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Johnny Tremain takes place in pre-Revolutionary Boston. Johnny Tremain is boy
who is proud—too proud. His pride made him overconfident. He pretty much planned
all of his life while he was young; he would be a silversmith and marry Cilla.
His mother dies when he is fourteen years old. Before his mother died, he was
apprenticed to a silversmith named Mr. Lapham. When his mother died, she gave
him a silver cup that showed that he was a member of the Lyte family. The cup
signifies that he is related to the famous merchant Lyte who was very rich. One
Sunday, in order to get a silver basin for Mr. John Hancock done on time, Johnny
broke the Sabbath and cast a silver pitcher. Dove, who is very unintelligent and
jealous of Johnny gave him a cracked crucible and it spilled all over the stove
top and Johnny went to get it but it burned his hand. Mr. Lapham sent out for a
midwife to come and fix his hand because they didn’t want to get caught working
on the Sabbath by a doctor. She wrapped it up together and it crippled and stuck
together which meant he couldn't work as a silversmith anymore. Johnny’s master,
Mr. Lapham, said that he would always have a home there. Soon Mr. Lapham was
getting impatient and Johnny knew that he needed to get a job. So Johnny went
out to find a job. He had a rough time finding a job because nobody wanted a
so-called crippled boy who supposedly couldn't do anything. After searching and
searching for a new job, he was offered a job by a boy named Rab who was about
his age to deliver the Boston Observer, which was a town newspaper. Johnny
became a messenger for the Sons of Liberty, a group of patriots that includes
Sam Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock. Johnny wanted to get to Lexington, so
he made himself look like a soldier and tore open his shirt and smeared mud and
blood on his face and body. He successfully slipped past the soldiers and got to
Lexington. When he got there, he saw Pumpkin and gave him some clothes to escape
and Pumpkin gave Johnny his uniform and a gun. Johnny dressed up and got to Dr.
Warren. Dr. Warren fixed his crippled hand by cutting the skin. Johnny later
finds out that Rab had been killed in the war. Dr. Warren tried to save him but
could not because he had been fatally wounded.
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