The Drummer Boy of Shiloh by Ray Bradbury

A few days (perhaps a week) ago I read a short story called "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" written by Ray Bradbury. It was based on the battle of Shiloh in the American civil war and talked about a fourteen year old boy, the drummer boy, and what was happening the night before the battle (or more specifically, what he was thinking or going through the night before the battle). It was beautifully written, sentences so smooth they seemed linked by a thread and descriptions so real, it seemed as though every word was a picture or thought.  The author explained each idea very clearly, which made me think about what the main idea might be.

For me I thought that the main idea or theme was the fact that it is alright to be scared, but that fear could be overcome if we try hard enough. I think that the theme is very true. Everyone on this planet has probably more than once been scared but, in order to move on, you have to overcome that fear.

Funny how the best lessons in life tend to come from books.

Fear is powerful. It can drive people crazy or to the point of insanity. In order to achieve a goal one has to find something stronger to grip on to and not give in to what one is scared of. Many things are stronger than fear. Inspiration, love, duty (such as the case of the drummer boy who accepted his fate or what he was destined to do and become), they are all examples but it is up to us to find which one and more importantly the reason we choose it. 

It is an unfortunate matter, the fact that every time you want to reach a goal, something else just has to stand in the way, fear mostly likely being one of those "something else" things. Is it because of the unknown? Is that what fear is all about, the not knowing of what could happen? If you think about it, it tends to be that the majority of fears are of the things we don't know. The Salem witch trials for example, when people didn't know what the "witches" could or would do, they burned all those accused of being one. The drummer boy in the book, he didn't know what would happen to him on the battlefield the next day so he was scared (just like how anyone would be). Death, the "thing" many are afraid of most, why are we afraid of it? Is it because we do not know how our death would come or what would happen after our death? If everything had an answer would fear no longer exist (not including phobias which are completely different from what I've been saying)? For good or bad, that will never be true, but either way that doesn't mean that we should stop finding answers to the mysteries surrounding us. Only that way will things seem lighter as we strive our way up to the point we want to go. Fear, it will never truly go away, but facing it and staying strong will definitely help the journey we live for, seem brighter each day.

Let The Great World Spin by Colum Mccann

   This book that I am currently reading is called Let The Great World Spin by Colum Mccann. I'm finding it pretty interesting especially since it starts with a person walking across a tight rope between the World Trade Center (note that this is 1974). Right now I have finished the first chapter and so far it talks about two brothers, born in Ireland, who have moved to New York and how they are dealing with life. Corrigan, the younger of the two brothers (by two years) is a person who is very dedicated to God and spends his life aiding others even to the expense of sacrificing his own needs. _______ (it is written in first person so I do not know his name yet since he is the person that goes I...) , the older one, dropped out of university and is now sort of drifting around (already in his thirties), not impressed with the way his brother lives (in a run down apartment with gangs and drunks everywhere) and wants to go back to Ireland.

  This book, I find, is very real. Real as in how it connects with the way life works. For example, in the first chapter, Corrigan is struggling to remain the dedicated person he is but is also battling love, and feeling as though God had abandoned him, no longer listening to his prayers and thoughts. I find this real since it comes so often that you want one thing but don't want to lose the other, while at the same time knowing that you can't have both. It seems that he feels lost and frustrated, just like how every one of us feels when it comes to situations like that. Knowing that no matter how you choose, guilt will somehow catch up to you.  Having one friend that hates the other, craving a job your parents disapprove, seeing the world in ways no one else does but not wanting to change yourself. Sometimes only words written on paper can assure us that we are not the only ones who can't seem to choose.  

  It always amazes me that no matter how much you love something, there will always be something you don't love about it. Ex. Corrigan, is so very much dedicated to God but doesn't like God's voice or "this logical God" (quoted from the book). You may love your purse but not like the price,  love chocolate cake but not like the calories, love your mirror but not like what you see in it each morning. Nothing is a hundred percent GREAT, and that's okay since if it were that great, it wouldn't be real.

  I also think that one of the deepest things about this book is the title. Let The Great World Spin. Yep. That's about all we can do sometimes, just letting things unfold the way they're supposed to. In fact its amazing what the world has in store for us. Surprises, good or bad, happen every day. Can we control them? Sometimes. Is it fate? Who knows? All we do know is that we can only act upon the moments that have happened already. Perhaps that's where "that's life" comes from, and for the most part, it is.

  

 

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

The book I am currently reading (but almost done) is "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd. So far,
(and again I'm almost done so basically its not just "so far" but almost the entire book) I like this book very much and it has definitely become one of my favourites.

 This book is set in the 1960s in South Carolina, where a lot of racial discrimination is still thriving. Lily Owens, a girl living with her heartless and abusive father is constantly not as happy as one could be, due to her mother having passed when she was still at a young age, and the death to be said, was caused by her own accidental doing (a fight between Lily's parents caused her mother do pull out a gun but when it falls on the floor, Lily picks it up and it goes off, killing her mother). When her nanny (that is like a "second" mother to her), Rosaleen (who is an African American), gets thrown in jail by angering a few racist white men while trying to become a voter, Lily and Rosaleen escape to a small town named Tiburon, a town written on the back of a picture of a black Mary (later known as Black Madonna) that belonged to Lily's mother. Now on a "quest" to find out about her mother's past, they meet three sisters who own a honey business and although facing challenges, form a foundation of love and motherly care, finding out what truly matters the most in life.

A lot of the times while I read this book visualizations are what mostly came to mind, because of how well the author has described each setting. In fact (I'm not sure if this counts as a visualization or a connection but...) a lot of the times, again due to well descriptions, I can feel the emotions that Lily is feeling, feel the sorrow when knowing that her father really doesn't love her, feel the anger when she knows her mother did something unforgiving, even feel how beautiful the bond is between her and the Daughters of Mary are. There are times though that I made connections, for example when it talked about her smashing honey jars due to her anger, but finding out that being destructive doesn't help, I can connect to how I get agitated and yell at people when I am extremely unhappy but realize that that only makes me feel worse. Inferences are also made occasionally, such as: I infer that when someone reaches the age of 14, they become a lot more mature based on how she seems so much more mature or able to follow her true will, or even by a lot of other stories, even for example "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" that we read two days ago.

Lastly I did sometimes make predictions but not that often since that is a reading skill that I do not commonly use. One prediction that I made was that Lily would end up meeting T-Ray again but that she wouldn't go with him back to her hometown. I predicted this because a good book doesn't usually leave something hanging, such as "will she ever have to face her dad again?" and also since, it being a heartwarming book (or at least I think it should be) I didn't think that it would have a miserable and depressing ending which would be, if she had to go back.

According to the last few pages the author has written (I read them early on to have a greater understanding of the book before I continued so I could see underlying messages), this novel is about "...mothers lost and found, love, conviction, and forgiveness, The Secret Life of Bees boldly explores life's wounds and reveals the deeper meaning of home and the redemptive simplicity of "choosing what matters", which I completely agree with and therefore I would DEFINITELY recommend this book to anyone who likes reading books that are truly worth while and will be remembered for life.