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“The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” is a short story by Ray Bradbury that takes place during The Civil War. What makes this story unique is the fact that it takes place during the Civil War, and how it’s told through the perspective of a young boy named Joby. Joby is 14 years old, and he doesn’t fully understand how the war works because he is still young, and because of Joby’s age he is scared to go into war, he is afraid that he is going to die, this shows that Joby has fears.
ReplyDeleteJoby lays there in the grass wondering if he should hide there and wait for the army to leave and take the war with them. Joby says this because he is afraid that he could cause men to lose their lives, and he is very scared that he might lose his. Joby is later greeted by the General who says, “ Well here’s a soldier crying before the fight. Good. Get it over. Won’t be time once it all starts.” Just as the General was about to move on, Joby startled touched his drum with his elbow, the General froze, Joby could feel him bending over, he could feel his eyes watching him, Joby heard a Rat-tat on his drum, then the General said. “Why it’s the drummer boy.”
The General and Joby talk about the war, and what could be the outcome of it, and as they talk Joby becomes even more nervous about the war, he becomes even more scared and becomes even more worried about what the outcome of this. Joby lay there listening to the General talk. “It’s going to be a crazy time, counting both sides. There's a hundred thousand men give or take a few thousand out tonight, not one can spit a sparrow off a tree, or knows a horse clod from a minie ball. Stand up, bare the breast, ask to be a target, thank them and sit down, that’s us, that’s them.
Joby listens to the general as he watches the sky, as he watches the wind blow the leaves off of trees, as he watches birds soar through the air, free as can be, but then the General says something that makes Joby’s fear rise even more. The General says. “Owl Creek was full of boys splashing around in the noonday sun just a few hours ago. I fear it will be full of boys again, just floating at sundown tomorrow, not caring where the tide takes them. Joby sits up in fear worrying that he will be one of those boys, but the General puts a hand on his chest and tells him something Joby never expected to hear.
The General tells Joby. “You’re the heart of the army. Think of that. You’re the heart of the army. Tomorrow if you beat slow them men will be slow if you beat fast the men will be fast. You’re what holds this army together, You’re the heart of it. Think of this tomorrow when you’re scared, and that fear should go away.” The General later leaves, and Joby lays there thinking about what the General said, and suddenly his Fears go away.
“The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” is a short story written by Ray Bradburry that is set in the small town of Shiloh , Tennessee during the American Civil War. The short story follows a Drummer Boy named Joby that is scared to go into battle and tries to hide from the soldiers. The Drummer Boy is then caught by the General to face his fears and to do the right thing.
ReplyDeleteThe story starts on a April night, where the Drummer Boy was hiding away from his troops to avoid going into battle. He hoped that all the soldiers would go away by the morning and forget he was there. He explains that nothing feels the same or can stay put to be comprehended. The Drummer Boy was scared of the thought of losing everything he knew and had. He hears the mumbles of the soldiers talking and can only guess what they are talking about. He stays put and lays low to wait out the night. Although it could be argued that the theme here is the boy being curious over what the soldiers are saying, it's actually the boy being scared and trying to hear what is going on around him. Even with his fears, it didn’t stop him from thinking it was a good idea to abandon his men and not be there to lead them into battle.
It wasn’t very long until the boy heard footsteps by him. This startled him and made him tick the drum. From the night sky the General of the troops peered to see what made the sound. When the General caught the boy, he felt sympathetic for him. The General comforts him and explains why the troops need the boy in the battle and why he shouldn’t hide even if he is scared. This all showed how the General understands the situation of the boy.
Ray Bradbury used very detailed imagery to show how the boy felt of the time and the setting of the story. Bradburry described the General as smelling like how an army man should smell in that time period, horse leather and indian tobacco. It is then taken farther by the description of the copper buttons on the Generals suit as eyes looking back at the boy in the night. The repetition of things happening around him and what the boy got out of it showed how scared he was at the time.
At the end you can see the theme of the story. As the General convinces the boy to come into battle and do the right thing for his men. “He swallowed. He wiped his eyes. He cleared his throat. He settled himself. Then, at last, very slowly and firmly, he turned the drum so that it faced up towards the sky”. The repetition and imagery here shows how the boy got over his fears and is going to do the right thing.
The Drummer Boy of Shiloh was a great short story and taught a very important moral that is important that everybody that reads this short story should learn and know.
“The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” by Ray Bradbury is about a boy named Joby that signed up to be a drummer in the Civil War but is scared because if people die he will be alive and is enhanced by the fact that if he messes up his rhythm of the drum he will be the one to blame. Then a stranger walks by and says to Joby to cry because there won’t be time later too, Joby startled by the voice hits his drum and the stranger hearing it tells the drummer to sit up and look at him and it is the General! The General comforts Joby by telling Joby that he cried as well and is scared but then helps Joby find a way to be confident by leading the army and then teaches us the lesson; it’s ok to be scared but be brave.
ReplyDeleteWhen the General related to Joby about being scared he said he also cried because he wishes the war would be over in weeks and soldiers wouldn’t die but knows that is not the case and knows that it is just wrong to fight.
Now that the General and Joby are level headed and are both fearful, the General starts encourages, Joby by saying that Joby is important to the army by being the heart of it and that with the General and will have flare with the drum banging as he leads the army throughout the whole fight with confidence.
To make the authors point get across to the reader he even uses more descriptive words and similes like “one knee after another, like a wave from the ocean shore.” Which could be used ass another lesson like lead but wouldn’t make sense with the rest story unlike our theme it’s ok to be scared but be brave and more quotes like as the General and Joby were talking about how they were scared “It’s wrong, boy, it’s wrong as a head put on hind side front and a man marching backward through life.” showing more than just leading.
With all the information I have shown hopefully it will show you that the lesson of this short story is it is ok to be scared but be brave.
Drummer boy of shiloh
ReplyDelete“The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” is a short story by multi award winner Ray Bradbury. It takes place in Tennessee during the civil war. The unique part of the story is the characters in the story. The main character is a boy named Joby. Joby is a 14 year old drummer boy. He is afraid of the war because he has no protection from anything. He regrets joining the army but he is strong and talks about it to the general.
The general is like any man back then smoking cigars and chewing tobacco. He smelt like every dad should’ve back then with the smell of sweat, ginger, tobacco, horse eyes and boot leather. He is an average man that is willing to go anywhere for anyone. Joby is scared to die and doesn’t wanna risk his life from being a drummer boy. The story is based on the battle of shiloh. Where John Kem is the drummer boy.
Joby is wounded in his mind because he doesn’t know what to do. He was anxious the night before the battle. He needed someone to talk to and the general was great. They talked about what it was about and what to do. All in all the general was a know it all.
All in all he is brave and has lots of courage. He was scared of war but got back up to face his fears. And we are more alike than we are different.