Reading response #3 (Drummer of Shiloh)

In "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" by Ray Bradbury, Joby is the drummer boy of an army in the Civil War. In the story he is Getting ready before the Battle of Shiloh. It describes all of the emotions that Joby is feeling and how he doesn't know what to expect. He is afraid of this unknown event in life. He feels unimportant being the drummer boy. He feels like he is like bait. The rest of the army are the hooks protected by its sharp weapon like tip. He is just the worm being thrown into the water, or battle field, with no protection as if the army wanted to have a fish make a snack out of him (enemy army). He is crying before the battle when his general, the most highly respected person in the battle, talks to Joby with such Honesty. He says that he also cried of the unknown. But he also said Joby was a bigger part f the army then he was. Joby's drum beat was the army's heart beat. He lead the army and he could either lead them into victory or into death. The general made him promise that if he,the general, fell dead on the battle field Joby kept on marching a beating his drum and wouldn't stop beating it until they came out of the darkness of the battle and into the light of freedom and victory. Joby was now proud of who he was and realized that he was there for a reason and didn't need to be afraid of the unknown cause he knew what he needed to do.

I can relate to this story similarly. When i was younger I played on a neighborhood soccer team. I wasn't the best player but I hated getting stuck on defense. The coach always put me on defense because i was good at it. However I didn't not feel like I was apart of the team being on defense. when ever we scored a goal or got a win i never felt as if I was apart of it. I felt as if the offense was like the army fighting for a victory and that I was just plan B. the plan that is if Plan A fails we will just rely on the defense to clean up are mess. I felt unappreciated until one day the coach just like the general talked to me about how I was important to the team just like ow Joby was to the army. He said that without me then all are battles would be lost. No matter how many goals are team got. whenever the other team got the ball they would score and we would always loose. If the offense wasn't there there is not a good chance of them winning still because are defense would be able to stop what ever they tried to do on offense. I felt like i was part of the team now and i was proud to me a defender.