The Drummer Boy Of Shiloh

"But without these last, the boy felt his family move yet farther off in the dark, as if one of those great prairie-burning trains had chanted them away, never to return––leaving him with this drum which worse than a toy in a game to be played tomorrow or someday much too soon"
           
          The quote above is from a short story called The Drummer Boy Of Shiloh. The story tales place in the middle of World War 2 closely coming toward the bloody battle of Shiloh. This is a story of a 14 year old boy whose only fear is dying as he parades what he believes are his last days living crying his eyes out feeling sorry for hisself because he knows that he is going to die. He soon gets talked into some sense by his general and he soon realizes that he is the most protected throughout the fight and that everything will be ok.
            I think that this quote means that Joby felt abandoned and unwanted. I think that he thought that his family left him there all by himself so he would have no one. He thought that they left him there with a bunch strangers to die. That he was stranded with men who were about to fight a bloody war and he wasn't sure if he would come out alive. He had no one who could be there for him, no one to protect him. All he had was a drum  and that isn't a defense weapon to him. He didn't realize his importance and he was just thinking about possibly dying. Basically, Joby thought he was alone physically and mentally and he had no one to confront about it because he was abandoned.
             I can empathize with Joby about feeling alone family wise and no one to be ther for me or to talk to about it. My dad left me and my mom when I was little. He called me on my 8th birthday once and I saw my half sisters once when they were 3 and 4. After that, he never called me again. He didn't even tell me about a brother who I supposed have, my grandmother had to tell me about. He abandoned me and there were many times that I needed him to be there for me and he wasn't there for me. I could've needed advice about something from him and he wouldn't be there. I truly do believe that it's because he doesn't want me or care about me and he doesn't want to have anything to do with me. I always thought that it would be ok and that he would call or at least acknowledge that I'm here and alive and well. But you don't get everything you want in life. I feel a little naïve for believing that he would do something. He probably just doesn't love me anymore. Too busy with his other kids to even think about his first. U guess you can say that I never really had a father or a father figure in my life.

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