In the first four chapters of “Johnny Tremain“, Esther Forbes brings us 125 years back to colonial America and introduces us to Johnny Tremain (an arrogant silversmith apprentice), the family he serves (the Lapham family), and the two other apprentices (Dove and Dusty). Johnny is assigned to recreate a silver bowl, but he messes up on a crucial part and has to finish the project on Sunday. When Dove, Johnny’s biggest enemy, gives Johnny a cracked crucible, Johnny ends up burning his hand (the accident), thus disabling him from learning his trade. Johnny goes to one of his distant relatives, a wealthy merchant, but is falsely accused of robbery and put to trial. One of his friends, Rab, finds the finest lawyer in Boston, and Johnny wins the trial.
Johnny’s haughtiness stands out conspicuously before his accident with the cracked crucible. For example, “Johnny’s ability made him semi-sacred. He knew his power and reveled in it. He could have easily made friends with stupid Dove, for Dove was lonely and admired Johnny as well as envied him. Johnny preferred to bully him” (Forbes 4). Only an haughty person (to put it mildly) would prefer to bully their inferiors over befriending them. Also, when Mr. Hancock, one of Boston’s wealthiest merchants, arrived at the Laphams’ shop, Johnny tells the slave ” ‘Mind that horse doesn’t trample our flowers’ ” (Forbes 13) even when there aren’t any. These are just a few examples of Johnny’s arrogant attitude before his accident.
Johnny’s actions immediately after his accident don’t differ with his previous actions (for example, when he scared Mr. Tweedie in the Laphams’ shop), but after he gets accustomed to his new life his personality instantly transforms. After Mr. Hancock gives Johnny a bag of silver, Johnny thinks of Cilla and Isannah when he buys a picture book for Cilla and limes for Isannah. Had the accident not occurred to Johnny, he would have spent all of his money on food, shoes, and books, which he didn’t really need. Another example is when Rab gets Dr. Josiah Quincy, Boston’s best lawyer, to defend Johnny. Johnny responds to Rab, ” ‘I could never pay him’ ” (Forbes 79). Before his accident, Johnny wouldn’t have thought about the money and felt he deserved the opportunity.
Johnny’s accident that led to his crippled hand definitely alters his personality. Before he gets injured, Johnny acts superciliously to everybody, including the Lapham girls, his fellow apprentices, and even Mr. Hancock and his master (an elderly and therefore venerable man). After his pride went before the fall, though, Johnny starts being more humble to his friends, like Rab, and thinks of other people as well as himself. It is because of his injury that Johnny truly realizes the importance of being humble.
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