The Drummer Boy of Shiloh By Ray Bradbury

We are reading a book is called “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” by Ray Bradbury.  A 14 year old boy named Joby ran away from his family and went to war. He only had a drum and 2 sticks. He cried and sobbed because he was afraid to go to war. The general then came along and spotted him crying. “Why it’s the drummer boy, isn’t it” he said. The general thought he was just a boy who ran away, until they started to talk. “You want to cry some more, go on ahead. I did the same last night” he would say. Joby thought he is useless that he didn’t matter as much. The general will tell him you are the heart of the army, if he beat slow the heart of the men will beat slowly. If he beat fast the soldier’s legs will stand up straight. The general even admitted that war is wrong. The general convinced Joby that he is not just part of the army he’s the heart of the army.

Joby is really brave to go to war at only 14 years old. In my opinion I understand why he was so afraid and thought that he was meaningless. All he does is play the drums. The general proved to him that he is the heart of the battle. I think Joby thought he was meaningless and useless to the army because he didn’t fight like all the other soldiers did. Also I think joby thought that all he does is beat a drum with sticks. For example in the short story it clearly states “me, I’m the one, I’m the one of all the rest who won’t die. I’ll live through it. I’ll go home”.  That clearly states that he will not die like the soldiers because the soldiers actually fight in war and get shot at. He feels useless for not actually fighting in war. But on the other hand Joby does describe how he has a better chance of dying because he only has a drum and two sticks and no shield. Everyone has a shield accept the drummer boys. I think that Joby is starting to think about his family and how much he loves them. He doesn’t want to die and never see his parents again, or maybe he doesn’t care as much because he did run away from his family. But in the text it stated “the boy felt his family moves yet farther off in the dark, as if one of those great trains had chanted them away”. All, in all Joby is afraid and thinks that he is useless in the battle. In real life people go to war and have to leave there family’s like Joby did.

My Favorite Book Entry

One of my favorite book is “The Child Called It”. In this book there was a mom that loved all of her children. She took them to the Water Park and lakes. She treated each son equally. One day she just snapped at one of the boys, the youngest one. She didn’t let him talk to his brothers and every morning he had to do chores for his mom. She forced him to sleep in the basement and eat left over cereal from his brother’s bowl.  At one point she starved him so much he started to steal food from his classmates. When the mom found out she flipped. She punched and slapped him. He started to steal food from the store and steal raw meat from the cafeteria. When he came home the mom will stick her fingers into his mouth until he vomited. She then forced him to eat the vomit. The only food she gave him was poop from his younger brother’s diaper. This book is really sad and depressing. The mom has rights to discipline her children if they did something bad, but starving them, beating them senseless, and even stabbing them is going too far. The saddest part about it is that the dad new but didn’t do anything about it. He just left her and his family. It’s sad knowing that this really happened. I think the mom beats her child because of something that happened in her childhood, or maybe she just decided that it will be fun to get drunk every morning and abuse her child. I’m guessing the dad left because he didn’t want to be part of it, but at least take his child with him and away from his abusive mom. He just left without telling anyone. Maybe he was afraid of his wife. The little boy still thought his mom loved him after the mom harassed him. Its sad knowing that in real life a lot of little kids get harassed by their parents.