Johnny Got His Gun and Born on the Fourth of July
...is trying to express. Adding to that note the simple construction of each sentence, which at times lead to wordiness leaves one no choice but to become one with Bonham. In conjunction with the use of language, the manner in which the novel and movie are told in allowed for the author in Johnny Got His Gun to be more expressive with his feelings through words. Throughout the book, Bonham covers all of the important people and conversations in his life with picturesque detail. While the movie had various scenes with Kovic and others that he was influenced by and loved, the producer left it short, perhaps because he thought it was made up through visuals. This point is made most obvious when both works closely follow the theme of democracy. Scenes in the movie were rather striking and accurate however, the novel offers more of an impact. While the producer had Kovic’s character strongly protest, yell, and chant to a large crowd about the abuse and lies the government forgoes, it was just a repeat of what most war movies have done in the past. Bonham, however, relates it directly to his life and says, “I would trade democracy for life. I would trade independence and honor and freedom and decency for life. I will give you all these things and you give me the power to walk and see and hear and breathe the air and taste my food” (p.118). Perhaps the author intended this to be read with a strong voice, but not loud, just enough so that the reader could feel the pain and frustration felt by Bonham. A technique that was used in both the movie and the book were flashbacks, however, its effectiveness is mastered in the novel better due to its variety. First, the use of flashbacks is appropriate for war books and movies because of shell shock and posttraumatic stress syndrome. Symptoms of these disorders are intrusive re-experiences. In the movie, there was one reoccurring flashback, named the time Kovic accidentally attacked a Vietnamese family and saw the only person he had not killed was the baby who constantly cries in these flashbacks. Since this reoccurring flashback did not flow with the story line as they do in the novel, they cause the movie to be disjointed, making it less interesting and vague. It must be understood, however, that the novel consists of more flashbacks than the movie because most of the novel was Joe Bonham’s memories, of pieces of his entire life. Bonham’s flashback consists of everything from his childhood to his girlfriend to experiences he had at war. This approach allows the reader to get to know the protagonist more on an emotional level. Another main difference between these two pieces is the constant sympathy Ron Kovic asks from his peers compared to the indirect compassion Bonham inadvertently receives through simply telling stories about his experiences. In Johnny Got His Gun, Joe never directly asks for sympathy from his readers for his current state. In the movie, however, there are numerous times when Kovic yelled at people and stated that he was a “Vietnam Veteran who served his country and that they didn’t know what they where talking about because they didn’t know what it was like.” While this can be true for some, there are many Veterans of war, he was being selfish making it seem as though he was the only one affected. For example, as someone who is totally disconnected from the war as I, I am still emotionally affected in many ways whether it is from television or simply books. Manhood was another theme followed by both of these pieces, however, it was explored much more in depth in the movie compared to the novel. For example, in the movie compared to the one chapter in the novel. In the movie, Ron Kovic is extremely concerned about this loss of manhood and continuously goes to hookers to try to satisfy himself. The director made sure to have Kovic’s character upset and in addition made sure the audience was aware of it. Bonham has a nurse give him pleasure, however, it was never something he asked for but simply received without consent. During one of the times that a nurse was touching him he thought, “… the tips of her fingers and a sharp little twinge of dis...