What Does Joe Want?

Joe cannot speak, smell, see,or even hear but he can feel. The only thing that he has is his mind, and himsel. He only know that he is conscious through what he feels, if he couldn't feel than he would think he was dad. Amidst all of this, he wants what every human being wants, to not be alone. Right now he can't communicate with other people, he knows they are there, but it is always comforting to be able to communicate. I think that what Joe wants the most is to communicate what he wants to the doctors, whether that is death or just wanting to be heard. If he can do this, then he won't feel alone. He is literally trapped in his own mind, he wants legs, arms, a face, anything so that he can get out of his mind. But it is not only his mind that he is a prisoner of, he is also a prisoner of the doctors, they cannot and will not help him. They won't even let him out of his hospital room, for fear that people might really see what happens in war. If he were to be displayed, then people would realize that fighting for an idea is worthless, since you, yourself have nothing to gain. This is what Joe thinks, he wants to fight for something that he can see, not just words. He wants many things that we take for granted, but most of all, he just wants to be heard.

Why is Joe Hurt?

In chapter one we see Joe mournign the death of his father, and experiencing wierd flashbacks. In Chapter 3, Joe realizes that the doctors have cut his arm off. What hurts Joe the most is that he does not have arms, legs, a mouth, nose, eyes, and that he can't be dead. At this moment, I think that Joe should have been more worried about his arm, but no, he was more worried about the ring his girlfriend Kareen gave him is on the hand that was just cut off. It is at this time that Joe experiences another flashback, where Kareen's father Mike, orders them to spend the last night together in her room. I think that the memories serve as an escape from his pain. Many more memories like this occur in Book I, and it becomes difficult for him to comprehned what is reality, and what is a dream, as we saw in the instance of the rat chewing on him. What hurts Joe is the fact that he is literally treated like a science experiment, and that he sometimes just wants to die.