Johnny Got His Gun -Chapter xviii-end

When the guy asks the question it takes Joe a little bit to figure out exactly what he wants.  He goes through these different options of what he might want.  He finally comes down to it that he wants to get out and be shown around in a box.  He wants people to see the effect of war and what happens.  He wants to make a living and finally feel free with earning money.  Joe wants all of this and he just wants to be able to feel fresh air and to have people understand the effects of war.  The say that he cannot do it and that it is against regulation because the doctors don’t want him to be seen.  They don’t want people to see the effects of war because then nobody will want to fight anymore.  They also don’t want people to know what he is capable of and that he is able to communicate because then he could convince many that war is bad.  

Johnny Got His Gun -Chapter xvi-xvii

The Christ dream happened right after Joe had been drugged.  He had this dream of Christ who came and had the boys play a card game with them a drink.  The boys were going off to the war and so then this was their last time to just have a good time.  They also learned of their fate and Christ was just helping make it seem ok and everything would be alright.  Then Joe comes in and says well he isn’t going to die but he will be worse off than the rest of them because of the state he will be in.  Then they all say one last goodbye to their family because they are leaving and will never come back home.  While Joe is in the train he leaves and goes find Christ because he feels he is stuck in between he doesn’t fit with living people but he isn’t dead.  All the dream is doing is just talking more about how all these soldiers leave and go die and how they didn’t want to go die and how Joe is stuck in between with nowhere to go. 

Johnny Got His Gun -Chapter xiii-xv

There were two reasons why Joe started tapping.  The main reason was because he was trying to finally make communication with the world and realized he could do it by mores code.  He finally figured out that by using his head and tapping it he could make mores code.  The other reason he kept tapping was because he just couldn’t stop and start thinking again and go back into his own pattern.  He was determined to finally get heard and be able to have somewhat of an escape from the prison he was stuck in.  If people could finally understand him then he could have communication with the people around him and not be as lonely and actually be somewhat a part of the world around him.  It was his last hope and he didn’t want to give up at all knowing that it could work.  

Johnny Got His Gun-chapter xi-xii

Joe decides to master time because he feels that it is the last connection he has with normal world.  He compares it to when people are locked in dungeons or lost and how they try to tell time so that they keep sane and can somewhat be aware of what is going on.  If you cannot tell time then there is nothing and time is so important.  It is what keeps you a part of the world because in Joe’s case he cannot move, see or hear anything and if he could keep time then he could maybe know what time of day it is and guess what is happening.  If you do not know what the time is then you are lost in the world basically and he doesn’t want to be completely lost.  He wants to have some connection to the world around him that he cannot see or hear.  Joe tells time by counting the seconds between nurse changes then he switches from that to going to his bowel movements.  Joe finds ways like these to figure out time and he just counts seconds in between things that happen regularly.  

Johnny Got His Gun chapter ix-x

Joe does not understand war and thinks that it is stupid how people sign up to die.  All you are fighting for in war is for words, like liberty, democracy, freedom.  He thinks that if you don’t personally see it and feel it then it is absolutely stupid to be fighting for words.  He says all these people have fought and died in the past but have they gotten anywhere?  Are they different than anyone else in the world?  No, everyone fights for things that just don’t exactly happen and they usually end up dead so they never benefit from it.  He thinks it is stupid that people do that.  Joe doesn’t see the point in fighting for words and fighting for things you cannot see.  He says that it is alright to fight for small things that is only one person but if you fight for more then it turns into a word.  Even when you are fighting for a small thing though you shouldn’t risk your life and you don’t, you just bargain.  

Johnny Got His Gun vi-vii

The rat comes to visit Joe because he has this hole in his side.  He says when he thinks about the hole and when he remembers it is there then he feels the rat coming.  Joe has nothing to do but sit and think because he cannot move and he cannot see anything.  Joe has so much time on his hands that he is constantly thinking and considering everything and being able to remember everything that has happened.  He remembers that army guy they saw who was dead and a rat was eating on him and that is what started him on the rat thing too.  The rat represents death and all the soldiers fear rats and know that it is a bad sign when there are some around because rats feed off of the dead.  Joe is showing that he is in a bad place and the rat is just a bad sign saying that he isn’t well off and it doesn’t look good for him.  

Johnny Got His Gun iv-vi

Joe probably remembers the bakery because it was a time when he had a good job that he actually worked hard on.  He also complained a lot with that job and took his legs and arms for granted and being able to move around.  Now that he has lost all of his limbs and cannot move he thinks of things that go with never being able to walk or work again.  Joe remembers Jose because he admired him a lot.  Jose was a really good guy and not like the other workers who came through the bakery.  First he left his old job because the daughter fell in love with him.  Then when he was at the bakery she wrote him and asked the guys how he should nicely put her down.  He also ended up taking two jobs and didn’t know how to say he wanted to quit.  So one day he knocked down the pies and got fired but promised the owner he would pay him back which he did.  Joe just thinks of him as a real good honest guy who did the right thing and that is why he admired him.