Compare and Contrast Essay
“A happy childhood is one of the best gifts that parents have their power to bestow”(Mary Cholmondeley).Someone’s youth can determine what kinds of paths or decisions someone makes. Childhood is an important time in a person’s life. Many kids do not get to have a happy and long childhood because it was cut short for various reasons. Poverty, war, sickness, and a bad homelife are some ways someone’s childhood could be cut short. Patsy Barnes from “The Finish of Patsy Barnes” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Joby from ”The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” by Ray Bradbury both experienced having their childhoods cut short. Patsy is a 14 year old African American boy that went through a drastic change when he moved from the South, to Dalesford. His father died when he was 13 and he now has to take care of his sick mother. Patsy is determined to ride the son of the horse that his father died riding.Joby is a 14 year old boy who is a drummer boy during the Civil
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But, for Joby is is for a different reason. It is because he is a drummer boy in the Civil War.. The night before the battle, he is very scared and nervous but, the general told him how important he was in the army even though he had no weapon. Then Joby was ready and had the confidence and bravery he needed. Joby uses gallantry and courage during his rough time in the Civil War. At first, Joby didn’t think he was important in the army, but then realized that he is one of the most important soldiers. “He cleared his throat. He settled himself. Then, at last, very slowly and firmly, he turned the drum so that it faced up toward the sky. He lay next to it his arm around it”(Bradbury 118). Joby realizes his importance and how brave he was to fight in the war even though he wasn't a soldier with a gun. Joby used his bravery and confidence to help push through this tough time as a teenager whose childhood had been cut