Revised Response to "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh"

          In “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh”, Ray Bradbury shows the necessities and rewards of facing life with faith and courage even when it’s most difficult.  This theme is displayed numerous times throughout the short story.  “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” is about a young boy who ran away to join the army, shortly before the battle of Shiloh.  He was made the drummer boy.  The night before the battle he lay next to a tree and began to cry since he had no weapons or shields to protect him with in battle.  He caught the attention of the army’s general, who encouraged the drummer boy and gave him more self-confidence by giving him a motivational lecture about his importance.  The drummer boy, Joby, was informed that he was the ‘heart of the army’, and that his beating pace on the drum reflected on the lives of many soldiers.  This is true because if he beats slowly then the solders pace will be slower causing them to be less alert which could cost them their lives.  But if he beats faster, the soldiers’ blood would pump faster and they would react quicker to danger during the battle.  Joby then used his new confidence to lead the army to victory.

            Before the story even begins, Ray Bradbury develops Joby’s brave personality by making him run away to join the army.  Joby was around the age of 14, an incredibly young age, when he joined.  This shows courage because not many boys would be fearless enough to leave their lives to go join an army when they knew almost nothing about war.  Joby was sure that he was going to die and he missed his family, though he stuck with his decision to become part of the army, even though he was sure that he would not survive.

            Joby shows faith when he didn’t leave the army after he was made ‘drummer boy’.  He would be going on the battlefield with no weapons and no way to defend himself.  The only thing he had was a drum.  This thought made Joby very nervous and unconfident in himself.  He was sure that he was going to die because he didn’t have weapons or a shield like the other soldiers, but he didn’t.

  Then the general came and told him that he was the ‘heart of the army’ and that if something happened to the general, Joby would be the new general.  This confused Joby.  How could a drummer boy with no weapons be so important?  The general responded by telling Joby that if he beat a fast pace, then the soldiers’ blood would pump fast and their heart would beat fast.  They would stomp down that hill with confidence.  But if he beat slowly, then their hearts and blood would pump slowly and they would have already lost the battle before they even began fighting.  This showed even more bravery because Joby now had the weight of the lives of many soldiers on his shoulders, yet he still stuck with his duties and lead the army to victory in the Battle of Shiloh because his drum became his shield.

            Ray Bradbury used many examples to show that the rewards of facing life with faith and bravery even when its most difficult.  He also used many descriptive details to prove this point. Joby missed his family and was scared of being killed during battle, yet he kept beating his drum and helped the U.S. Army win the Battle of Shiloh.

Reading Response to 'Crossed'

      I recently finished reading Crossed by Ally Condie, it is a sequel to Matched.  This was about a brave, warm hearted girl named Cassia, who was born in a close to Utopian Society.  She didn't know anything besides this life and didn't think to look for it, until she met Ky.  He was an aberration, or a person in a lower social class than Cassia.  Ky was from the outer provinces and very intelligent.  They fell in love, though Ky was sent back to the outer provinces to fight the Enemy.  Cassia fearlessly followed, and eventually found him.  Together they joined a rebellion against the Society called the Rising.  Though Ky did not want to because his parents were killed a while ago when attending / orchestrating a meeting about rebellion when a firing occurred, he still did it because he loved her.  They had their ups and downs, but they stuck together and participated along side the Rising.
      In the beginning of the book, Matched, Cassia was a perfect Society girl.  She did what she was told and didn't cause trouble.  Everything she did was average and perfectly normal.  Though once she met Ky, her character began to change.  She began to become very curious.  She even fell in love with him, even though she was matched to her best friend, Xander.  Cassia and Ky started breaking rules without the Society finding out, which was very unlike the early Cassia.  Though I think her curiosity got the better of her.  Then in Crossed she took this new, brave attitude to a whole new level by sneaking her way to the outer provinces to find Ky.  This shows a ton of character change over a gradual period of time.  I think that Cassia took such a big risk to rebel against the Society because she was extremely mad at them for lying to her, her whole life.  She was also scared of what they might do to her if she returned to her home after had running away.  She also wanted to prove to herself that she was not the little Society girl that everyone she met along her journey suspected her to be.
         I think that the author's lesson, or purpose, is that we can't let the government take control of everything we do.  We cannot let our freedom be taken away from ourselves for 'the good of the country.'  I also think that Ally Condie was trying to prove that utopias are impossible, as well as 100 % agreement on everything is impossible.  So to even try to achieve a perfect world is not going to work out.  There will always be people who rebel, or people who disagree.  They help keep everything balanced.   I truly think that Ally Condie is an amazing writer.  Her use of description is truly unbelievable.  Every time I opened Crossed I felt like I was transported to the Society.  She used amazing sensory details.  For example, "A feeling of unreality settles over me like the light of late afternoon that spills over the canyon walls."  I also loved how she alternated perspectives of Cassia and Ky every other chapter.  Condie is a beautiful author and I adore reading her books.
       I think that one of the themes of Crossed is to think for yourself, and don't always do what people tell you to do.  Make your own judgements and to not be afraid to do something against the flow.  You only have one life, so might as well make it last.  This was shown when Cassia completely rebelled to find her love and fought her way through tough conditions, mentally and physically, to do what she thought was right, join the Rising. 
       I greatly enjoyed reading this book, and I am sad that it ended so quickly.  I would also definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a good romance and science fiction.

From Baghdad, With Love, Reading Response

        From Baghdad, With Love by Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman and Melinda Roth is a miraculous (and true) story of how a "man's best friend" became the mission, of many people living in Iraq during the time, to get back to the United States.  Jay Kopelman and the U.S. Marines were fighting in Fallujah, Iraq when they found an extremely lovable puppy, which soon became known as Lava.  The story shows how most everyone in Kopelman's camp took care of Lava by feeding him Meals Ready to Eat (MRE's) and allowing him to sleep in their boots and sleeping bags.  They suffered through the often chewed up boots and 'peed on' uniforms.  The soldiers kept Lava even though there were major rules against keeping an animal in case of unwanted attachment. Though through tons of failed plans, connections (like Iams as a sponsor), and close calls, Jay Kopelman and many others managed to get this hyper fur ball safely back to the U.S. to reunite with his owner, Kopelman, who had been sent back to America just a few months before.

          I really enjoyed reading this book because, for one thing, I love dogs, and I had heard of organizations that were trying to get U.S. soldiers' dogs/war companions back home.  I loved and was a little surprised to see that so many people risked their lives for Lava.  This book described the battle going on in Fallujah and how terrible it was.  Though Kopelman and his dog survived.  Another reason I loved this book was that the true emotion displayed for this dog was amazing.  A fighting soldier could really use a friend to help keep their minds off their terrible surroundings.  I respect all of the organizations helping soldiers keep their friend because maybe that animal was the only thing keeping the soldier seeing clearly, and the thought of having to leave that animal behind to most likely die is heartbreaking.