Drummer boy of Shiloh

Love Rickerson                                                                                  
October 3, 2012                            The Drummer Boy of Shiloh    
807         

                            I recently read a short story called The Drummer Boy of Shiloh by Ray Bargundy.
It is about a drummer boy named Joby in the civil war who feels like he is not important as everyone else in the army. He feels like since he doesn't have a shield or weapon like everyone else, he doesn't really play an important role in the army and that he doesn't matter. But with the help of the General of the army, Joby's thoughts change throughout the story about the war. He realizes that he actually is important to the army, even though he thought he was just a drummer boy and nothing special.

                 In the beginning, Joby feels neglected with his part in the war. He feels as if he isn't important and that he doesn't matter. He feels this way because he sees how strong everyone looks with their shields and weapons, and all he has is a drum and two sticks. Joby isn't confident in himself and doesn't try to make the best out of the role that he plays in the army. He doesn't notice that you don't need a shield or any armor just to be considered important. But when Joby meets the general of the army, he then starts to gain more confidence in himself and doesn't feel so un-important anymore. One way that the general helps Joby realize how important he is in the army, is when the general tells him how just because he seems all strong and always ready to fight, he also breaks down and cries sometimes. This is important because this breaks a barrier  for Joby and he gets to see another side of the general. The general teaches him that just because of the things that you have, that doesn't define who you are, or how important you are than everyone else. Because at the end of the day, everyone matters, and everyone is a team. So just because there are people that are in the army fighting all the time, that doesn't mean that they are more important than Joby. Because if it weren't for the drummer boy, the soldiers would have no motivation or confidence in themselves. In the story, the general tells Joby; "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." This also gives Joby confidence in himself and helps him realize how important he is to the army. He recognizes that the way that he plays his drums, affects the way the soldiers fight. The way that Joby plays his drums, affects the ways that they move and fight. So, Joby now realizes how important he is and his thoughts about where he stands changes. He learns that no matter what role you have, if you're in a team, you always matter. What if Joby weren't there? The soldiers would have no motivation and wouldn't fight with as much energy and eagerness as they do when Joby beats his drums.

                          In the end, Joby's thoughts about where he stands in the army changes, and he realizes that he does matter. He learns that it doesn't matter what role you are in something, when it comes to a team. He gains confidence in himself and takes pride into what he does. I think that what the general told Joby really helped a lot because Joby no longer felt so worthless, so it helped him play better which helped out the soldiers. 

               

Reading response on The Help

                                                                      The Help


                The book that i have been reading is called The Help by Kathryn Stockett. In the help, 3 woman named Aibileen, Skeeter, and Minny go through a dangerous but exciting journey of making a drastic change in society in the 1962. Aibileen and Minny are both black maids, who have been maids all their lives. The white people call them the "help". Being the help is something that you learned to do at a young age, since being black it was something that most African Americans just did when they got older. After Aibileen tells Skeeter, a woman who is both Aibileen and Minny's bosses friend, tells her about how her son who died was planning to write about segregation and working for white people all his life, she gets an idea to do the same thing, but with maids. She wants to write about the maids point of view about how things are where they live in Mississippi, which is a very risky thing. The 3 ladies are learning more about themselves and how even though they are different races, they still have the same point of view on how the world should be. The three of them are going through a journey trying to make a change.

                In the beginning, Aibileen and Minny are very close and don't really trust any white people. Aibileen know miss Skeeter, but Minny doesn't. Aibileen has taken care of white peoples children for many years and is very observant with what goes on.  She gets angry very easily because the things that she sees that happens, gets her mad because she has something in her that makes her want things to change. Then, one day when Aibileen's boss is not around, Skeeter asks her if she ever wanted to change things. That remark coming from a white person confuses Aibileen, but she does think about it. She wonders what made Miss Skeeter ask her that, and why she asked her. But what Aiblieen doesn't yet realize, is that just because Miss Skeeter is white, it doesn't mean that she doesn't think about if the world was different, and there wasn't any segregation.

                 The way that Minny comes into the picture, is that Miss Skeeter then convinces Aibileen to do the story with her, and evaluate how she sees things, in a black persons point of view. When Miss Skeeter hears all of the things that Aibileen tells her, she then notices how dangerous it is of a thing that they're doing. They are risking a lot because if they get caught, Aibileen can go to jail, and then once she convinces Minny, she can too. So Minny then explains to Miss Skeeter how dangerous it is what they are doing and opens up Miss Skeeters eyes a little more to let her know that she means business. Writing an article about segregation and having true stories about it, was a very risky thing. Especially if it's black and white people working together.

                Throughout the story, each of the woman are learning more and more about each other. I'm not yet done with the book, but I can see them already bonding and the article is coming together. What shows that they really care, is that knowing how risky it is what they're doing, they still continue their journey and work/write together. I hope that in the end the story is popular and the journey comes to a happy end.

My classmates reading responses

                      I recently read 3 of my classmates reading responses from books that they read over the summer. But out of the three, two of them caught my attention and helped me get the message of the book that they read. The first one was by my classmate Amelia Bedilia, who wrote about a story that she read called Make Lemonade . I loved her summary because it really persuaded me to want to read the book, that I went and Googled it to see more of what it was about. Amelia really caught the essence of the story and shared her feeling about this book very well and that is what I liked about it. Another summary that I liked was from Helen Rodriguez, who wrote about Pretty Little Liars . She too caught the essence of her story and really got my attention with her choice of words for this book. She clearly explains to you who the main character is and why they played such a big role in the story and has you focused on that one thing the whole time. I really loved how Helen described the story in such a way that you felt like you were almost reading it yourself. And that is what I liked about these two summaries.

Shattered

A book that I read over the summer is called shattered by Paul Langan. This book is about a girl named Darcy who goes to a school called Bluford High. Darcy has a lot of problems at home and school but no one knows it. She goes through a lot of things with family and also ends up getting raped by someone at her school. The things that happened to Darcy even though it is a fictional book, helps me realize and appreciate more things in my life. When Darcy looses her grandmother, I don't know how she managed to mend with that. She already doesn't have her father there for her and her little sister  and then when she gets raped and looses someone close to her, It made me stop and think about how good my life is. I have my mother, and my grandmother and father. Even though this story was fictional, it still teaches you lessons in life and how grateful you should be. While reading this story, I was amazed at the ways that Darcy handled what she was going through. She did make some bad choices (like most people would) , but she still got through everything and in my opinion handled all of that better than most people would.