The Patriotic Function of Johnny Tremain - Essay Example

The Patriotic Function of Johnny Tremain Introduction Samuel Adams (1722-1803) the well known patriot and American Revolutionist, has explicated his views on the true meaning of liberty of man as “to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule” (Thinkexist.com, 2006). In times of war, a nation depends on the inspiration provided by such visionaries to evoke feelings of patriotism in its people. Esther Forbes has done precisely in her depiction of Johnny Tremain (1943) in her book of the same title. Esther Forbes was writer who liked to celebrate routine happenings of everyday life, and thus her characters reflected her admiration for men with ”grace, verve, deep feeling” and ”high good humour” (Fischer, 1995 p. 338). What is it that made this book and the character of Johnny Tremain climb to such unprecedented height? What is the historical context of this novel, and how did it impact the people of America? This essay shall try to explain some of these questions while trying to analyze and understand the historical background of the pre-independence, late eighteenth century America. It shall also give a brief background of the author, and her convictions and analyze how the character of Johnny Tremain has been effortlessly inter-woven into the main plot. Author’s Background A detailed biography of the author has been furnished by Worcester Area Writers (2003) website, a few of which have been given here. Being fifth of the six children, Esther Forbes was an unlikely candidate to get too much attention of her parents William Trowbridge Forbes and Harriette Merrifield. She was born in Westboro, MA, on June 28, in the year 1891, to well-educated parents, especially mother who was an historian and a writer. It is interesting to note that almost all the siblings performed well at school excepting her. Esther Forbes was handicapped by short-sight and dyslexia, which actually retarded her progress at school. However, she had remarkable storytelling capacities even then. Once, when she was asked to write on anything of her choice in class, she produced a well-written story from her imagination, so much so that her tutor suspected plagiarism. Esther slowly started taking to writing stories then on, although she was hardly recognized by her tutors as being gifted. Esther Forbes published a short story called "Breakneck Hill” in the magazine Grinnell Review. It won her the O. Henry Prize for short stories for 1915. She went on to write many more such works and by the time she wrote Johnny Tremain in the 1942, her prowess had already been established. Johnny Tremain: A novel for Young and Old was altered a great deal by Harcourt-Brace. Reluctant to accept the changes, she published the same through Houghton-Mifflin in the year 1943. It is also pertinent to note here that the author’s family roots reaches back into the 1600s; Sam Adams, the one of the founder-fathers of the Sons of Liberty, was one of her great-uncles. Mirror for Witches, a book which delineated the experiences of a witch, had already been published in the year 1928. Her other works include O Genteel Lady in 1926, Paul Revere and the World He Lived In published in 1942. Forbes was into the production of another book with its subject as “witchcraft”, when she died on August 12, 1967. She was the first woman member of the American Antiquarian Society and had thus left the rights to her books to the Society (WPI, 2003). The book has won the Newbery Medal as the nation's best book for children, for Esther Forbes. WPI (2003) cites The Saturday Review (1943) to describe the writing skills of the author as "power to create, and to recreate, a face, a voice, a scene” and it is so realistic that it “takes us as living spectators to the Boston Tea Party, to the Battle of Lexington and of North Creek" which makes the title Johnny Tremain: A novel for Young and Old, most apt. Summary of the Story The story centres round the young Johnny Tremain, who lives in Boston. An apprentice in the household of master craftsman-silversmith Mr. Lapham, he and two others -Dove and Dusty, do all odds in the household of Mrs. Lapham the daughter-in-law. There are the four grandchildren of the old-man namely, Madge, Dorcas, Cilla, and Isannah. Johnny considers the other two inferior in skills and literally dominates the household. Though the old man realizes his superior skills, he would have preferred Johnny to have been more humble; the latter is quite aware of this, but revels in his indispensability. The pride he takes in his expertise as a budding craftsman drives him to work furiously on the order placed by Mr. John Hancock – the wealthiest man in the vicinity; and in order to be sure of his work, he seeks the expert opinion of Mr. Paul Revere, who is well-known and is a second generation master silversmith. However, the whole project is shelved