Pride is an emotion that has two very distinct meanings. With a negative meaning, pride is an exaggerated sense of personal accomplishments or achievements. With a positive meaning, pride is a pleased sense toward one's own or another's actions. Johnny Tremain is known to be an extremely prideful person. Johnny has both positive and negative prideful traits that affect him throughout his life and the book.Throughout the story, Johnny’s character undergoes changes both to his way of life and his personality. His pride played a large role in his accident, and benefited him and other people throughout the novel as well.
Johnny’s accident was the effect of his pride. Johnny was too proud and boastful. He was constantly giving orders and wouldn't take advice from others because he thought he was too good and didn't need anyones help. Johnny accepted John Hancock’s request to have a silver sugar basin made in time for his wife’s birthday. With the deadline almost near, Dove was told to fetch a crucible for Johnny. Dove was older than Johnny, but was treated as if he was stupid and did not know what he should be doing. Dove then decided he would teach Johnny a lesson so he reached to the back of the shelf for the cracked crucible and gave it to Johnny. The crucible broke while Johnny was making the basin on the furnace causing his hand to be severely burned and crippled. Johnny’s pride immediately was brought down by this
