The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

  The Drummer Boy of Shiloh by Ray Bradbury is about Joby, the young drummer boy in the Battle of Shiloh. It's about how Joby finds the confidence to go on. It takes place on the night before the battle, on a spring night, amidst blossoming peach trees.

   I thought that the setting was very important in this story, for it carried the theme.

  The story takes place on a Spring night(as the story says: "In the April night..."). I think this represents peace, for I find Spring nights very peaceful. For though Spring days are lively, I think Spring nights are quiet as though all the new life of Spring is at peace, at rest before another lively morning/day. Spring nights (and mostly Spring itself) are not too cold, nor too hot. In many ways, Spring is much like Autumn. This is in contrast to the panic and unrest taking place within the minds of the soldiers (as the story says: "nervous expectation and unable to sleep for romantic dreams of battles yet unfought..."). To me, this makes the lack of peace more evident in the story, for despite the peaceful environment/surroundings, the soldiers are still unable to rest peacefully.

  I also thought that the peach blossoms played a significant role in representing the theme of the story as well. When I imagine peach blossoms, I think of innocence and youth, how the blossom is not yet a peach, not yet ready to be picked. This represents the state of the majority of the soldiers in the story. For they are innocent because of their youth and inexperience to battle. I think that the soldiers' innocence is good and bad. Good because the soldiers are not yet scarred from the horrors of war, but bad because that would mean they don't know what's ahead of them, and therefore will not be prepared. They are inexperienced as the story says: "It's going to be a crazy time said the general...we should all turn tail and train four months..."

  I think that the peach blossoms also represent Joby. A peach blossom is the state of a peach before it actually becomes a peach. And in the story, Joby is in the state of a boy before he becomes a man/soldier. In the story he finds his confidence to become a true soldier. The peach blossoms represent Joby because in the beginning he is a young, confidence-lacking boy, and throughout the story, "blossoms" into a confident man/soldier.

  Overall, I think the setting of a story is always important. For it usually has to have a significance in order for the story to take place there. It may be the cause of (or related) to the problem(s). Or it may(like this one) represent the theme and characters themselves. 

A Separate Peace

  A Separate Peace by John Knowles is about the friendship between the two main characters Phineas(Finny) and Gene. They are room-mates at their prep-school. Gene is a quiet, intellectual introvert while Finny is an athletic, care free extrovert. And though Gene and Finny are complete opposites, they still share a great friendship. However, over time Gene becomes envious of Phineas and tries to out-do his friend. Gene becomes increasingly jealous, so one day when they were about to dive into a river on the top branch of the tallest tree in their school grounds, he jounces the branch (from sheer impulse)causing Finny to fall off the tree and shatter his leg. Finny is devastated when he learns that he will never be able to compete/participate in sports again. And Gene, knowing that it is all his fault, feels incredibly guilty. The rest of the story tells how Gene copes with his guilt, and how Phineas battles his emotions knowing that his best friend shattered not only his leg, but his future and his dreams.

 Both Gene and Finny change throughout the story. Throughout the book Gene encounters envy, remorse, and guilt, but overall, he is mostly battling against himself. Both characters endure much pain in the story. Phineas changes from care-free and positive to trying to be care-free and positive. He tries to resist change. He tries to stay as the happy and outgoing Finny he once was. He tries to resist being bitter and angry. He also makes ongoing attempts to keep his friendship with Gene, despite what has happened between them. But both Phineas and Gene understand acceptance and forgiveness in the end.

 This book is unique because it is in Gene's point of view, and at times the reader may dislike Gene a lot because of what he did, it is unique because Gene is the flawed character while Phineas is the exact opposite. I think it is almost impossible for anyone to be like Phineas, to appreciate friendship so much despite the pain it brought. But even though it seems impossible, I think everyone should try.