"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh"

“The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” is an artfully written short story which takes place right before the battle of (surprise) Shiloh during the Civil War. It’s about a young drummer boy named Joby who feels that he is unable to make a difference in the war or fulfill the high expectations he has set for himself, fueled by his “firm and fiery family devotion.”

 

Hopeful and young, Joby runs away to join the army, and until this time, has never realized how horrible and scarring the war can be. Overwhelmed by his insecurity and fear, Joby begins to cry. I know that if I were asked to fight in a war I’d be terrified, and I’d certainly never be brave enough to run away from home for that purpose; my 5 year old sister can intimidate me with a blink.

 

The general, hearing Joby’s cries, talks to him (or maybe rants) about his place in the war.

            
              “You are the heart of the army. The general of the army when the general’s left behind.” He tells Joby of how awful war is, how none of the soldiers are ready. He teaches Joby that people like him can inspire others, help them gain the confidence to fight, and avoid becoming victims of war’s destruction.

War creates loneliness, death, lack of confidence, and (even worse, what many of the soldiers are ailed with in the story) deluded confidence. People can come out hardened, bitter and shell-shocked. But it also can create a great colonel, a strong fighter, a brave drummer boy. People die in war, and the rest come out changed.

 

If fighting is bad, and war is worse, than those who fight in war have got to be pretty spiffin’strong.

 

In “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh,” Joby learns this—how much of a difference he can make and how strong he has to be( or as the general thinks, will be) to make that difference.  People, in general, become stronger as a result of their experiences, which may not be as destructive as war, but can be just as personally scarring.

The Pearl Reflection/ Review

"The Pearl," by John Steinbeck, is a suspenseful and quick- moving novella. It is a good introduction to his work, being much less tedious than others of his books.

The book is about Kino, his wife Juana, and their baby boy Coyotito. They are a poor family living in a poor village, and to make money, Kino dives for pearls. One day Kino finds an eerily large and perfect pearl,  worth  thousands of pesos. He goes to the local pearl buyers, and  believes they're trying to cheat him. Juana, noticing the obsessive aditude Kino has developed, claims that the pearl is evil and that he should sell it away quickly. But Kino wants to go to the capital and try for a higher price. When on the way, tragedy strikes them, and Coyotito ends up dead. The book ends with Kino throwing the pearl back into the water.

The book was full of symbolism, most of it centering around how riches can corrupt, and how family is more important than it. Before Kino found the pearl, they were a happy, albeit poor family, but by the end of the story, the pearl had destroyed them. When he throws the pearl into the water, he was choosing Juana over the money, and no doubt bitter and angry over what had happened.

The book also demonstrates how shallow and self- absorbed the human race is. In the story, a doctor refuses to treat Coyotito when he is bitten by a snake, but after Kino finds the pearl and becomes temporaily wealthy, he welcomes them in and uses his best treatment.

Overall, the book was both entertaining and insightful, themed, but not droning. It was a lovely read and I may read more of Steinbeck.