The Drummer Boy of Shiloh: A reading response.

       We all have a father figure in our lives. It doesn’t even have to be your real father, and you can have more than one. I have two, my grandfather and my father, and there is something about knowing that someone is there for you no matter what happens. Even in the middle of the war, which is where “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” by Ray Bradbury is set. We meet Joby, a 14-year-old drummer boy who is miles away from his real father and his family. He doesn’t know what to expect from the war, and he isn’t ready for battle. There’s no one there for him.
We first meet Joby in the middle of the night underneath a peach blossom. He’s attempting to sleep. He misses his family. He felt “his family move yet farther off in the dark…” (50). I can’t imagine a more terrible feeling. Think about it. You are facing a probable death, you’re 14, and you might never see your family again. There is no one to comfort you when you cry in the night. No one to patch up your wounds and “kiss it better”. No one to say “good luck” as you march to battle. “Nothing was as it once was.”(51). Also, without someone to tell you that “everything’s going to be alright”; you might not have the courage and determination to win the battle.
Joby is in this sense of desperation when he meets the general. He describes the general as someone who “…smelled as all fathers should smell, of salt-sweat and tobacco, horse and boot leather, and the earth that he walked upon.”(51) First, I love how Bradbury describes the general, and he really does sound like someone I would treat with respect and politeness, but look up to like a father. The smells do have to do with the times, because very few people you meet nowadays smell like horse and boot leather, but the idea is the same. It’s comforting. This is why I believe Joby immediately saw the general as a father figure.
So what do fathers do? Fathers comfort us and keep us safe. They help us out, and in the generals case, they tell us the truth, no matter how painful it is. The general didn’t try to hide the fact that his men were young and inexperienced; in fact, he even told Joby that he cried! He fears that a nearby creek would be “full of boys again, just floating, at sundown tomorrow, not caring where the current takes them.”(52) Could you imagine your father telling you that? If someone that you deeply respect revealed there fears of something, I would respect that person more and try to quell their fears. I would gain confidence and rise to the challenge. Joby does just that. He realizes his duty in battle and that he can win.
Father’s, whether they actually are “dad”, are there for us. They can help us through tough times and should be a person that you respect. They’ll never leave us behind. I have a father, and he has always been there for me. When someone is there for you, you can be confident and courageous. If you don’t have a father figure, look again. There has to be someone there for you. There has to be someone who cares for you and who you can talk to you. I’m sure that they are there, or else none of us could have survived this long.