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Literary Analysis Of Johnny Got His Gun

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Dalton Trumbo, author of Johnny Got His Gun, is known for his unique style of writing. Many acclaimed authors of books such as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice have a formal writing style , on the other hand, Trumbo’s is informal. It consists of short sentences and punctuation techniques. This writing style is what sets Trumbo apart from others because this writing style is difficult to execute and it is hard to apply to other works of literature. His book, Johnny Got His Gun has won the award for “National Award for Most Original Book”. This book is about a soldier named Joe who has become handicapped after a bomb blast and experiences flashbacks which reflect back onto his past and present time. The authors’ style of writing affects the way a reader interprets the story through the use of literary elements and literary devices. Fine Three elements that define an author’s style of writing include diction (the word choice), syntax (sentence analysis), and figurative language (language analysis). An example of diction arises from the main character, Joe, contemplating what they fight for in the war. The quote, “Pay no attention when they tap you on the shoulder and say come along we’ve got to fight for liberty or whatever their word is there’s always a word,”( Trumbo, 118) displays Joe’s frustration with the war. The word choices of “pay no attention”, “whatever”, and “always” can convey the annoyance that Joe is feeling in an open yet honest way. Based on his works, Trumbo

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