Wednesday, October 3, 2012

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

Reading Response 4


The story The Drummer Boy of Shiloh, by Ray Bradbury, shows how much we all need a guide, mentor, or mother figure. We all had some moments where we feel useless because of someone or something. We may not realize it right away, but someone needs us. In the story, Joby, the protagonist, is going through the same thing. He soon realizes he needs to continue in the war, not only for his well being, but for the soldiers and the country. Everyone has a purpose, not only in their own lives, but in other lives too, and in fate.

How did Joby even get to the war? He ran away from home. Thinking that it will solve all of his problems. How did his family feel? Joby's actions had taken effect on his family. His family had to react in a motherly like way: worrying about him everyday. What if Joby dies in the war? His family would be devastated.

"Me, thought the boy, I got only a drum, two sticks to beat it, and no shield" (50) Joby views himself as a useless little boy that will eventually die in the war no matter how much he tries; he feels that he has absolutely nothing to do in the war. Like us, Joby feels that if he dies, absolutely nothing will change and no one will notice his death.

What the general has him understand is that everything will change after his death. By everything, I mean the whole nation and the nation's fate.

"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" stresses this fact by placing the protagonist in war, and having the general tell him his purpose, therefore, making it obvious that his family, the soldiers, the general, including the nation, would be affected.

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