"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh"

In Ray Bradbury’s “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh”, a boy named Joby runs off from home, and ends up in the midsts of an upcoming war, and becomes a soldier. I think that the message the author is trying to send, is that you should face life with most courage you have and to always consider reality even when it’s most difficult. 

One way the author shows that this is an important lesson is when Joby agrees to being the drummer boy in the general’s army. I think that this shows that he's contributing to the war as much as he can. This shows that he as the courage and that he faces problems head on. I think that when he agreed to be the drummer boy, he told himself that he was brave, and that gave himself a better vision of his self-esteem. Also at the beginning of the story, Joby was not ready to go to war, and did not want to go to war. The author showed this by using his drum as a symbol. At the beginning of the story the drum was on it's side, showing he wasn't mentally prepared to be in the war. At the end of the book he put his drum up showing the he had prepared and was ready to go into that war. 

Another example of when the message of facing life head on, is when Joby tell himself that he is going to die in the war. All of the other men in the army don’t think they are going to die, but it seems only Joby knows that they will all die. The men and boys who are going to be fighting don’t know what happen in a normal war. Joby does and he prepares himself by convincing himself that he is going to die. I personally don’t like that he wasn’t being positive, but I respect that he is taking control of the situation and not having any high standards so that he would never be disappointed in what the outcome should ever be. 

In conclusion, Joby faced this situation of going out into war with faith and courage and that was amazing. After the general asked him to be the drummer boy in the war, he looked at the war with a new pair of eyes. Even if his faith was a little discouraged he has the strength and bravery that would hopefully help him lead the war beside the General, and hopefully get him out of it safely. I think Ray Bradbury shows this lesson very clearly to the readers so that it shows everyone how important this life lesson really is.