Response to "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh"

In the short story "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" by Ray Bradbury, the protagonist is Joby, a young man who is enlisted in the Civil War army as the drummer boy. One main conflict of the story is obvious, and that conflict is war in itself. Evidently, war is going to be a problem for Joby and the soldiers who fight. But a lot of this conflict that Ray Bradbury sets up is an internal conflict for Joby, and I think this internal conflict is what forms the theme. One internal conflict going on in Joby's head is him questioning his importance to the rest of the army. I think this helps form the main theme, which in my opinion, is that everyone is important to a team and brings something special about themselves to the table.

During this story, Joby cries because he basically states he is nervous and anxious for the battle to come the following day. But I think the plot initially takes a turn and the story reaches its climax when the general informs Joby that he is important and needed for the army to run smoothly. The General says, "..and for that, boy, I need you. You are the heart of the army." I think this is where Joby's internal conflict, just for him, is turned around and he realizes that he actually is important. Hense, Joby's internal conflict is the main debate of the story. This is where Joby takes his changing moment in the text.

In this section, I began to see some of the resolution beginning to peek through. You could tell that the internal conflict for Joby was shrinking. I think that the internal conflict was important to solve for the rest of the army to solve the external conflict or the conflict around them. For example, if Joby's internal conflict wasn't solved (according to the general), the soldiers wouldn't have performed as well in battle and hence they would be closer to losing the war which was a main conflict of the story as well. I think when Joby's internal conflict was initially solved for him in the climax towards the falling action, it helped solve the other main conflicts in the story.