Johnny Got His Gun Charlie Anderson Character Analysis
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Unbearable Agony Felt Within War is a constant. Brutal, destructive battles continue every day. On both the battle line and home front one can hear cries of dismay and painful agony. Soldiers are falling to their death and relatives are mourning over their losses. Joe Joe, the protagonist in Johnny Got His Gun and Charlie Anderson, a central character in Shenandoah experience these feelings ranging from hope to devastation first hand. Although Joe participates in combat and Charlie does not, both men sustain extreme damage as a consequence of war. Whether one willingly joins the war or is left with no other option but to participate, misery is often an outcome. Joe Joe feels the need to participate in the war effort. To do so, he leaves his love Kareen, mother, and sisters in his home town Shale City. Initially, Joe does not think much about these good-byes because he does not anticipate that the memory of them would have to last a lifetime.
Joe, lying in a hospital likely far from home, is a “project” for the doctors and staff. He begins to realize that he is isolated from the rest of the world. Joe recalls a bomb exploding right by him on the battlefield and how that bomb is responsible for…show more content… In Johnny Got His Gun, Joe is lying in a hospital bed with no communication or interaction besides that between Joe and a nurse who visits him a few times each day. With all of this spare time available, Joe continually thinks. Because he has little excitement in his present life, his thoughts focus on the past, especially on events leading him up to his participation on the battlefield. One of Joe’s recurring thoughts is about how much he wants to be with those he loves. Joe expresses this longing is his own words; “He was lonely for one look for one smell for one taste for one word that would bring Shale City and his father and his mother and his sisters back to him” (Trumbo