Many families have a tradition. These traditions could be going to a movie on Thanksgiving or picking out a christmas tree every December. In Dalton Trumbo’s novel, Johnny Got His Gun, the author tells a story of a young man and his father’s tradition of going fishing. Through the third person point of view and lack of dialogue, the story shows the detached relationship the father and son have.
The third person point of view of the passage interprets the true feelings of the son and the father’s relationship upon the breaking of the tradition. The third person point of view makes it clear to show that the father is actually upset that the son had broken a tradition of nine years, while the son didn’t think twice about it. The passage begins with the mixed feelings of the son. The son sat in front of the fire and looked across at his father and wondered how he was going to tell him that he wanted to fish with Bill Harper this camping trip, rather than going with his father, …show more content…
There is very little conversation between the father and the son. The detached emotions of the breaking of the tradition adds to the unsettling relationship between the father and the son. The conversations that the father and son have on the issue are short and fake. The author says that there was a pause in the conversation after the son released the news, this establishes the distressed state of emotion the father was in when he heard the news. “I don’t want to go fishing tomorrow anyhow. I’m tired and I think I’ll rest all day,” the father says to the son after receiving the news. The quick lie that the father says to cover his feelings contribute to the not only broken tradition, but the broken bond between the father and son. The short conversation on the broken tradition shape the relationship between the son and his father. From long pauses between questions and statements, the father and son’s relationship is left