Dear John- Characterization

John Tyree wasn’t always the nice guy he is today.  John Tyree used to hang out with the wrong crowd and flunked his classes, even though he knew he could do better.  He didn’t always make the right decisions. Some nights he came home with his breath reeking of alcohol and his jacket lingering with the smell of smoke.  He acted this way because he never had a stable parent to lay down the law for him.  He took advantage of his lack of rules and control. While John grew out of his teenage years he was getting tired of his troubled life. He didn’t want to stay the way he was.  He wanted a job and real friends. He then decided to join the army.  The army was a good thing for John.  He was finally doing something important with his life. He felt it actually mattered.  During this time he became a stronger smarter man. His personality changed for the better.  He was nicer and more genuine.

Mr. Tyree was John’s humble father.  He was a very quiet man.  His life was a reoccurring routine day after day.  He had the same meal plans, did the activities and could not ever imagine deviation from his routine. He would always answers questions with just a simple one word answer. He was unable to hold a conversation with anyone unless he was talking about his wonderful coin collection. His coins seem to be the most important thing in his life.  He knew everything about each coin, even the date, type, history of it and what it’s worth.   He was very socially awkward in all situations.  He would never go out of the house except for work and to get groceries.  He did not like change.   He had a hard time giving his car keys to his son.  He could not deal with idea that he had never done that before.  He does not show emotion to others.  He never even hugs or kisses his son.  He does however show some emotion when he is ill in the hospital but not like a normal father would show.  Because he did start to develop a relationship with Savannah, his son’s girlfriend, she started to see some personality traits that convinced her that Mr. Tyree was mildly Autistic. Savannah was studying special education in college and could see that he fit into many of the characteristics.  John was not happy when they discussed his dad’s problems. 

Dear John- Conflict

Dear John was a novel filled with conflicts between the characters.  I liked the believable characters and their real life activities. John Tyree was the main character and he had chosen to live a wild life for many of his younger years.  He did not really listen to his father and did not seem to have any guidance and no stable upbringing.  He was getting into to trouble and his dad could not even help.  His father never got angry with him or grounded him.  His father was out of touch.  John just continued doing the wrong things.   He was so mad his father did not act like other “normal” fathers.  He seemed to want to get into trouble with his dad.  He really wanted his dad to act like he cared.  His father did care but was not able to show normal emotion.  He was not able to have normal relationships. That is probably why the mother left them.  John and his father just lived together. Everyday seemed the same for Mr. Tyree. He had to follow his schedule and care for his coin collection.  John finally realized he needed to change for the better. He joined the army. 

When he was on leave from the army, he went to visit his father back home.  His dad’s life was exactly the same routine.  When he was surfing, he met a girl named Savannah and he helped he get her purse that had fallen into the water.  He was normally not very nice to people and would not have done a good deed.  But since he had joined the army he had changed.  She was a nice girl and really liked him.  They started spending more time together.  He even let her meet his unusual dad.  Mr. Tyree liked Savannah because she was different from most girls.  She knew how to act and talk to people like Mr. Tyree.  She understood him.  She asked John questions about things. She was not afraid of the answers or of how he would feel about the questions.  Savannah was always interested in Mr. Tyree’s coin collection and the more time she spent with him the more she figured him out.  She was going college to become a special education teacher and after some time with John and his dad she was convinced he was autistic.  John had a hard time with this information and went back to his old violent ways.  He punched out a few people and got mad at Savannah for intruding in their life.  After some he realized that she was very right.  He finally had some answers to the big question he always had.  He may have known something was not quite right but never really wanted to hear the truth. 

Savannah was his true love.  He had to go back to the army and leave her.  He was almost ready to leave the army when 911 occurred.  He then could not turn his back on his men so had to reenlist for more years.  His life was going by so quickly.  Savannah waited for him for years.  She finally realized he was not going to come back so she married a long time friend.  The conflict continued for years as they tried to get together but it never worked out. 

In the end the conflict between John and his dad is resolved and his dad even hugs him and tells him he loves him.  John and Savannah do continue to be friends. 

I do not know how I would handle the choices of military vs. true love.  I think this is a common conflict today as so many people are in the military.  I do think I would do things a bit differently than John.  I would most likely follow my heart and think about the relationship and the other person’s life too. 

I liked this book and it felt real. The author made it so believable.  I would recommend this book to my friends.