Realization

At the end of the book, Joe realizes he is the future, but he has no hope. His desire for human contact and for his loneliness to go away will never be fulfilled. He wants to be able to show people the horrors of war, but he is not allowed to leave the hospital because it is against regulations. If people see the horrors, they will not want to fight, and the people in charge of the war need them. They don't want people to see the future. He isn't even allowed to communicate in the hospital anymore because when he tries, they sedate him. Joe is pointing the gun at the "masters of men" who make people fight. They make other people do the fighting while they watch and are out of harms way. He feels that the only way to end the fighting is to fight back at the men who are planning the war, which is why he points the gun at them.

NO MORE BLOGS!!!

Joe's Desires

Joe wants human contact and to be able to communicate with other people. He doesn't want to be lonely. He also wants to get out of the hospital as an exhibit to show people what war can do. If I were him, I would want to get out too. I'm not sure I would want to make myself an exhibit. As much as I would want to show people the horrors of war, I wouldn't want people staring at me thinking and saying whatever they want. It would bother me that I would have no sense of how people were looking at me or what they were saying. The only thing I would be able to sense is if people were around, but nothing more than that. At the same time, the only other option would be to stay in the hospital and do nothing, which I would definitely not want. I think that getting out of the hospital would motivate me to get over my fears of people's reactions.

What does Joe want?

After many attempts to communicate with nurses, one nurse recognizes his morse code and a man comes who understands it. He asks Joe what he wants. What Joe really wants is to be put back together into a functioning human being so that he can live normally in the world, but he knows that is not possible. He decides that he wants to be used as a freak show and travel outside the hospital to show the horrors of war to people. The man leaves after Joe's request but then returns tell him that what he wants is against regulations. He realizes that they are keeping him a secret and that they want to forget about him. The army doesn't want to show people the horrors of the war because it would discourage them from enlisting. He feels hopeless because he realizes that he will be confined in the hospital and that his loneliness from a lack of contact with people and the outside world will never cease.

How Injured is Joe?

Joe was seriously injured in the war. He wakes up in the hospital to discover that he no longer has his arms, legs, and his face. All he can feel are the bandages covering his body. He is unable to communicate with doctors and nurses and feels as if he is an experiment to them. He thinks the doctors value their pride more than his well being. He is even unable to scream out loud when realizes that his arms are cut off, but he often cries out in his head. He goes in and out of consciousness, which he compares to drowning. Even though his body is in a poor condition, his mind is not. He has vivid memories of his past such as with Kareen, his father's death, his life before he went to war, and the war. Also, he has thoughts about his current state and at one point Trumbo writes, "He thought well kid you're deaf as a post but there isn't pain. You've got no arms but you don't hurt. You'll never burn your hand or cut your finger or smash a nail you lucky stiff." Shortly after he becomes bothered by his situation - "I can't. I can't stand it. Scream. Move. Shake something. Make a noise any noise. I can't stand it. Oh no no no...." Both these statements show that Joe is very much mentally alive. His physical state severely impacts his ability to communicate or do anything really, but his mind keeps him alive.

Once Upon a Mattress

The gender roles in Once Upon a Mattress were reversed compared to most other fairy tales. Instead of a princess waiting for her prince, a prince was waiting for his princess. Princess Winnifred didn't have a typical female role. She didn't act very feminine or how a princess usually acts, considering she swam the mote. Instead of being quiet and following what she was told to do, she had characteristics more often associated with males such as the ability to stand up for oneself, strength, confidence, and not being so concerned with other people's thoughts and reactions. Also, she wasn't sensitive, which is a necessary trait of a princess according the the queen. In general, she played a part that would more typically be seen as a male considering her personality, behavior, and especially her role/place in the story. Another example of this gender reversal is the king and queen. The king is usually superior to the queen in most fairy tales, but in this case, the queen was definitely superior. She set the rules, people followed them, and she wasn't challenged (until the end by Dauntless). The male, instead of being superior to the female, was not able to stand up for himself and was forced to follow the queen's orders.