"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" by Ray Bradbury

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

by Ray Bradbury

           

            “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” by Ray Bradbury is a short story about a fourteen-year-old boy named Joby who ventures off into the war as the ‘drummer boy’. In the beginning of the story, Joby is terrified of the war and is not ready to encounter the struggles ahead. But at the end, Joby puts on a brave face and has a newfound confidence that enables him to get up and fight. I think that this story represents facing life with conviction and valor, having confidence and believing in yourself even when you’re stuck in difficult situations.

            In the beginning, Joby deems himself hopeless. He considers himself weak as just the ‘drummer boy’ compared to the soldiers who lug rifles on their shoulders. In the texts, it states “Me, thought the boy, I only got a drum, two sticks to beat it, and no shield.”(pg 50). The text also says “…flag-blown patriotism, and cocksure immortality strengthened by the touchstone of very real gunpowder, ramrod, Minie ball, and flint. But without these last, the boy felt his family move yet farther off in the dark…….leaving him with his drum which was worse than a toy in the game to played tomorrow or someday much too soon”(pg50-51) The second quote convinces me that Joby has given up all shreds of hope. He is ashamed in just having a drum, which he refers to as a ‘toy’ even. He believes that without gun power, he doesn’t stand a chance in the war, and that he may never see his family again. He feels useless and stuck. And he definitely feels in no position to go off to battle.

            But by the end of the story, Joby finds strength. The general assures him that as the “drummer boy” he was the ’heart’ of the army. The general says “These lads, fresh out of the milk shed, don’t know what I know; and I can’t tell them-men actually die in war. So each is his own army. I got to make one army of them. And for that, boy, I need you” (pg 52-53) The texts also states that if Joby beat slowly, “the heart would beat slow in the men” and that if he beat a faster rhythm, “their knees would come up in a long line down over that hill.” With that in mind, Joby realizes that he is crucial to the battle and is equally as important as the soldiers.  In the end, Joby “..settled himself. Then at last, very slowly and firmly he turned the drum so it faced upward to the sky.” I believe this gesture is a symbol Joby’s fresh conviction.

            In conclusion, even though Joby was facing a hard time, he pulled through and was ready to face with situation with courage. By reading “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” I am inspired to always persevere and always stand up to my problems, whatever they may be. 

"A Mango Shaped Space" by Wendy Mass

A Mango Shaped Space

by Wendy Mass

I recently read the book “A Mango Shaped Space” by Wendy Mass. This book is based on the struggles of Mia Winchell, a young girl living with a rare disease called synesthesia. Synesthesia is where your senses are blended. For example, in Mia’s case, she can describe letters, sounds, numbers, names, etc. with a certain color. Throughout the book, I observed that Mia has mixed feelings about her synesthesia. She starts off lacking confidence in herself and who she was, but grew to be a stronger person through her hardship. 

 The first word in the book is ‘freak’. I think that this represents how Mia felt about her condition. In the beginning of the book, Mia was led to believe that she was a freak. It all started in her eighth grade classroom where Mia was made fun of for saying that numbers had colors. She didn’t know that her ability to  pair sound, numbers, name, etc. with colors was a medical condition, and I believe it led her to think she was just plain crazy. In the text, Mia asks herself, “Was I the only one who lived in a world full of color?” (pg ). I think that Mia is questioning herself when she says this, and she’s starting to realize that she sees things differently from others. I think that all this evidence shows that Mia isn’t really fond of her synesthesia.

Later in the story, Mia learns more about her condition. After thinking she was alone for so long, she registers that she’s not the only one in the world with synesthesia, and that, although it may be infrequent, other people are living with it as well. I think that this fact comforted Mia, and gave her a more positive view of her condition. Mia became more open about her synesthesia; she confides in her parents, her best friend Jenna, and even the kids at school. Through her actions I concluded that Mia is starting to have more of a positive view of her synesthesia and how it made her different because she was less secretive about it. 

But by the end of the story, I believed that Mia had a completely different view of her synesthesia altogether. She sees her condition as something special that may make her different, but also enhances her own personal view of the world and the things around her. I think so because towards the end of the story when Mia temporarily loses her synesthesia due to depression over her lost cat mango, she says, “I’m no longer the girl who sees colors, and I’m no longer the girl who grandfather’s soul is in her cat. All I am is the girl who is no longer special in any way.” When Mia says that she ‘is the girl who is no longer special in any way’, it proved to me that she then saw her synesthesia as something special. This shows me that Mia’s feelings about her condition drastically changed from the beginning of the story.

In this story, Mia learns that the things that made her different made her stand out. She learned to accept who she was and think about it in a positive way. This is a lesson that many need to learn today. You should learn to accept who you are and what makes you different as though it’s a gift, not a curse. 

"Money Hungry" by Sharon Flake

Money Hungry

by Sharon G. Flake

This summer, I read Money Hungry  by Sharon Flake; a realistic fiction novel depicting the struggles that 13 year old Raspberry Hill encounters with money. Raspberry is a plutomaniac, and throughout the book she goes to desperate measures to obtain even scarce amounts of money. She often finds herself in trouble or in 'sticky situations' that are always tied around her frantic pursuit of the dollar bill.  But as I read on into the story, I realize that Raspberry's real issue isn't with money, but in fact, her fear of revisiting the dark times in her past. 

Before Raspberry and her mother live in the projects, they often found themselves roaming the streets, begging for cash and surviving off of snacks out of gas stations convenience shops. Raspberry doesn't mention her past too much in the story, which convinces me that she has trouble coping with it. In the story, Raspberry says "Next thing I knew, we was living outside with stray cats and dogs. Dirty men. Crazy women. Kids without parents, and people pushing shopping carts filled with smashed up pop can and wrinkled-up newspapers." (pg.23)

A little later, I discover that Raspberry's obsession with money is very closely tied to her lack of it. She says, "'Cause if you got money, people can't take stuff from you-not your house, or your ride, not your family. They can't do nothing much to you, if you got a bankroll backing you up." (pg.25) Based on this evidence, I concluded that Raspberry was to scared to end up on the streets, in that vulnerable situation that she once was. She believes that if she has money, she can protect her and her mother from struggling. She believes that money is everything; family, friends, life. 

But by the end of the story, after risking her friendships, her mother and nearly losing all her money,  Raspberry changes. She appreciates the value of having relationships with people and that money can only do so much.