A Comparative Analysis of Johnny Tremain's Book and Movie

Books and movies are different and similar in many ways. This book had many purpose for reading it like for entertainment. Reading this book would probably be for an educational purpose. The movie, however, was very entertaining. The book Johnny Tremain is a book and a movie that shows how books and movies can be very different. The book Johnny Tremain and the movie were very different because of the events, the timeline, and the characters

First to show that the book and the movie are different are the events. The Battle of Lexington is one event that was different. In the movie a lot of things were different like, Johnny being there, Johnny’s hand was fixed, there was only seven men at the Battle, and Rab was shot at the Battle. A quote to support this is, “ True, Rab had died.”(Forbes 322) This quote shows that Rab had died in the book, but in the movie he did not die. Another event is The Boston Tea Party. The movie showed that both men and boys were dressed as Indians and taking part of the Tea Party. This is a quote from the book to prove my statement, “ ‘How many other boys could you find for the nights work? Strong and trustworthy boys-for if one once of tea is stolen, the whole thing becomes a robbery-not a protest?’ Rab thought.”(Forbes 149) This shows that rab was gathering up boys for that night, not men like the movie had showed. Last difference for events is Johnny’s accident. In the movie Mrs. Lapham causes his accident, which is different than the book. The quote in the book that can support this is, “Johnny did not see Dove standing on a stool, reaching far back and carefully taking out a cracked crucible.”(Forbes 41) This shows that Dove gave him the cracked crucible so it would mess him up not Mrs. Lapham. So many events were different between the book and the movie that one of the few things that was actually the same was that they happened. Not the exact way that they happened in the book, but they did happen.

Another thing to show the differences is the timeline. The timeline was different between the book and the movie because of the skipped introduction, when Johnny meets Rab, and when Johnny got his hand fixed. First, is the skipped introduction. In the movie they started off when Mr. Lyte orders a sugar basin. In the book Johnny Tremain the whole first 16 pages was the introduction to all the characters. Next, is when Johnny met Rab. In the movie Johnny met Rab while looking for Rab at the printing shop. A quote to show that Johnny did not meet Rab then is, “As he talked to Rab,(the boy had told him that was his name).”(Forbes 60) This quote shows that Rab had met Johnny way later in the book than in the movie. Last, is when Johnny got his hand fixed. Johnny got his hand fixed way before in the movie than in the book. In the movie he got it fixed before Rab went off to war. A quote to support this statement is, “ ‘Yes, I believe you can. You walk about in the fresh air while I get my instruments ready’”(Forbes 316) This shows that Johnny got his hand fixed way at the end of Johnny Tremain the book than he did in the movie. Even though there was many differences in the timeline, there was some similarities like when Johnny got arrested. Those are the differences and similarities in the timeline.

The last thing to explain how the movie and book is different is the characters; some of them were missing, Mrs. Lapham was different and so was Johnny. First is how there was missing characters. In the movie they completely left out Dove, Dusty, Madge, Dorcas, and Isannah. In the book, they spent the first 20 pages talking about them, so obviously they are somewhat important. Second, is how Mrs. Lapham is different. The movie portrayed her as a nice, skinny, quiet woman. In the book it said, “ He pretended not to hear Mrs. Lapham calling from a window to some right back.”(Forbes 45) This shows that Mrs. Lapham is a loud woman if Johnny could hear hr from all the way down the street. Last, is how they showed Johnny. The movie showed him being a short dark haired boy. The book described him as a short blonde haired boy-it even showed a picture of him on the cover of the book. Those are the ways that the characters were different.

In conclusion, the book and the movie were very different. They were different because of the timeline, the characters, and the events. They wer similar in some ways, but not as much as they were different.