The book, Johnny Tremain, written by Esther Forbes, is an exciting historical fiction novel that dates back to the American Revolution in the city of Boston. Johnny Tremain describes a strong message of personal growth through demonstrating that a character’s personality can be positively impacted by other people and life events to change for the better. The story centers around a young arrogant teenager by the name of Johnny Tremain who is an apprentice silversmith. On Sabbath Day, Johnny is interrupted while conducting his craft when he suddenly burns and permanently cripples his hand due to an accident that he overlooked. After this devastating and humbling event for Johnny Tremain, he is forced to find a new occupation and eventually finds a job as a lowly delivery boy for the Boston Observer. While learning in his new career path, Johnny meets a young man named Rab, who secretly tells Johnny the secrets of how he has been working undercover in an effort to help the war by joining the Sons of Liberty. Inspired by Rab and his fascinating story, Johnny Tremain joins the Sons of Liberty alongside Rab and eventually becomes heavily involved in the great Battles of Lexington and Concord during the Revolutionary War participating in several dangerous missions and expeditions.
Johnny Tremain is a remarkably inspiring and memorable book because it intricately demonstrates how someone can positively change their character throughout the course of their life after a devastating event. Praised for her amazing use of character development throughout the novel, Esther Forbes incorporates a captivating and descriptive plot to show how Johnny drastically changed in his personality to make a positive difference for others throughout his inspiring story. Although Johnny Tremain is admired for its great lesson of character development, it lacks focus from the author in other areas that are also important to Johnny’s life such as the attention on his beloved Cilla. In the book, Cilla is heavily involved within a love triangle involving Johnny and his best friend, Rab. However, the story primarily revolves around Johnny, focusing on his personality change and his experience in the American Revolutionary War. This focus ultimately minimizes the character development of his beloved, Cilla, in Johnny’s aspiring story. In contrast, I appreciate the book, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgald for his development of multiple characters. In this book, Jay Gatsby, the main character, reenvisions himself in the past and desires to win over a girl named Daisy who he falls in love with. Throughout the novel, Jay’s ambitious personality changes for the better which leads to Daisy reconsidering her thoughts for Jay and ultimately falls in love with him. If Esther Forbes had incorporated the romance between Johnny and Cilla more intricately in this story to show how it positively changed Johnny’s character, I believe the book would have made a greater impact on me. Generally, the book did not affect me very much, but it showed me the importance of personal growth after disastrous events and continued self-development.
In conclusion, Johnny Tremain is an action-packed and meaningful book but did not make a significant impression on me. I would recommend it for young readers to learn the significance of maturation and how life goes on even after traumatic events. Although Johnny Tremain is a great book revolving on Johnny’s personal development, it lacked details of how his growth affected other people in his circle like his beloved, Cilla. To other readers, I strongly recommend they read the book for how it highlighted the drastic change in Johnny as he slowly grows from being an arrogant and young child to a mature and respectful man.
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