When I first picked up Johnny Tremain from my bookshelf, I simply wanted to read the book and write a review summarizing the plot on our blog. I knew it was a classic, but I expected a children's story. I had no idea how quickly Johnny Tremain would transport me into the early events of the American Revolution, or how I would come to care for the characters. Ester Forbes captures Boston’s brooding unrest, as well as the fear and anxiety that swept Boston in the early stages of the war. You can feel the Sons of Liberty's excited anticipation on the night they throw 342 chests of tea overboard. Although it is a children's story, it captured my imagination and touched my heart with the struggles and growth of the characters throughout the story. Johnny Tremain is a classic that every child should read. It captures American Patriotism and presents, in a sober light, the cost of the freedoms that we enjoy.
“How old are you, Johnny?" she asked.
“Sixteen."
“And what's that, a boy or a man?"
He laughed. "A boy in time of peace and a man in time of war.”
Johnny Tremain is a historical fiction story that follows a young apprentice through the early stirrings of the American Revolution. The story unfolds in Boston, the heart of the rebellion.
Johnny Tremain is a young, arrogant apprentice training under the silversmith, Mr. Lapham. He trains alongside two other apprentices, Dove and Dusty. Unlike these two young men, Johnny is educated, and he lords his education and position over Dove and Dusty, forcing them to do the menial tasks in the shop.
Johnny has his entire future planned out. He has a unique talent for silversmithing and expects to become a wealthy silversmith someday. He anticipates that he will one day take over his master’s business and train his own apprentices. His master also has four granddaughters and plans for one of them to marry Johnny.
Johnny has in his possession a silver cup containing the crest of a wealthy Boston family, the Lytes'. He is related to this prestigious family, but for reasons disclosed in the book, Johnny keeps this secret to himself.
One day, the wealthy John Hancock enters the shop and places a special order for a sugar basin, due by Monday. Johnny worries his master won’t meet the deadline. He takes matters into his own hands, defying Mr. Lapham’s wish that he not work on the Sabbath, and attempts to finish the sugar basin on his own. In the process, an accident occurs, and hot silver spills on Johnny, crippling his hand. In that instant, he loses everything: his position as apprentice, the chance to take over the shop and marry one of Mr. Lapham’s granddaughters, and his dream of becoming a famous silversmith. With a ruined right hand, he is worthless as a silversmith and forced to look elsewhere for work.
“His unhappiness was so great he felt himself completely cut off from the rest of the world…Seemingly in one month he had become a stranger, an outcast on Hancock's wharf. He was maimed, and they were whole.”
Different circumstances shape and mold Johnny as he watches his dreams of becoming a silversmith fade away. In desperation, he turns to his wealthy relatives for help, producing the silver cup as evidence of his family connection. Instead of being welcomed into the Lyte family, he is accused of thievery and brought before a judge. Johnny Tremain is acquitted, but Mr. Lyte is not finished with him. When he has the opportunity, he steals the cup from Johnny, removing the evidence of their family connection.
Johnny runs into Rab, a confident and principled young man. He is immediately impressed with Rab's selflessness and loyalty. At this point in the story, we begin to see Johnny change. His friendship with Rab shapes him from a selfish, proud apprentice into a brave patriot. Rab patiently tolerates Johnny's weaknesses and gently challenges him to overcome them while modeling courage and integrity.
Johnny discovers that Rab is in league with the Sons of Liberty. Rab offers him a position as a rider at the print shop where he is employed. As an express rider, he earns the trust of some of the leading men of the secret rebel group, the Boston Observers. He also does express riding for British officers, where he picks up tidbits of information and shares them with the Sons of Liberty.
As tensions rise between loyalists and patriots, Johnny becomes more involved in politics and the cause for liberty. Through brave acts of courage and sacrifice, Johnny learns to live for a purpose beyond himself. The story's climax comes when Johnny attends a secret meeting of the Boston Observers. There, he overhears a stirring speech by James Otis that fuels his patriotic zeal.
"Some of us will give our wits, some of us all our property. Each shall give according to his own abilities, and some, some will give their lives. All the years of their maturity. All the children they never live to have. The serenity of old age. To die so young is more than merely dying; it is to lose so large a part of life. We must fight this war. You’ll play your part, but what it is really about . . .you’ll never know. It is all so much simpler than you think. We give all we have, lives, property, safety, skills . . . we fight, we die, for a simple thing. Only that a man can stand up."
On the night of the Boston Tea Party, Johnny dresses up like a Mohawk Indian like the rest of the boys on the wharf and, alongside Rab, dumps 342 chests of tea into the harbor.
At one point in the story, Johnny has the chance to reclaim his silver cup, but we see a changed Johnny. He no longer cares about the stolen cup and renounces his aristocratic heritage.
Johnny Tremain befriends a British soldier, Pumpkin, after he helps Johnny escape a whipping from a British patrol. Johnny learns about loyalty and sacrifice through Pumpkin's willingness to risk his own life for another. Pumpkin shares his secret desire with Johnny to desert the British army and own a piece of farmland.
One day, Johnny and Pumpkin make a deal. In exchange for a rifle, Johnny gives Pumpkin a farmer's smock so that he can desert the British army.
Soon after, Pumpkin is caught and shot before a firing squad. Johnny begins to question his own courage.
“Grenadiers they were, in bearskin caps, coat tails buttoned back to show their white breeches. Squared scarlet shoulders and on each shoulder a musket. Each musket ended with a wicked round eye watching him so it seemed. Eight cruel eyes. It was like looking into the face of death. Johnny had always been bold enough, talking about what came, never fearing a fight, and there was much fighting among the boys along the wharves. He had never once doubted his physical courage. But now he did. He could not see how anyone, certainly not himself, could ever have the courage to stand up and face those murderous little eyes. That night for one horrible moment he was glad his hand was crippled. He would never have to face the round eye of death at the end of a musket. For days he felt his own inadequacy. Was the ‘bold Johnny Tremain’ really a coward at heart?”
In stark contrast, by the end of the story, Johnny loses his best friend, Rab. But unlike earlier, when he witnessed Pumpkin's death, he recognizes that in the morning he will grieve his friend's death, but in this moment, Rab's death has emboldened him to take up arms and fight. He is no longer afraid but ready to take a stand for liberty.
“He could smell turned earth and gummy buds. And sweet wood somewhere burning. His nostrils trembled. Almost could they recapture the gunpowder of yesterday. So fair a day now drawing to its close. Green with spring, dreaming of the future yet wet with blood. This was his land and these his people.”
Johnny Tremain makes it onto the Time Traveler’s bookshelf because:
- It transports the reader to the early events of the American Revolution, making you feel like you're at the center of the strife in Boston.
- The reader interacts with historical characters, bringing them to life with their individual personalities, strengths, and weaknesses.
- Ester Forbes weaves in historical events, making them feel like living events in our nation’s history.
- Johnny Tremain is an excellent character study.
- The author uses impeccable vocabulary and beautiful descriptions.
“And some of us would die so other men can stand up on their feet like men. A great many are going to die for that. They have in the past. They will a hundred years from now, two hundred. God grant there will always be men good enough.”
*Parents should be aware that there are several curse words throughout the course of the book.
I hope you enjoy this beautiful story as much as I did. If you get a chance to read it, drop a comment below to let me know what you think.
You can find the book here: https://link.amazon/B03gH2UyD (affiliate link)
Disney also made a movie adaptation in 1957 that, although it doesn't perfectly follow the book, still captures the early tensions in occupied Boston.
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