The Drummer Boy Analysis

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“Don 't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It 's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can 't try to do things. You simply must do things.”- Ray Bradbury Everyone in life over thinks things at times especially when writing, but writers need to get their heads down and get their pens to paper. Bradbury’s writing is always universal. He sets a good example to inspire writers. In the short story “The Drummer Boy”, Bradbury uses a variety of techniques to get the reader engaged. Bradbury uses vivid description to build the setting and build suspense, inner thinking to show the characters thoughts and motivation, and multiple points of view to provide background information.

The first of the three techniques …show more content…

This is seen at the early stages of the short story to get a good sense about what the characters will be thinking at one moment and to have a general idea about their thoughts as the story goes on. “Me thought the boy, I got only a drum, two sticks to beat it, and no shield. There wasn’t a man-boy on this ground tonight did not have a shield he cast, riveted or carved himself on his way to his first attack” (320). This quote shows how Bradbury puts the reader straight into the mind of the reader. The way he does it so early in the text really sets the tone for the reader as they read further on into the text. Bradbury feels the need to do that early on so that the reader does not feel lost towards the middle and end of the short story, it makes the life of the reader easy and the text starts to get more and more interesting as you read on. Another example of Bradbury using inner thinking is again on page (320). “compounded of remote but nonetheless firm and fiery family devotion, flag-blown patriotism and cocksure immortality strengthened by the touchstone of very real gunpowder, ramrod, mini ball, and flint.” Although this is the end of the previous quote it added on into providing a background about the character and it granted the reader with potentially crucial information that could be used later on in the short