Response to "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh"

           In The Drummer Boy of Shiloh, by Ray Bradbury, how does Joby change over the course of the story? In the beginning of the story, Joby felt homesick and unconfident. Everyone has felt like this at some point in their lives, and there is often somebody who comes into our lives and makes us feel better. For example, maybe you got a bad grade on a test. You would probably pout for a while, and then your parents, sibling, or maybe even a friend makes us feel better. In The Drummer Boy of Shiloh, the General caused Joby's internal change and made him feel better.
           In the beginning of the story, Joby was unconfident and homesick. He was really missing his family. As was stated about Joby's thoughts in the story, "The boy felt his family move yet farther off in the dark, as if one of those great prarie-burning trains had chanted them away, never to return- leaving him with his drum which was worse than a toy in the game to be played tommorrow or someday much too soon." This basically means that he misses his family a lot, and that all that he has now is his drum, which-to him- is the worst possible outcome. He feels that once the war starts there is no turning back, and he will have nobody to turn to because he is the odd-man-out in the army. He is just the drummer boy. The boy without a shield or weapon and no form of protection.
           Joby really started to change when the General went over and spoke to him. The General opened up to him and said: "You want to cry some more, go on ahead. I did the same last night." This made Joby feel a little bit better because, of all the people, the tough, demanding General had opened up to him an admitted that he cried. This made him feel less alone and more emotionally stable knowing that he wasn't the only one who felt that way.
           Joby's confidence boosted when the General told him: "You are the heart of the army. Think about that. You are the heart of the army. Listen to me now." I think that instead of making Joby feel even more alienated from everybody else, it made him feel important. It made him feel like there was a reason for his presence. It made him feel special.
           The General caused Joby to realize what was really important at the time: sticking together to win the war. He also made Joby's confidence shoot up and took the fatherly position in a family to make Joby feel less homesick. The General made Joby realize that of everybody in the army, he was the most special, and that the key to happiness is confidence.