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.