Johnny Tremain

The novel’s first section focuses on the protagonist’s initial arrogance and his resultant fall from grace. In Chapter 1, fittingly titled “Up and About,” Forbes uses the Lapham household’s morning routine to sketch a character study of the inhabitants. Dorcas’s pathetic imitation of high society ladies and Mrs. Lapham’s painstaking efforts to keep the household fed reveal the family’s low socioeconomic status. Indeed, old Mr. Lapham’s skillful 14-year-old apprentice seems to be all that stands between his family and abject poverty. Although Johnny demonstrates admirable qualities, such as a reliable, hardworking nature, his ego makes him more of a bully than a heroic figure. He knows the Laphams’ survival depends on him, and he delights in giving orders not only to his fellow apprentices but to his master’s family as well.

Of course, not everyone shares Johnny’s opinion of himself. Although Cilla quickly emerges as Johnny’s love interest, she often teases him about his self-importance. Meanwhile, Cilla’s grandfather serves as a mentor figure to the boy. The pious Mr. Lapham’s repeated efforts to turn his apprentice from his prideful ways offer abundant foreshadowing of the disaster that awaits the protagonist. Chapters 2 and 3 take their titles from Leviticus 26:19, one of the passages that Mr. Lapham asked Johnny to read in Chapter 1: “And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass” (10). Mr. Lapham again foreshadows the injury that ends Johnny’s silversmithing career in Chapter 2 when he warns the boy that God “will send [him] a dire punishment for [his] pride” (34). However, Johnny refuses to heed his mentor’s wisdom and so dooms himself.

While Cilla and Mr. Lapham seek to curb Johnny’s pride out of sincere fondness for him, his biggest detractor is the lonely and spiteful Dove. The 16-year-old is Johnny’s polar opposite—physically out of shape, significantly worse at silversmithing, and drearily friendless while the protagonist is leanly fit, endlessly skillful, and well-liked throughout the neighborhood of Hancock’s Wharf. Johnny stokes Dove’s hatred of him with a steady stream of threats and insults, and Dove finds an outlet for his anger in the ill-fated prank in Chapter 3. His intention is to embarrass Johnny rather than injure him, but the cracked crucible has unforeseen consequences. Of course, Dove doesn’t bear all of the blame for Johnny’s burned hand. As the first two chapters heavily foreshadow, the accident is the result of Johnny’s pride. He freely chooses to defy his master’s wishes and work on a Sunday instead of taking Mr. Lapham’s words about humility to heart. Thus, Johnny’s injury is not a mere accident but rather an act of fate that shows the importance of Learning Humility and Empathy.

Johnny’s injury ushers in another of the novel’s major themes, Surviving in a Changing World. The birth and death room where Johnny recovers from his injury symbolizes the death of Johnny’s old life and his vision of his future. Johnny’s economic value was the source of his lofty status in the Lapham household, and he finds his world upended when he is no longer considered useful. Mrs. Lapham, who wished for him to marry one of her daughters and inherit the family business mere months ago, considers him a criminal and a waste of resources. Dove and Dusty were at his beck and call, but now they order him about with impunity. Johnny once proudly looked upon Hancock’s Wharf as his domain, but he feels “maimed” and like “a stranger” when he walks its streets after his injury (43). If he is to survive, Johnny must be reborn and become someone new after his career-ending burn.

Rab’s introduction in Chapter 3 provides a rare bright spot in Johnny’s desolate new existence. By sharing his food and his active listening skills, he proves himself one of the protagonist’s most important allies in just a single interaction. Speaking with Rab gives Johnny a new perspective on himself, and he realizes how badly he treated the people in his life. This insight develops the theme of Learning Humility and Empathy. As the novel continues, the protagonist will gain many more lessons from the perceptive Rab. Johnny experiences another brief moment of happiness when he gives Cilla and Isannah the presents he bought with the money from Mr. Hancock. However, Johnny’s joy evaporates when Isannah rejects him for touching her with his right hand. He thinks of the girl as a friend, so her cruel words hurt much more than the ableist pity of comparative strangers like Mr. Hancock.

This section ends with Johnny’s decision to go see Mr. Lyte, something his mother told him he must never do unless “there was nothing left and God Himself had turned away his face” (71). The silver cup that proves his kinship to the Lytes is introduced in Chapter 1. The object, which represents wealth and status, is one of the novel’s most important symbols. A softer side of Johnny emerges in the scene in which he lets Cilla see the cup. He shows an unprecedented degree of vulnerability by telling Cilla about his deceased mother and showing her his most cherished possession. In Chapter 3, Johnny’s thoughts turn to the cup and his mother once again as he weeps at her grave. Due to the destruction of his bright future as a silversmith, Johnny sees Mr. Lyte as his only way out of the darkness that encompasses him. He little realizes how seeking out his mother’s relatives will compound his problems.

Due to Johnny’s pride and his preoccupation with his own problems, the political climate of Boston is little more than background noise in this section. The story begins in Boston in 1773, yet the only hint of the coming conflict is Mr. Lapham’s brief comment that John Hancock and Sam Adams are “always trying to stir up trouble between us and England” (18). Even then, the protagonist’s attention is far from politics and firmly on the sugar basin the man commissioned. As the novel continues and Johnny gains the humility and empathy to look beyond himself, he will become much more aware of the forces that threaten to tear Boston apart.