Many measure the costs of war in the number of dead, or in cash and material. This book is a stark reminder that the cost comes in the living, as well. The titular character, ravaged physically by the war to a point unendurable, has paid a cost in flesh. He pays a cost in mind as well, as he finds sanity a difficult prospect in the face of his condition. Even those around him pay a price, in their labors regarding him, as well as the emotions his conditions and their actions have on them.
1 http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/johnny_got_his_gun2.jpg. Accessed July 17, 2016.
1 http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/johnny_got_his_gun2.jpg. Accessed July 17, 2016.