The Arduous Road To Redemption By Johnny Tremain Analysis

Pride is a very relevant issue in almost everyone's lives. Only when a person is forced to face his pride can he begin to overcome it. Through the similar themes of her short stories, Flannery O'Connor attempts to make her characters realize their pride and overcome it.

In the fiction work of Esther Forbes’ “Johnny Tremain”, Rab Silsbee was a mentor to Johnny and helped form him throughout the course of the book. Rab influenced Johnny by acting as a role model and educating him on the political position of Boston. Due to the fact that Rab pushed Johnny to his potential as a messenger and “secret agent”, Johnny is able to grow and mature into the intelligent and courageous man at the end of the book.

“There are two kinds of pride, both good and bad. 'Good pride' represents our dignity and self-respect. “'Bad pride' is the deadly sin of superiority that reeks of conceit and arrogance”

The internal conflict of Johnny Tremain is the decision to work hard and change himself for the better, or stay the way he is. Throughout the novel Johnny faces many problems with his life. His personal band-aid of pride makes it very painful inside for him, but he is masking it which made it even harder for him. When Mr. Lapham tells Johnny “pride goeth before a fall”, he has no idea there is any problem.

Throughout the novel Johnny Tremain, the author, Esther Forbes, displays the universal concepts of growing up and changing. When the story began, the protagonist, Johnny Tremain, was a fourteen-year-old boy. At the end of the novel, Johnny emerges as a sixteen-year-old man, unrecognizable from his younger self, due to carrying characteristics that contrast the traits of the young boy he once was. As Johnny aged in the story, he underwent immense changes. Johnny had changed by gaining the knowledge of how to make good choices, obtaining a better comprehension on things in life, and learning to value certain items or deeds in life.

In Johnny Tremain, Esther Forbes shows how human nature is dynamic and unpredictable by having Johnny change throughout the book. He was a fictional dynamic character who lived in Boston during the 1700s. Johnny's personality changed drastically throughout the story. His feelings for others also changed in the story. In addition, Johnny's views about the American Revolution changed in the story. Johnny Tremain's personality, feelings for others, and thoughts about the American Revolution changed throughout the book.

Another example of pride would be with John Proctor. John Proctor was your everyday man. He was a farmer, he claimed to be Godly though he was said to never attend church. Not attending church then was very frowned upon and even considered a horrible sin. His wife, Elizabeth Proctor, was accused of witchcraft by Abigail Williams. Abigail did this to get revenge because Elizabeth fired her. Elizabeth did this because Abigail had an affair with John. He would not confess to being associated with the Devil because it was not true and he did not want shame brought to his name. Though his wife talked him into confessing, he would not sign his name to the paper. Not only did he not sign his name; he also ripped up the papers. This shows a great deal of pride as well, being that he would not confess because of the way society would look at him thinking that he was associated with the Devil.

Pride generally means the pleasure or a feeling of deep satisfaction that we get because of our achievements or our skills or some kind of rare quality that we possess. Often times, having pride is considered unhealthy for an individual as it is believed that having pride can lead to internal blindness and finally downfall. This is evitable from “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, by William Shakespeare. Although, we can’t neglect a fact that everything has two sides, a bad one and a good one, just like a two sided coin.

By using pride in a bad way, people can be using it to hide emotions. By saying that people are going one place but actually going to another to hide the fact that they don't want to be embarrassed. Or by saying that the narrator taught his brother how to walk, but his brother actually taught himself. In the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, “Doodle told them it was I who taught him how to walk, so everyone wanted to hug me, and I began to cry.” The narrator says this because he wants his family to be proud with him and not doodle.

Any great accomplishment can make someone feel proud about their work. It makes one feel good; it raises a person's spirits. "No question, pride has its good points." (The Toronto Star, Nov 1999) Then again, there are also the bad points of pride one must consider, before being proud. Pride can deceive a person into being ambitious, and make them strive for something that is not rightfully theirs. Both Macbeth and Willy encountered this problem. Pride can also cause a bad relationship with the people one loves most. For Macbeth and Willy, their relationships with their families were burdened as a consequence of this pride. Pride can lead to much worse things; it can put a person in a

The behavior of Johnny Tremain played one of the biggest parts in this book. Johnny Tremain either pushed people away or became very close with them. Helping people was one of his specialties but, he would become very hostile when they tried to help him back. Johnny had a bad hand and because of this he would sometimes do stuff wrong and he would get mad. Before his hand got injured he would become proud of his silversmith work. Johnny Tremain was rebellious when it came to work or to prove he is worthy of something. It was Sunday afternoon, in Boston, at the Laphams shop where Johnny borke sabbath to work on a sugar basin for John Hancock. December 16th, at nightfall, Griffins Wharf became occupied with many brethren including Johnny and

One instance in which this claim holds true is depicted in the story of “The Necklace.” Mathilde, the protagonist is not a very wealthy women, in the text she is gifted a necklace which she believes is of great value and her hardships begin as soon as she loses said necklace (Maupassant 166). Pride is a significant factor to this story because her suffering is brought on since she is unwilling to come forward about losing the necklace. Mathilde works for ten years to replace the necklace, however ironically the time she spent restlessly working was all for nothing since the necklace had no real value. Another example of pride failing is in the story of “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor a man whom holds an unexplained inclination to murder his friend reveals that that man, Fortunato has an easily swayed ego whose overwhelming pride is the cause of his demise. Fortunato was said to have “prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine,” and boasting about himself that the other wine expert, Luchesi “cannot tell amontillado from sherry [like me]” (Poe 174). Due to this mindset of superiority Fortunato foolishly enters the catacombs where he is murdered by Montresor. Finally, the story of Odysseus’ doomed journey home written in “The Odyssey,” displays that pride can result in terrible consequences. Odysseus faces

Johnny Tremain is the orphaned apprentice of a silversmith in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1773, a time of tension and uncertainty. He is the nephew of a very wealthy and powerful merchant named Jonathan Lyte, but that is a secret only known to Mr. Lapham’s daughter Priscilla. Before his mother died, she entrusts him with her christening cup, which proves his relation to the Lyte family, but she warns him never to go to his uncle, unless “God Himself has forsaken you.” When Johnny breaks the Sabbath while trying to fulfill an order his old master was not able to complete, he ends up burning his hand. After the accident, he is unable to move his right hand, and, therefore, he is no longer wanted as an apprentice. Since he cannot find a job,

Johnny Tremain is about a young man in search of a new career after a mishap, which resulted in a hand injury. It was extremely difficult to find a trade that he could master. However,

An overly proud person looks down on people and as long as he looks down, he cannot see that which is above him. On the other hand, an individual with too little pride has an attitude of mediocrity and this hinders self-realization. Disproportionate pride blinds moral judgment, creates intolerance and deters relationships. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin is a novel that portrays individual characters who demonstrate a lack of balance in the way they perceive themselves and as a result they create ruin.