because Mr. Lapham decides to stop work and hence, Johnny with the collusion of Mrs. Lapham decides to continue work secretly on Sabbath. Dove, who has been quietly waiting for a chance to get even with Tremain, grabs his chance and gives a faulty crucible to unsuspecting Johnny. Consequently, the latter loses the use of his hand as a silversmith, since his thumb gets attached to the hand and makes it impossible for him to carry on his craft anymore. Johnny’s life takes a turn for the worse, thereon, with prospect of his practising his only line of expertise bleak. Now, he suddenly finds he is no longer wanted in the very house that he had once dominated. A deeply depressed Johnny seeks other jobs. Mrs. Lapham makes vividly plain his fallen position in the household and even considers a replacement for him, to assist Mr. Lapham. This depression is compounded by the fact that no one including John Hancock is willing to employ him. He visits his mother’s grave in an emotional trough. Maturing – Johnny and the Nation The second phase of his life begins for Johnny, when he manages to make friends with Rab who is with the ‘Boston Observer,’ a newspaper which is the voice of the patriots. He gets to admire Rab who offers him a job with the paper to carry messages for it. Johnny then tries to get help from merchant Lyte, a relative mentioned by his mother who has given him a silver cup as a proof of this relationship. The wealthy Mr. Lyte, however, scorns scathingly at Tremain; when the latter tries to prove his authenticity, Mr. Lyte accuses him of theft and has him arrested. Johnny manages to get rescued with the help of his mate Rab and Cilla who knows about the silver cup, and accepts the job with the ‘Boston Observer.’ It is this part that really concerns the topic of this essay, because herein the character of Johnny Tremain reveals the ultimate purpose for which he was created – representation of the brave, young, man who is American in spirit. In the course of his new job/life in the Boston Observer, Johnny meets with important leaders, such as Sam Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, Doctor Warren, and James Otis. It his meeting with such great names, that he gets an opportunity to play a role in the Boston Tea Party (1773), discover himself fully, regaining his self-esteem and mature intellectually, developing into an individual entity in his own right. His awakening further progresses when he learns of his identity, his parentage, and his past; however, he is fully conscious of the fact that he cannot live in his just revealed past, and he has to move on in life. Here again his position is similar to the nation itself, which is at the threshold of entering into a new future and shaking off its past ties with the British. The Final Realization Through all this, in the background the sounds of war-cries draw closer. Rab joins the Minute Men at Lexington. The movement of the first British troops begin and none other than Johnny carries this news to Paul Revere. The latter, in and endeavour to warn the Minute Men, sets out on his (later famous) midnight ride, covering every nook and corner of the countryside. Soon the historical Battle of Lexington and Concord (1775) follows. Johnny is subject to a severe blow when he finds his dearest friend Rab fatally wounded. Johnny comes face to face with the moment of truth and matures emotionally and when it dawns on him that lofty goals demand sacrifice, and sometimes the price to pay is life. He also overcomes his inhibition of hiding his hand from Doctor Warren, who informs his him that the separation of his thumb is possible. Poignantly, he agrees to undergo surgery, in order to continue in his dear friend’s footsteps and take up Rab's musket in the fight for independence; so as that "a man can stand up." (Forbes, 1943, pp 239-56) Indeed, these words almost seem to become a refrain in the end, when the author increasingly indicates the blossoming of manhood, “not merely Johnny’s achieving it, but his passing through a crisis of confidence about courage, manliness, and even the acceptance of death in a just cause” (Dolph, Gerlach & Nicholls 1978 p. 40). The Significance of Johnny Tremain According to Forbes, “it is the persistence of this point of view which explains” why the book had become “the absolutely phenomenal success.” (Dolph, Gerlach & Nicholls 1978 p. 39) It may be pertinent to note the period in which the book was written, in the year 1942-3, when the bombing of the Pearl Harbour is still very current and the need for protecting the motherland is in the air. Hence, it is only natural for the author to infuse the central character of the book with heroism and action involving the recent past of American Revolution, in order to inspire the readers, especially the young blood with a sense of patriotism. Historical Context Johnny Tremain holds a unique place not merely because it tells the story of the American Revolution; In Johnny Tremain, the author has recreated actual settings of the American Revolution with real names and real incidents mentioned in history. The setting or the place where the events of the story take place is Boston, which is in itself significant. For example, one can find direct and indirect references to the ‘Boston Massacre,’ The ‘Boston Tea Party’ – Johnny personally plays a role in this, the ‘Sons of Liberty’, ‘the Battle of Lexington and Concord.’ Cassidy (1997) has elucidated the circumstances that led to the American Revolution and is beneficial to the context of this essay. During the time of the American Revolution, the citizens of the thirteen colonies of North America were already tired of the British rule. However, King George III wanted strict control over his colonies. Naturally, dissension and discontent of the people in the colonies, was palpable. With the core problem being one of economics, it soon snowballed into a movement and the colonies challenged the Crown’s legal power to tax them. There was general opposition to pay taxes when they were denied representation. Initially, enforcing the Navigation Acts in 1660, the Crown demanded that the colonists had to sell products like cotton, sugar, indigo and tobacco, only to Britain and worse still, prohibited some products to be produced in the colonies, and were permitted to source such products only from Britain. Then the Revenue Act of 1764 was thorn that poked the colonies, and the Crown held it that it had every right to tax the colonies. The Sugar Act in 1764 followed next; this levied taxes on sugar, molasses, coffee and cloth. As if this was not enough, the British came forth the very next year with another Stamp Act, which taxed marriage licenses, land deeds, wills, newspapers, college diplomas and approximately fifty other sundry items. All this only served to worsen the relations between the Crown and her colonies and “by the end of 1765, Britain’s relations with its American colonies had become strained at best” (Cassidy, 1997). Thus, setting of the book Johnny Tremain (1943) is the pre-revolutionary period and thus charged with suspicion, intrigue, and murder. Holsinger (1999) states that Forbes published her book titled Paul Revere and the World He Lived In (1942). This book was very well-researched and concerned the issues and passions of the tension-filled Revolutionary War-era in the Boston area. The research done for the earlier work has come in handy for the author, in writing the imagined story of the boy Johnny Tremain. The book owes its real-life touch and the detailed accounting in the background principally due to this research mentioned above, lending the fiction an authentic touch. For example, the prevalent mood of the people after the ‘Tea Party’ is observed as “There had been many a moderate man who had thought the Tea Party a bit lawless” (Forbes 1943 p.149) Although the patriots were increasingly making their presence felt and, more and more people joined the cadres of anti-British governance movement, still, where was a sizable number of moderates, who saw no harm in paying the minor amounts by way of taxes as imposed by the British. The author has strived to present a fair picture of the existing scenario by explicating that by the year 1773 the tax on tea was negligible “little money would be collected by this tax” (Forbes 1943 p.121). On the other hand, she has also exposed the condescending manner in which the imperialists treated their colony in America ”after all, thought Parliament, the Americans were yokels and farmers - not political thinkers” (Forbes, 1943 p.121). The involvement of the Sons of Liberty - a movement started in by Sam Adams and probably started in Boston, is quite vividly seen in the secrecy of the mission, in the ”placard” being ”printed and posted” that very night, and that ”…the Sons of Liberty will take care of the posting” (Forbes 1943 p. 122). One pertinent point worth mentioning here is that, throughout all the happenings and the events, through all the rumblings of war at various places, the principal character Johnny Tremain does not take part actively in fighting the war, “he fights at neither Lexington nor Concord,” (Holsinger 1999 p.29) though he does act as a rider to the patriots’ newspaper the ‘Boston Observer’. One might wonder then, how could a character that has not taken active part in the Revolutionary War, have anything to do with patriotism or even hope to attempt functioning with patriotic fervour. Interestingly, Esther Forbes has been able to achieve this very end, through the poignant progress of her heroic creation ‘Johnny Tremain’. The words of Dolph, Gerlach & Nicholls stand testimony to this as they remark “Johnny is only the most successful -- and fabulously successful at that...” (1978 p.40) The author has appropriately made Johnny’s “troubles and