Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas
explored in a literary work.
War’s Transformation of Boys into Men
When Johnny Tremain begins, the protagonist
is a fourteen-year-old boy. The novel ends less than two years later,
and Johnny Tremain is a sixteen-year-old man. His rapid maturation
is largely a function of the extreme political climate of his time.
As a messenger and spy for the colonial rebel leaders, Johnny is
thrust into life-and-death circumstances. To protect himself and
those he works for, he must abandon many of the childish proclivities
of his past. Working as a small-time spy, he is forced to develop
into a trustworthy, patient young man, since he might have to listen
carefully to hours of conversation just to glean a small tidbit
of information. He must also learn to restrain his quick temper
and impetuousness to survive during the turbulent and dangerous
Revolutionary period. Most dramatically, Johnny is forced to focus
on something larger than his own individual concerns. Because of
the war, Johnny must fight and die for the independence of his fellow
colonists, and he turns his fervor and passions outward. He leaves
behind his callow selfishness and becomes a steadfast, patriotic
man, eager to fight and die for his country.
The preternatural maturity demanded of boys in times
of war is also clearly exhibited in the character of Rab. When Johnny
first encounters Rab, the sixteen-year-old boy is already a man:
he is self-possessed, fearless, and ready to die for his beliefs.
Rab seems almost unbelievably precocious. His advanced development becomes
conceivable only when we realize that he has been involved in the
secretive revolutionary effort for years already. Like Johnny and
many other children of wartime, Rab is unable to indulge in the vices
and luxuries of childhood.
Forbes wrote Johnny Tremain during World
War II, just after Pearl Harbor was attacked. She noticed how young
men are forced to grow up quickly in times of war, as they are suddenly
responsible for the fate of their country and their fellow men,
not just for their own goals and ambitions. Forbes fashioned the
youths of her Revolutionary War novel on her observations of the
young soldiers fighting in World War II. Johnny Tremain, like the
young men in World War II, could not control the circumstances in
which fate placed him. Instead, he was forced to find his inner
courage and become a self-assured adult.
The Revolution as a Coming of Age
Johnny Tremain is a double coming-of-age
story. It is not only the tale of Johnny’s journey into adulthood,
but also the story of the colonies’ maturation into a nation. When
we first meet Johnny, he chooses his battles very poorly. Rash and
proud, he lashes out at anyone whom he thinks treats him with disrespect.
Johnny, however, does not respect anyone else. He constantly torments
his fellow apprentice Dove, and makes an enemy of a boy eager to
be Johnny’s friend. He becomes an enemy of the Baltimore silversmith
Mr. Tweedie after he hurls an unprovoked barrage of outrageous insults at
him. By extension, Johnny also angers Mrs. Lapham by placing her
partnership with Tweedie in jeopardy. Finally, and most dangerously,
Johnny unleashes his fury and outrage on Jonathan Lyte, one of the
richest and most powerful men in Boston. Each of these thoughtless
acts of anger eventually comes back to haunt Johnny. His poor relationship
with Dove leads to his crippling accident, his provocation of Lyte
leads to criminal prosecution, and the ill will that Mr. Tweedie
and Mrs. Lapham bear him very nearly gets him hung on the gallows.
As Johnny befriends the Whigs of Boston, he undergoes
many transformations. One of these transformations is a shedding
of his truculent nature. Under Rab’s tutelage, Johnny learns to
control his outrage at petty offenses. Johnny does not suppress
his fervor, as the pious pacifist Mr. Lapham would have preferred.
Rather, Johnny redirects his passion into a worthy cause. Instead
of petty and personal outrage, Johnny begins to feel a deep and
meaningful commitment to a battle worth fighting for—a battle for
freedom and for the equality of all men.
Johnny’s cause is ultimately the colonies’ cause, as
the colonial rebels eventually choose to fight for the rights and
freedom of men. Like Johnny, though, the colonists evolve from fighting
petty skirmishes to a revolution for independence. After nearly
a decade of boycotts and other minor insurrections, the rebel leaders
finally conceive the compelling reasons for a war against Britain.
Their ideology crystallizes, and the leaders make it clear that
their cause is a fight for the equality of all mankind, rather than
a small-minded fight for their own pocketbooks. With an understanding
of their new ideology, and a grasp of the scale of their fight,
they realize that boycotts and other minor rebellions are not the
best means for their ends. The colonists realize that they must
focus their efforts and fight a war for only one thing: independence.
Once the colonists realize what is worth fighting for, they begin
the process of maturing into a country.
