Critical Questions On John Brown

Summary
Dramatic Opening : The poem, like a ballad, has an abrupt, dramatic opening. We are
told that John Brown went off to war and his mother was very proud of him. It was his
mother who had perhaps goaded him to become a soldier. Seeing him tall and erect in
his uniform she had a broad smile on her face. It was a cherished moment for her to see
her son in the uniform. She expressed her feelings of happiness and pride on his being
able to hold a gun and fight the enemy. She advised him to obey his captain. She hoped
he would win lots of medals which they would proudly hang on the wall on his return
home.
False Sense of Pride : When John Brown’s train started, his mother shouted to tell
everyone in the neighbourhood about her son’s going to war as a soldier. She got some
letters from her son for some time which she proudly showed to her neighbours, and
boasted about her son’s uniform and gun. She almost made fun of those who called war
something old-fashioned.
Mother Shocked : Then she received no letter from her son for some time. One day she
got a letter telling her that she should go to the station to receive her son. She smiled
and went to the station. She looked around, but failed to spot her eyes. His face was
totally disfigured. He had lost one of his hands. He wrote a metal brace around his
waist. He spoke in a very low voice. His mother could not recognize even his face.
Horrible Experience of War : The mother asked her son that happened to him in the
war. John Brown tried to talk . He could hardly open his mouth. The scene was so
repulsive that the mother had to turn her face away. At las the son spoke. He reminded
his mother how she thought that the best thing that had happened was his going to the
war. He said that she felt proud of him as he was fighting. He wished she should have
been in his place.
Confrontation with the Enemy-Soldier : The son continued to speak . He said that he
wondered what he was doing in the war, trying to kill someone or die doing so. What
frightened him the most was when the enemy soldier stood in front of him . He saw that
his face resembled his. There was no difference at all.
Just a Puppet : In the midst of the explosive sounds of shells bursting and stink from the
dead bodies he realized that he was just a puppet in a play. He had no will of his own.
Through the roaring sound and smoke a cannonball took his eyes away.
Pathetic Moment : The son, while turning to go away, called his mother to come close.
As she came nearer he quietly dropped the medals he had won into her hand.
Theme
Futility of War : ‘John Brown’ by Bob Dylan underlines the idea that war is not
something to be proud of as it causes so much damage and destruction. Most of the
wars are shows staged by politicians for no real reason. Soldiers are used by them as
pawns or puppets in the name of patriotism or heroism, etc.
That is what the young solider John Brown in the poem experiences. He goes off to war
and fights bravely. There he realizes the futility of war:
‘And I couldn’t help but think, through the
thunder rolling and stink
That I was just a puppet in a play…….
The enemy-soldier he confronts is in no way different from him. He feels a natural link of
humanity with him. This reminds us of the poem ‘The Man He Killed’ by Thomas Hardy
which presents a similar situation. The solider in ‘The Man He Killed’, too, realizes an
invincible bond between him and the enemy-soldier facing him:
Had he and I but met

By an old ancient turn
We should have sat down to wet
Right many a nipperkin
Thus, ‘John Brown’ by Dylan is in the tradition of anti-war poems. However, it is strange
that the poet once denied that he expressed any anti-war sentiments in the poem.
Irony of Life : Another theme of the poem is the unpredictability of life. John Brown’s
mother wants to her son to emerge as a war hero and win lots of medals so that she
could be proud of him. For some time she feels that her dream had come true. But the
irony of fate is that her son wins a lot of medals but he has to pay a heavy price for it.
He loses his eyesight and his face gets badly disfigured.

Critical Questions On John Brown

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Summary

Had he and I but met

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