The drummer boy
Fear. This is what young fourteen year old Joby, a drummer boy in the Civil War, is feeling. In “The drummer boy of Shiloh” Ray Bradbury describes the feelings a young drummer boy has before the battle Shiloh. Ray uses great imagery getting you right into the story, creating a tone which not only keeps you guessing but makes you want more. With Ray’s great imagery and use of characters he Implements the great use of glorious and futile.
The short story uses futility in many different ways such as plainly stating it, as the general does when he says most of the drummer boys will be “Shooting Targets” since they have nothing to protect themselves with and are going to be the ones looked to takedown first and foremost to cut out communication. He also says the most of the soldiers are inexperience “Raw” making the reader think that the battle is going to be a Short quick, yet very bloody battle. Stating the quietness in the battle and the “whispering to themselves” and “a vast wind come up and gently stir the air” I think he is stating that this battle the soldiers and that it will have very little change in the outcome of the war which is why the general says “it is as pointless as a head put on hind-side front and a man marching backward through life.” At the end of the story the author states that the peach blossoms fell on the drum, making me think that the drum was left in the open after the boy was killed.
After the general hears the boy, Joby, crying he comes in to tell him how the battle is a pointless battle and has no real meaning, but he also states that the war will be a glorious time for Joby, should he make it out alive to get to tell his story. The general states that after the war is done, in a few years when his friends or kids ask him if he partook in the civil war. He will be able to say he was a drummer boy, the heart of the army, the one who keeps the pace and can ultimately decide if the will win and fight hard, or lose while fighting with
The short story uses futility in many different ways such as plainly stating it, as the general does when he says most of the drummer boys will be “Shooting Targets” since they have nothing to protect themselves with and are going to be the ones looked to takedown first and foremost to cut out communication. He also says the most of the soldiers are inexperience “Raw” making the reader think that the battle is going to be a Short quick, yet very bloody battle. Stating the quietness in the battle and the “whispering to themselves” and “a vast wind come up and gently stir the air” I think he is stating that this battle the soldiers and that it will have very little change in the outcome of the war which is why the general says “it is as pointless as a head put on hind-side front and a man marching backward through life.” At the end of the story the author states that the peach blossoms fell on the drum, making me think that the drum was left in the open after the boy was killed.
After the general hears the boy, Joby, crying he comes in to tell him how the battle is a pointless battle and has no real meaning, but he also states that the war will be a glorious time for Joby, should he make it out alive to get to tell his story. The general states that after the war is done, in a few years when his friends or kids ask him if he partook in the civil war. He will be able to say he was a drummer boy, the heart of the army, the one who keeps the pace and can ultimately decide if the will win and fight hard, or lose while fighting with