Death Be Not Proud

The book Death Be Not Proud has many points of significance, all of which were realized after the tragic death of a son. The points of significance all reflect major life lessons that all people should live by. Those life lessons include never taking life for granted, a person should always strive to succeed, having a positive attitude leads others to be happy, and to stay by the people you love through rough times. These lessons helped one young adult, Johnny, live his short life the best he could.

The first point of significance is that a person should never take life for granted. The book Death Be Not Proud is about a young boy and his struggles with a brain tumor. While Johnny, the young boy, was a very mature seventeen year old it is still very tragic that he did not get to live as long as most people. Many people in our society do not stop to think about the small things in life until something grave has happened. Johnny lived his life to the fullest before and after he found out about his illness. He had great aspirations for his life. He wanted to do many things with his life. He wanted to be a chemist, mathematician, physicist, poet, and a cook. Johnny did not stop with his schoolwork or his chemistry experiments unless absolutely necessary; he loved doing both. Johnny's illness was much unexpected. His parents never would have guessed that he would get as sick as he did, and could not understand why it had to be his brain. Many people thought that was the best part of Johnny. In today's society, many people become ill and the families do not understand why. Throughout the book, Johnny's father tries to understand why Johnny was the one to become ill and why it was his brain instead of his arm, for instance. Johnny never gave up on his life or the fact that he would live through the illness.

The second point of significance is that a person should never lose hope. Throughout his battle with the brain tumor, Johnny was continually hopeful and optimistic that he would win. Although many different complications arose over the course of the fifteen month battle, he only showed fear and uncertainty a handful of times. This is a brave and courageous feat for such a young person to accomplish. This is also very rare in such a young person. Many young adults are faced with numerous different diseases, some worse than others; and yet some faced with something as simple as a common cold cannot act with such bravery as Johnny did. Although the chances of Johnny recovering and being able to live a normal life again were almost slim to none from the moment he was diagnosed with the brain tumor, he continually was hopeful up until his last few days that he would be able to return to Deerfield Academy and then attend Harvard. Although it was never possible for Johnny to go back to school at Deerfield or to attend Harvard, he was still well enough to attend his graduation ceremony with his classmates and was even caught up enough to graduate.

Johnny loved every kind of science he could get his hands on. Even though throughout his illness science continually failed him, he still wanted nothing more in life than to study and practice science. He even wrote in one of his last letters to his mother that, "Scientists will save us all." This quote not only showed that he had yet to give up hope of living, but also that he may one day get the chance to help someone else. Even after all hope of life should have been gone, this brave young man held tight to his hopes and dreams and continually strived for success in anything he set his "broken" mind on.

The third point of significance is that one should always strive to succeed. Johnny never wanted anything but the best for himself and his family. Even through his sickness, he was encouraging his mother and father to keep up with their work as if they were still leading their normal lives. When Johnny's father finished the book he was writing, and read it to him, Johnny grinned and said, "it'll sell a million copies." At one point in the book Johnny says, "Oh how tired I feel," While most would think that he was complaining or wanting pity, it was also thought that he was just disappointed in all the things he could not do because of his illness. Johnny also says, "I have so much to do! And there's so little time!" This quote also shows Johnny's dedication to his work and how much he wants to help the world. After he says this to his mother, he begins to constantly do his scientific studies and experiments. What he really wanted was to do something for the world. There are many people in this society that feel the same way, although not all are burdened with the harsh reality that they will not be able to succeed with their goals; not because they don't want to, but because their time has run too short. Although Johnny wanted to do so much more with his life, his parents were always there to reassure him that he was a wonderful person and that he had already done wonderful things with his life.

"When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them." This verse from Job 29:24 of the Bible is exactly what the fourth point of significance, having a positive attitude leads others to be happy, is all about. The fact that smiles and happiness are contagious worked well to Johnny's advantage as well as to his parents'. His positive attitude not only helped keep the final months of his life as normal as possible, but also helped