Urgent Questions and Bold Claims, Per 4

Questions

Bold Claims

Why is there so much about Jesus’s birth in Ch. 17? Is there any significance to the references to “daddy” (228) and “father” (229)? What is it that Joe first says to the doctor in Ch. 19? How does Joe know that all the workers will be willing to turn and fight with him? At the end of Ch. 20, where will “we point the gun”? What does the last sentence on 242 mean? Is the end of the book foreshadowing something? Is Trumbo suggesting it is basic human nature to fight? What is the purpose of the Biblical allusions? Since Trumbo left no resolution for Joe, are we to assume there is no possible resolution for Joe? Why did the doctor ask Joe such a plain question? On 240, Joe compares himself explicitly to Christ. Why is it so explicit? Why say “by God and by Christ”? Why would the doctor let Joe finish his speech if he wasn’t going to listen? What’s the significance of Joe’s father? Why didn’t they just let him go outside? Who specifically were “the masters of men” on 243? Why did he choose this title? What did Joe ask that was against regulations? Why didn’t Joe ask for help from an outside organization? What was so special about the new nurse?

The imagery on 223 shows he’s stripped of his basic human rights. The nursery rhymes emphasize the effects of war on the innocent. The end of Ch. 17 shows that mothers should fear that their sons will go off to war. The doctors didn’t try to communicate with Joe because they were afraid of what he could have to say. The purpose of the book is to emphasize the impacts and perversions of war. All the “big guys” in the world keep secrets from the “little guys” to keep them doing what the “big guys” want. Joe’s name and condition are symbolic of his ordinariness and his condition symbolizes what you can lose from war.