The Drummer Boy Of Shiloh

                                    

                                                 

              I've just recently finished reading a short story called The Drummer Boy Of Shiloh, which is written by Ray Bradbury. This short story is about a fourteen year drummer boy named Joby, who wakes up on a April night worried about the event to come. His first battle. The setting is important because it helps the reader visualize, or picture, what's going on in the story and understand how the setting could, if you think about, change the character's decisions/choices.



              The setting is important because if the author hadn't described the setting in the story, the reader wouldn't be able to picture where the events of the story are taking place. This is true because, if the reader doesn't know where the story is taking place, the reader could visualize the events of the story occurring almost anywhere. They would have to guess. For example, the reader could visualize apples falling from an apple tree instead of blossoms falling from an orchard tree because (if) Ray Bradbury hadn't described the setting in the story, the reader wouldn't know that there were orchard trees in the story.



             The setting is also important because if the author had not described where the story is taking place, the reader wouldn't really understand the story more than they would if Ray Bradbury had put in the setting (which he did). What I mean is that the reader wouldn't know where the characters are in the story, if the reader doesn't know where the characters are, the reader wouldn't be able to understand how some factors, from the setting, could affect the decisions/choices of the characters.



           For example, in the real world, the setting a person is in could affect what they do.Let's say a person is lost in the woods, the person finds a cottage in the forest and wonders whether to wander further into the woods or go into the cottage to ask for help. Of course the person wouldn't wander further into the woods because that would put them in more danger. If this person was lost in a unfamiliar neighborhood, this person would of course choose to wander further into the neighborhood instead of breaking into someone's house because this person could ask for directions in a store.



          In conclusion, the setting is very important because 1) It helps the reader visualize, or picture what's going on in the story and 2) the reader wouldn't understand how some factors, from the setting, could affect the decision/choice of a character. So as you can see,the setting is very important because it would help the reader visualize and understand the story more than the reader would if the author, Ray Bradbury, hadn't put in the setting.

           


         

Masquerade

Quick Book Summary (Before Response):

       In this book, Schuyler Van Alen wants to find an answer to the sudden deaths of young vampires, who haven't fully completed their transformation stage. And the rumors of the Silver Bloods returning aren't making this situation any better. Schuyler and her friend Oliver travel to Venice, Italy ,in search of her grandfather, Lawrence Van Alen, hoping that he could help. Without revealing too much, I'll say that the Silver Bloods aren't necessarily on good terms with the the Blue Bloods, if you know what I mean (Did that reveal too much? :P). Meanwhile, preparations are being made for the Four Hundred Ball, hosted by the Blue Bloods. But it's at the after-party, where the real action starts to unroll. 



  Response To The Book: 
   
         Over the summer, I read a book called Masquerade, the author of this book is Melissa De La Cruz. Masquerade is apart of the book series called the Blue Bloods. On one hand, Schuyler Van Alen seems to be the good one and Mimi Force seems to be the bad one because Mimi Force tried to kill Schuyler but on the other hand, if you put yourself in Mimi Force's shoes you could, in some way, understand why Mimi would do such a thing.


        You would think that Mimi Force is the evil one, throughout the course of the book, because she teamed up with Kingsley Martin to do black magic, and summon the Prince of the Darkness to attack Schuyler, in other terms, destroy her. But people do things for a reason. In the book, you could tell that Schuyler had a crush on Jack Force, Mimi's twin brother, and was ,in some way, jealous of the glamorous Mimi Force. Readers wouldn't believe that the oh-so fabulous Mimi Force would be jealous of Schuyler Van Alen. But it was pretty obvious that, Mimi Force was in-fact jealous of her.

    For example; Mimi Force noticed the interactions between Jack and Schuyler and she showed some sort of jealousy. Also, Mimi Force felt that her immortal bond with Jack Force could possibly be broken with Schuyler around. Also, Mimi Force would know that her brother had feelings for Schuyler because Mimi Force knew of his past feelings for Schuyler's mother, Gabriella Van Alen. But we all know what happened to her. So why wouldn't Mimi have the right to be jealous and do such a cruel thing? Most of you would say 'because summoning a dark spirit to destroy your arch-enemy is considered going way too far'.


   But wouldn't you do the same thing? Try to connect this idea with your life, Lets say you're boyfriend/ girlfriend is showing some crush towards a girl/boy and this girl/boy feels the same way. Wouldn't you be jealous? Of course you would. Your relationship with your boyfriend/girlfriend is in danger because of this girl/boy. Wouldn't that change you into someone your not? Making you totally capable of doing anything to get what you want and think you deserve? I'm not saying Mimi's decision was exactly correct but you could see why she would do that. If you put yourself in her shoes, you would be able to understand why she would do something so evil-like.