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Johnny Got His Gun

Dalton Trumbo

Study Guide

Study Guide

Summary
- Plot Overview
Characters
Main Ideas
- Themes
- Motifs
- Symbols
- Key Facts
Quotes
- Important Quotes Explained
Further Study
- Context
- Full Book Quiz
- Study Questions
- Suggestions for Further Reading
Writing Help

Further Study

Full Book Quiz

Further Study Full Book Quiz

1. Where did Joe grow up?

Shale City, Colorado
Grand Junction, Colorado
Los Angeles, California
Hollywood, California

2. Where was Joe the night his father died?

Out with Kareen
At school
Wandering the streets
Working the night shift at the bakery

3. What is the first faculty that Joe realizes he has lost?

Sight
Hearing
Smell
Taste

4. Where was Joe the night before he left for the war?

At the bakery
At Mike's house
At Diane's house
At home with his sisters and mother

5. What element from Joe's memory of the train station recurs later in the novel?

Kareen giving Joe her ring
The song "It's a Long Way to Tipperary"
The woman looking for her son from Tucson
The patriotic speeches

6. When Joe realizes his left arm has been amputated, what is his immediate fear?

That they will amputate the other arm
That he will not be able to return to battle
That he is not in safe hands
That they have not saved the ring that Kareen gave him

7. Why did Joe decide to work on a railroad section gang one summer?

Because his girlfriend, Diane, cheated on him
To see what it was like to do heavy labor
Because Howie talked him into it
Because his family needed money

8. Who did Joe see Diane kissing on her front porch?

His brother
His best friend
Glen Hogan
Howie

9. Why did Jose knock over a cart of pies?

To get Pinky Carson fired
Because he was over-tired from his day job
To get Jody Simmons to fire him
To get back at Jody Simmons for firing him

10. Why does Joe think the doctors managed to save him?

Because of modern technology
Because he had maggots eating from his wounds, meaning they weren't infected
Because they worked overtime
Because he was hit at a low-injury time

11. Why was Joe's father a failure?

Because he was not a good fisherman
Because he could not make enough money to save
Because he did not teach Joe anything
Because he was not good with his hands

12. What is Joe's central struggle in Book One?

To distinguish his waking hours from his dreaming hours
To remain alive
To communicate with the hospital staff
To kill himself

13. How does Joe learn to keep time?

By keeping track of his nurse's schedules
By counting each minute
By feeling the temperature change at dawn
By paying attention to his inner clock

14. Why did the Scottish man refuse to do battle?

Because Scotland wants to be independent from England
Because he is a worker fighting other workers
Because he is a pacifist
Because he shares allegiance to his enemy's king

15. Why does Joe thrash around in bed after he feels a medal pinned on him?

To show his appreciation
Because he is ashamed
To expose the horror of his body to the men
Because he is trying to touch the medal

16. Why did the young English subaltern in the regiment next to Joe's go mad?

Because his regiment would not let him patrol at night
Because of the airplane noises
Because he stumbled into Lazarus's decayed body
Because his wife threatened to kill him with an axe

17. What does Joe's regular day nurse do when Joe begins tapping Morse code?

She goes to get someone who understands Morse code
She sedates him
She traces letters on his chest
She puts her hand on his forehead to calm him

18. Who is Ruby?

A prostitute in Paris
The first girl Joe had sex with
Joe's sister
A friend of Diane's

19. What sparks Joe's memories about prostitutes and past sexual partners?

Sexual frustration
The knowledge that no one will understand his code
The regular day nurse masturbating him
A switch of nurses

20. Who sedates Joe the first time?

His regular day nurse
A doctor
His new day nurse
A hospital administrator

21. What is the setting of Joe's dream vision of Christ?

The train station
Tucson, Arizona
The woods outside of Paris
Joe's garrison

22. Why does Joe run after Christ in the desert?

Because Joe is converting
Because Joe wants to stop the war
Because Joe knows he does not belong with any of the men on the train, as his fate is different
Because Christ beckons him

23. How does Joe's new day nurse communicate messages to him?

Using Morse code
By tracing letters on his chest
By placing her mouth on his chest
By drawing pictures

24. What time of year is it when Joe is first able to communicate?

New Year's
Christmas
Joe's birthday
Easter

25. How does Joe's version of the Baby Jesus story end?

With Jesus' birth
With Mary fearing for her son
With Jesus' suffering
With Joseph's anger

26. How does Joe suggest he could pay his way in the outside world?

With family savings
As a mascot
As an hospital teaching tool
As an educational exhibit

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Popular pages: Johnny Got His Gun

Character List CHARACTERS
Joe Bonham: Character Analysis CHARACTERS
Important Quotations Explained MAIN IDEAS
Themes MAIN IDEAS

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