On a Boston morning in 1773, the inhabitants of the Lapham silversmith shop begin their day. Mrs. Lapham, the daughter-in-law of the shop’s owner, instructs 14-year-old Johnny Tremain to get his two fellow apprentices out of bed. He shares the attic with 11-year-old Dusty Miller, who hero worships Johnny, and 16-year-old Dove, who loathes him. Johnny’s skill with silversmithing and his authoritative personality make him the “boss of the attic, and almost of the house” (2). The boy is very popular with the Lapham family and the neighborhood of Hancock’s Wharf as a whole. Johnny possesses a haughty, domineering streak, which shows in his great pride in being the most skillful of the three apprentices and his decision to bully Dove rather than befriend him. Mrs. Lapham has four daughters, and the two youngest, Cilla and Isannah, tease Johnny because of his inflated ego. Eight-year-old Isannah looks like an angel but is often ill. Madge, the oldest, is 18 and good-natured in a rough, boisterous way. Sixteen-year-old Dorcas seeks to emulate elegant, fashionable women despite her family’s low socioeconomic status.

When the novel begins, Johnny has been an apprentice for two years. He receives no wages for his labor during the seven-year period in which he learns his master’s craft, but Mr.