Johnny Tremain

Johnny Tremain is a work of historical fiction written in 1943 by Esther Forbes that is set in Boston prior to and during the outbreak of the American Revolution. Intended for teen-aged readers, the novel's themes include apprenticeship, courtship, sacrifice, human rights, and the growing tension between Patriots and Loyalists as conflict nears. Events depicted in the novel include the Boston Tea Party, the British blockade of the Port of Boston, the midnight ride of Paul Revere, and the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
The book won the 1944 Newbery Medal and is the 16th bestselling children's book as of the year 2000 in the United States, according to "Publishers Weekly". In 1957, Walt Disney Pictures released a film adaptation, also called "Johnny Tremain".
Plot summary.
The story begins on July 23, 1773, in the Boston silversmith shop of elderly Ephraim Lapham, where Johnny is a promising 14-year-old apprentice. It is understood that someday he will marry Mr. Lapham's granddaughter Cilla to keep the shop within the Lapham family. The shop soon receives a challenging and urgent order from wealthy merchant John Hancock to make a silver dish to replace one that Mr. Lapham fashioned decades before. While preparing Hancock's order, Johnny's hand is badly burned when Dove, another apprentice resentful of Johnny, deliberately gives him a cracked crucible that leaks molten silver. Johnny's hand is burned and crippled beyond use, and he can no longer be a silversmith. Johnny's youthful pride is crushed by the injury, which has made him useful only as an unskilled errand boy. He goes off to find a new job that will accept his crippled hand.
After a series of rejections, Johnny reaches the low point of his young life. While searching for jobs, he encounters in a printshop a young typesetter named Rab Silsbee, who is friendly to him. He then decides to turn to Mr. Lyte, a wealthy Boston merchant. Johnny explains that his mother told him that he and Mr. Lyte are related and as a last resort, to turn to him for help. Lyte requests the proof, and Johnny shows him a silver cup with the Lyte family's crest. Lyte says it was stolen from him in a burglary, and Johnny is arrested because it was believed that he had stolen it. Eventually, Johnny is freed by the court after Rab brings Cilla to court and she testifies that he showed her his cup before the burglary ever took place.
Johnny settles into a job delivering a weekly newspaper, the Boston "Observer". The "Observer" is a Whig publication, and Johnny is introduced to the larger world of pre-revolutionary Boston politics by his new friend Rab. Johnny learns to ride and care for Goblin, a beautiful but skittish horse used to make deliveries, and moves in with Rab in the attic of the newspaper's shop.
As months go by and tension between Whigs and Tories rises, Johnny becomes a dedicated Whig himself. Johnny matures and re-evaluates many personal relationships, including that with Cilla, who becomes a trusted friend and fellow Whig. Johnny and Rab take part in the Boston Tea Party, in which Boston patriots throw a shipload of tea into the harbor rather than allow the ship's owner to unload the tea and pay a tax imposed by Parliament without the consent of the people of Britain's American colonies. In retaliation Britain sends an army to occupy Boston and closes the port, inflicting hardship upon the inhabitants of this commercial and trading town. Rab soon decides to leave the “Observer” and become a soldier, taking with him a musket that Johnny acquired for him. At the end of the book, it is revealed that Rab had been fatally shot in battle, but before he dies he gives the musket back to Johnny. A local doctor offers to perform surgery to fix Johnny’s hand, and the story ends with Johnny’s acceptance of the offer.
Characters.
The novel features both fictional and historical characters.
Reception.
"Kirkus Reviews" wrote, "This is delightful reading, but at the close it seems to leave less sense of substance and permanence than her best work ("Paradise" and "Paul Revere"), but to me it was more satisfying than "The General's Lady" or "Mirror for Witches"." Common Sense Media said that "this sweeping tale of redcoats and revolutionaries has a lot to offer" and remarked, "Forbes, a historian, writes with detail and precision, imbuing historical events with life and passion that is often lacking in textbooks."
Similar characters in other media.
Another Johnny Tremaine (note the different spelling of the surname) was a different fictional character played by Rod Cameron in the 1949 Republic Pictures film "Brimstone", written by Thames Williamson and Norman S. Hall. This second Tremaine was a U.S. Marshal who goes undercover to stop a cattle-smuggling ring. The release of "Brimstone" followed the awarding of the Newbery prize to the novel "Johnny Tremain", but preceded the release of the 1957 film "Johnny Tremain" by Disney.