In the novel Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo utilizes a wide range of literary elements, namely point of view, selection of detail, and syntax, in order to portray the relationship between the young man and his father as one that is deeply close and full of memories, and at the same time, highlighting the growth of the young man and his inevitable distance from the father, ultimately revealing the ideas of acceptance and understanding that children will grow up and become independent from their parents.

To start, Trumbo initially paints the relationship as a healthy one, where one party enjoys to spend their time with the other. The son and his father enjoys building campfire, and so "each summer they came to" where the pine trees and lakes are. The detail introduced right in the first paragraph displays a sense of intimacy between the father and son, proving that there is nothing broken or fragile in this relationship, pretty much the other way around since it shows that the father and the son are willing to spend the time in their life to have a moment of enjoyment together, enhancing the relationship they have. Just one single line speaks a loud and clear message about the trust and memories they have had with each other. Over the years, it has become a tradition of the family, as shown in how "they had been coming to this place ever since [the son] was seven" and that "now he was fifteen." The father and son have been doing that for eight years, and this is a significant amount of time. By showing that it is not a one-off trip, Trumbo is displaying how mindful the father is, how he cares about his son's happiness, and it is evident that the son enjoys spending his time with the father, "fish[ing] in the lakes" with him, another detail that shows that the son is not going with his dad just for the sake of satisfying his dad's hobby, but because they really love each other.

That said, quickly after introducing the healthy relationship, Trumbo makes a shift in how the story would progress, by introducing the son's hesitancy in asking his father about something that might affect their "relationship." Trumbo implies that it takes a long time for the son to figure out how to tell his father that "he wanted to go fishing with someone else other than his father." A change in their relationship seems to appear, and it works well with the fact that now the son has been fifteen years old, he has friends to spend his time with, and not just with his father; this idea is highlighted when Trumbo writes that "it was an ending and a beginning." Things have to change in life, and relationships are hard to remain constant. But at the same time, the detail shows how the son cares about his father's feeling, that is why it takes him a moment of consideration before he reveals his desire to the father. And fortunately, the father is portrayed to be a very understanding parent, as if he has always expected that this moment would come. After the son reveals that Harper and he will go fishing, Dalton writes a paragraph about how the father cares about the details, like "has Bill Harper got a rod?" or "why don't you take my rod and let Bill use yours?" The interesting syntax is utilized in this paragraph: there is not any single appearance of the quotation mark, despite it being a dialogue between two people. This lack of quotation marks allows the conversation to flow quickly, resembling how it actually happens as they talk to each other. What the fast flow shows is that the father quickly accepts that the son has to move on without him by his side.

Finally, the son agrees to the plan of using his father's rod, which has a greater meaning behind it. As how the son understands it, "there was nothing his father treasured more" than his fishing rod. The son seems to assume the father loves the fishing rod, he loves the experience of fishing with his son, and that he would be sad if something else happens, which explains why the son was hesitant in the first place. But he quickly realizes that "his father had volunteered the rod" because there is something the father values even more: seeing his son grows over time. The internal realization proves that perhaps the entire purpose of bringing the son to the lakes and fishing, and doing all the campfire things, is not just for the son to have a moment of relax and enjoyment, but rather to grow the son into a man, and seeing him going on with his friends, all by himself, is the greatest gift. And with that, the son "got up and gave Bill his rod and took his father's for himself" and they went fishing "without awakening his father." The final line marks the transition of relationship between the father and the son, because the moment the son inherits the father's rod, the son has also become an independent man of the family, and that he has greater responsibility to do without the need of a father by his side. It was an ending and a beginning, as bright as the sunshine at six o'clock. It's no longer the son who sleeps in peace and a father who stares into the fire, it's now the son who moves on and searches for greater fires, greater fishes in his life, with all the memories and lessons learned from his father.