THE VERY LAST BLOG!

At the end of the novel, Joe realizes he is the future. He represents what will happen to people if they go to war and fight. They will get hurt, cripple, be like him, or even die. Even though he is the future, he has no future and has no hope left because he cannot be free from the hospital since it is “against regulations”. He is not going to be able to enlighten people about what his views are and what he thinks the world should be like. The government and military just want to suppress him so people will still want to fight for their country in wars and be supportive.

He is pointing the gun at the “masters of men” or the authority that sends people to war like the government. They are the ones who organize it and plan it, but yet they do not fight in it. They are spectators while the soldiers they sent are getting killed. He realizes that people are being told that they are fighting for democracy, but in reality they aren’t. How can they be fighting for democracy when everyone is being shot and killed? The ones who fight are not given democracy since they are dead.

At the end of this book, it seems that the writer switched his point of view on wars. Throughout the book, Trumbo seemed very anti-war and that all wars are pointless. In the end, it seemed he was saying if a war has a good cause then people should stand up and fight.

Joe's Desires

I agree with Joe and his desire to be as an exhibit to a certain extent. He wants people to come and view him since he is very unique. He just wants the human contact because he only he feels the presence of the doctors and nurses. He wants more than that so he can feel alive. If people would come and visit him, then he would not be lonely. However, by doing this he is making himself somewhat of an exhibition. He would be put on display and anyone and everyone would be able to look at him. He would not know what they were saying or thinking about him. He would be like an animal in the zoo, always being watched.

I’m not sure if I would want it or not. I bet if I were in that situation I would be desperate enough to put myself on display just so I would not feel alone. However, I would hate the feeling that people would be staring at me and judging me when they did not actually know me since I could not talk, speak, see, or hear.

What Joe Wants and What He Can't Get

Joe wants the things that people take for granted like legs, arms, and the ability to smell, taste, see, talk, and feel. He wants to be able to feel the air. He also wants to communicate to the nurses and doctors and have interaction. He desires to be considered an alive man and he does not want to be forgotten. Joe wishes to get out of the hospital so he can feel people around him that are of his own. In the hospital, he feels like a prisoner because it is like he is locked up and cannot do anything. He feels like is wrongly there since he has not committed a crime or done anything illegal. It is against regulations to let him out because they do not want people to see what war can do to them. They do not want people to be affected by seeing him and not fight for their country. They were afraid that Joe would show the soldiers the future if they went to war, so they kept him a secret. It was to keep people positive about war.

The Injured Joe

Joe is severely injured from being in the war. When a bomb was dropped right where he was, he dove into a hole. The next thing he knows is that he has no arms, no legs, and he does not have a face. He is deaf, blind, and without a nose. The places where he can feel something is on the top of his head and his stomach and on his stubs of his arms and legs. The only way he knows if someone is around him is by trying to feel vibrations from their footsteps or from the door (unless they touch him, then he knows). The way he can tell time is by really focusing on the temperature of his stomach or parts of his body that he can feel heat. When his skin starts to get warmer, he knows it is sunrise.

Even though Joe is incredibly injured and crippled, he is very much alive. His mind is always thinking about the past and of ways to try to communicate with the nurses or doctors. Since no one understands his tapping code, he cannot communicate. His state severely affects him.