symbolic rebirth coincides exactly with that of the colonies” (Dolph, Gerlach & Nicholls 1978 p. 39). This is clearly understood in the words of Cilla when she remarks about the impending war to Johnny, “This is the end. The end of one thing -the beginning of something else.... there is going to be a war -civil war." (Forbes 1943, p.161) This cycle of one ending marking the beginning of another, is noted by Dolph, Gerlach & Nicholls who observe that Johnny “has undergone the psychic experience required to transform a boorish, socially inferior adolescent provincial into a militant, morally superior young American” (1978 p. 40). Thus, it is clear the intended function of the principle character serving a patriotic role is well established despite the character not fighting a war directly. Rather, it seems to heighten the inherent poignancy in Johnny’s decision to go ahead with his thumb surgery, in order that “a man can stand up…” (Forbes 1943 p. 256) and be courageous enough to carry on the in the footsteps of his beloved friend Rab. Intertwined Reality and Fiction – A Brief Classification As mentioned earlier the juxtaposition of fictitious characters amidst real, historic personalities like Paul Revere (pp.29-30); Mr. John Hanock (p.30) Sam Adams (p.122) as participating in historically recorded happenings and events has been resorted to by the author, lends a life-like association with the characters, which then become worthy models of being emulated by the younger generation, into whom patriotism, and love for motherland has to be inculcated. Forbes’s research has ensured that the historical characters conform to their individual traits and characteristics and they are portrayed as such in the book too. For example, the physical characteristic of Paul Revere is described as “a stocky, ruddy man, with fine dark eyes…” (Forbes 1943 p.30) Of Samuel Adams the following has been observed “when either cold or excited, his palsy increased. His head and hands were shaking…” (Forbes 1943 p.122) As regards the sequence of events, it has also been strictly adhered to by Forbes, so as to develop the progress of the happenings in the late eighteenth century authentically. The veracity of the events and many of the historical characters automatically forces the mind of the reader to give credence to the existence of the fictitious characters too, and many a reader is inspired into believing and also imitating the bravery of Johnny Tremain. To name a few of such events which have been followed by Esther Forbes in this book are Tea Tax (p.28), Civil War (p. 165), Tea Party (p.149). Effectively and persuasively has the message of patriotism been narrated through the protagonist Johnny Tremain. In the end, not only Johnny Tremain swells up with pride when he listens to Yankee Doodle being played, but the readers too along with Johnny feel pride swelling up inside them. This may ultimately be a lasting testimony to the patriotic function envisaged by Forbes. Conclusion Esther Forbes has used much of the research data gathered by her for another related book of hers, to develop the fictitious character Johnny Tremain: A novel for Young and Old. By using the technique of interweaving the story of an imaginary boy-hero along with the legendary patriotic heroes and real episodes of yore, the author has achieved a compelling reading. Her work is not only informative with pictures and maps and calculations which serve to expand the knowledge of an average teenager, it has the potential to inspire the average youth of present day, to re-think his feelings towards his homeland and country. Since the hero of the novel is a youngster himself, it inherently enables the young reader to empathize with the central character and slowly hold the interest through simple and persuasive narration. It seems to this student that more such Johnny Tremains’ and local legendary figures are required if a nation is to effectively preserve its unity and keep the loyalty and patriotism of its subjects intact. Bibliography Cassidy, G. Casey (1997). “Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness” in the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute web page consulted on Jan 12, 2007. Dolph, A. James., Gerlach R. Larry., & Nicholls, L. Michael (1978). Legacies of the American Revolution. Utah State University Press. Logan, UT. Pp. 39-40. Fischer, Hackett., David (1995). Paul Revere’s Ride. Oxford University Press, US. p. 338. Forbes, Esther (1943). Johnny Tremain: A novel for Young and Old. Houghton-Mifflin Children’s Books. 1998. pp. 1- 256. Holsinger, M. Paul (1999). War and American Popular Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press. Westport, CT. Pp. 29-40. ThinkExist.com (1999). “Samuel Adams quotes” consulted on Jan 12, 2007. Worcester Area Writers (2003). “Esther Forbes”. Webpage last updated on February 20th, 2003. Consulted on Jan 12, 2007. Read More