Johnny Tremain

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. Silversmith (Chapter 1 and various chapters)

2. A sugar basin (Chapter 1 and various chapters)

3. A silver cup (Chapter 1)

Short Answer

1. At the start of the novel, Johnny demonstrates his pride by bossing around Dove and Dusty. For example, he orders them to complete chores he considers beneath him and calls them insulting names. Johnny also disregards Mr. Lapham’s efforts to teach him to act more modestly. (Chapter 1 and various chapters)

2. Dove gives Johnny a cracked crucible. When the crucible collapses, molten silver burns Johnny’s right hand. As a result, Johnny’s career as a silversmith is over. (Chapter 2)

3. Rab is an apprentice at a printing office, and he helps Johnny by sharing some food with him. Johnny feels much better after sharing his story with Rab. Rab also offers Johnny a job delivering papers, but Johnny declines. (Chapter 3)

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. Rab (Chapter 4)

2. Deliver papers (Chapter 5)

3. Goblin (Chapter 5)

Short Answer

1. Mr. Lyte accuses Johnny of stealing the silver cup with his family crest, and he asks the judge to give Johnny the death penalty. (Chapter 4)

2. Rab recruits the brilliant Josiah Quincy to be Johnny’s defense attorney, and he helps Cilla and Isannah attend the trial even though their mother doesn’t want them to appear in court. Cilla and Isannah convince the judge that Johnny is innocent by testifying that he showed them his cup in July, the month before he was accused of stealing the object. (Chapter 4)

3. Johnny delivers messages to the men planning the Boston Tea Party, and he participates in the destruction of the tea. (Chapter 6)

Chapters 6-9

Reading Check

1. A musket (Chapter 7 and various chapters)

2. Horses (Chapter 9)

3. Pumpkin (Chapter 9)

Short Answer

1. After the Boston Tea Party, England issues the Port Act, which closes the city’s harbors to all vessels except for British warships and transports. This makes food and other goods harder to come by, results in the closure of businesses, and escalates the tensions between the Americans and the British. (Chapter 7)

2. Johnny befriends Dove because Dove is Colonel Smith’s horse boy, and Johnny might be able to gain important information about the British army from Dove. In addition, Johnny no longer feels hatred towards Dove over the prank that injured his hand. (Chapter 7 and various chapters)

3. The Lytes are Tories, and they leave Milton because they are chased back to Boston by a mob of the Sons of Liberty. Cilla goes back to Milton with Johnny to gather the Lyte family’s silver because she was responsible for gathering it and it was left behind in the confusion. (Chapter 8)

Chapters 10-12

Reading Check

1. Dove (Chapter 10)

2. Pumpkin’s uniform (Chapter 11)

3. Lexington (Chapter 12)

4. His musket (Chapter 12)

Short Answer

1. Johnny dreams about working with Sam Adams and John Hancock to boil lobsters with human eyes. His dream indicates that he feels conflicted and guilty about how his efforts to help the revolution endanger the lives of British soldiers, who were disparagingly called “lobsterbacks” by the colonists. He believes in the cause of liberty and independence, but he is anxious about the blood on his hands. (Chapter 10)

2. Lavinia Lyte tells Johnny that his father was a French prisoner of war and that his father’s family told the Lytes that Johnny’s parents died in France because neither family approved of the match. She also tells him that her father regrets how he treated Johnny when he thought the boy was a swindler. If Johnny survives the war, he will be eligible to inherit a large piece of property from the Lytes. (Chapter 11)

3. Dr. Warren offers to perform surgery on Johnny’s right hand. Johnny accepts this offer because the operation could allow him to fire a musket and take Rab’s place in the fight for freedom. (Chapter 12)