The Drummer Boy Analysis

¨Nothing stayed put. Nothing had a name.Nothing was as it once was.¨ In ¨The Drummer Boy of Shiloh¨ by Ray Bradbury, Joby, the drummer boy, thinks he is not an important part of the war. He wants to be a soldier and have a gun but the general changes his mind by telling him how important he is to the army. And how, if the general were to die, he would be the general. After hearing this, Joby realizes how important he is to the army. Thus, becoming a proud drummer boy. In the story, there are symbols of hope, fatherhood, and strength. A symbol is something with a hidden meaning. In Bradbury's story there are the drummer boy symbolizes hope, the general symbolizes fatherhood, and The Battle Of Shiloh symbolizes strength.
The drummer boy, Joby, is used as a symbol of hope by Ray Bradbury. In the text Bradbury says ¨Me, i'm the one, i'm the one of all the rest won't die. I'll live through it. I'll go home. The band will play and i'll be there to hear it¨ (Bradbury 168). This proves my point because it shows that even though he knew people were going to die. He had hope that he would go home. Bradbury also
It is a symbol of strength. I know this because in the text it says ¨Forty thousand men, exhausted by nervous expectations, unable to sleep for romantic dreams of battles yet unfought, lay crazily askew in their uniforms¨ (Bradbury 168). This proves my point because it shows that even though before, during, and after The Battle of Shiloh the men were tired and anxious. But they still had the strength to get up and fight. Another example of when the text showed that The Battle of Shiloh ment strength was when it said ¨But here we are, taken with spring fever and thinking it bloodlust¨ (Bradbury 170). This proves my point because it shows that even though the soldiers had horrible conditions, and most of them probably wanted nothing more than to go home, they still were able to muster up the strength to fight the war