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.