I’ve just finished reading Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny got his Gun, and I enjoyed it because it’s completely without pretese, but I have to admit that it disturbed me. He wrote the thoughts of a crazy person so well. I’ve tried to write in that style before and only came up with slightlty disjointed. The thoughts of Joe Bonham as he lay in his bed often made him seem insane. In fact, maybe the author would have to be just a little bit insane himself to write that way. The irony in all of this lies in the fact that this man, whether he is the character in the book or the author speaking through the character, had to be insane to come to some of the most sane conclusions in the world. For example:

"I’ve already decided that I like the liberty I’ve got right here the liberty to walk and see and hear and talk and eat and sleep with my girl. I think I like that liberty better than fighting for a lot of things we won’t get and ending up without any liberty at all. Ending up dead and rotting before my life is even begun good or ending up like a side of beef. Thank you mister. You fight for liberty. Me I don’t care for some."

Maybe that’s unpatriotic, and maybe that’s selfish, but coming from someone blind, deaf, mute, with no arms and legs, , , it seems to make a lot of sense. That’s what the author was trying to do, make his semi-treasonous ideas make sense. He did that, and he did it well.

ismene 7/98