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.