed each summer
was a stretch. The evidence could possibly
back it, but it was not clear. It also seems to
be strange that the son would be with his
father and only respect him during the
season of fishing.
My introduction is simply a thesis that has
been fluffed by adding in the author’s
techniques. I decided to add something
before the thesis that can also connect with
the ideas I will touch on between the son and
father.
The conclusion was boring. So, I changed to
(with the help of the handout) and
challenged the reader (?) by putting out the
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RATIONALE:
Why did this change need to take
place?
(How did it improve the clarity,
coherence, style, effect, focus, etc. of your
words?)
As I did not plan out how to write the essay,
I just made an outline of the thesis and the
pieces of evidence I would use. This change
is important in organizing the thoughts and
have a clear essay. There is no random
additions of evidence with no analysis.
My thesis from before was that they “have a
relationship that must be renewed
constantly,” but after reading the passage,
this not the right point that Trumbo is
making. It is more about how Joe is breaking
the relationship from the past as he is
growing up.
This was like a “hook.” My previous essays
lacked this, but I added on in about scenarios
that are different from their relationship to
contrast the understanding and respect the
two still have for each other.
Here, I took on a topic that was related to the
father letting his son go and be responsible
for himself. “Some parents may…” This is
to connect with the issues of parenting right
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topic of how parents should treat their now and how the actions and thoughts of the
teenagers’ growing independence. relates to one side.
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Explanation of Writer’s Workshop Group’s Effect on the Final Draft:

Directions: How did meeting with your group to discuss the three essays impact the final draft?
Include specifics about who suggested changes that you think helped you draft a better end
product, what the suggested changes were, and why you ultimately took that peer’s advice.

The meeting with my group helped me to understand that I had to use more of the son’s

thoughts and what Trumbo uses to explain son’s thoughts on the relationship. My rough draft

lacked the son and focuses more on the father. So, instead of mashing up the father and son in

the same place, I decided to make three body paragraphs. The first was solely for the son and his

ideas, the second for the father, and the third combines them both with more evidence and

analysis of Trumbo’s techniques. My word choice was poor on the Hardy passage, so I thought

about not repeating the same words on this passage.