The internal conflict of Johnny Tremain is should he work hard and change himself for the better, or stay the way he is. Throughout Johnny Tremain, Johnny faces many problems with his life. Johnny's personal band-aid of pride makes it very painful inside for him, but he was masking it which made it even harder for him. That is why, until Mr. Lapham told Johnny that “pride goeth before a fall”, Johnny had no clue that there was any problem. However, Johnny doesn’t think much of it. This is until Johnny met Rab, who made Johnny change. Rab asked Johnny questions, and made Johnny realize there was a problem. Rab changed him for the better. His denial, and his abandonment caused very low self esteem for Johnny. However, Johnny refused to accept …show more content…
If a man wants something to change, he has to be willing to die for his beliefs. Rab did this, in the American Revolution. He wanted American independence, and he wanted this so bad, he went to war and died for it. He was one of the only men in the battle in which he died who truly felt this way. Everyone fled after seeing the Redcoats, and he stood his ground. He believed in this, and he died for it. Johnny was willing to do the same. Johnny had a crippled hand. He decided to risk his life in surgery, so he could risk his life in war. Why would he risk his life? It is because he believed in the American revolution, and was willing to die for it. Another theme the author has was pride comes before fall. If a person, like Johnny, has too much pride then he will fall down very hard. After the fall you would have very low self esteem, and have no pride. Johnny had a ton of pride, then fell down to nothing, and he was suffering, feeling abandoned, hopeless, and had to use band-aids. These band-aids were denial, anger, and he was going through the six stages of grief. After Johnny had way too much pride from being the best apprentice silversmith in boston, he fell down to nothing after he lost this. He hung his cap on being the best, and now he was not. He was worthless in his mind, and the mind of the Lapham’s. This made him go around town for new work, where the symptoms of a huge fall started to show. He demanded work, and was very rude. This is why pride is good if controlled and in small amounts, and this is why you need to keep your head level, and die for what you