johnny Got His Gun: Chapter 6-7

In these chapters Joe is sitting in his bed and he feels a sharp pain in his side. He realizes it is a rat chewing at his flesh. Joe doesn't know what to make of the rat at first. Then he starts to think that it could not be real. At this point Joe honestly doesn't know if he is awake or asleep...if he is dreaming or if the rat is real. The rat is representative of Joe's helplessness. A rat, an animal the size of your fist is sitting there eating at his side and he can't do anything about it. He can't move away from it, he can't push it away, he can't even cry from the pain. He has to just sit there and take it. This is where the book got kind of real for me. I didn't really think about it as being that big of a deal. After-all he's still alive. But after this scene I realized how messed up it is to keep Joe alive in his horrible position.