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Chapter 15
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Johnny Got His Gun, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Horrors of War
The Value of Life
Elites vs. Common People
Time and Memory
Summary
Analysis
Joe has abstract, hazy thoughts. He thinks he hears music, then all is silent. Soon after, he starts hallucinating that he’s with Jesus Christ in a railway station. Christ has just come from Tucson, and he starts playing blackjack with a man who has red hair. Christ gets a 12 in blackjack and says he never hits on a 12, even though he knows logically that it’s safer than hitting on a 13.
Joe’s confused thoughts show that sedative is taking effect. With the sedative, the hospital staff prove that they can control not only Joe’s body but even his mind—the one thing he has left. Joe’s thoughts while on the sedative turn surreal, providing a sharp contrast from the more orderly and rational thoughts that he tried to convey in Morse code.
Themes
Suddenly, the red-haired man throws down his cards and announces that he knows the date he’s going to die, so he has to go say goodbye to his wife and kids. A Swedish man who’s also sitting at the card table tells the red-haired man to stop complaining—everyone at the card table knows they’re about to be killed. All of a sudden, they hear ghostly music, and Christ explains it’s the music of death.
These men seem to be in some kind of purgatory, with Jesus acting as their guide. Cards in this scene symbolize random chance, calling back to the earlier scene when Joe mused that surviving an artillery blast like he did was a bit like winning the lottery in reverse. The music of death also bears some similarity to the ominous telephone ringing that appeared in earlier chapters.
Themes
The card players notice that one of the men at the table actually isn’t about to die. Everyone looks at him. Joe seems to see himself from an outsider’s perspective as he explains that, while he isn’t about to die, he is about to lose his arms, legs, hearing, and sight. Eventually, all of the card players, including Joe, board a train. Christ says he’ll go with them for a little while, but then he has to go back to meet more dead people. The train rumbles through the desert. Eventually, Christ comes out of the train and floats above the desert. Joe runs after Christ to throw himself at his feet and cry.
The perspective in the chapter shifts around, with Joe seemingly a participant in the action and an observer at the same time. The imagery of a train in the desert seems to be a callback to Joe’s experience working on train tracks in the desert with his friend Howie, showing how fantasy and reality mix in Joe’s current, sedative-induced dream. Joe’s desire to cry at Christ’s feet in the dream seems to be a manifestation of the frustration and desperation he feels in real life and how he wants someone to help him.
Themes
