Week 6

On page 212, Ishmael writes, “It sickened me to see that Sierra Leoneans asked money from those who had come from the war. They were benefiting from people who were running for their lives.” More examples of this happening are very often in the book. Anyone who lives in the community, or even in Sierra Leone in general, should help each other out just for the sake of community.  The older men should be helping out the younger boys, especially in the army that Ishmael joins. Instead of giving them drugs, brain-washing them, and making them killing machines they should be trying to get them to a safe area where they can live health, normal lives. But a lot of people don't do this, because the danger is so bad that it has become a "every man for himself" kind of situation. They saying "all is fair in love and war" is very evident in this book. 

At the end of the story Ishmael ends with a story: A man goes into the forest to hunt, as he walks through the forest and reaches the hunting grounds he immediately spots a monkey in a clearing, but to far for a good shot. As he noisily treads through the fallen bushes, the monkey for some reason doesn't notice him. As he reaches a suitable spot to shoot from, about 30 feet from the monkey he raises his rifle, just then the monkey looks up from grazing, directly at the hunter and says "If you shoot me your mother will die, and if you don't, your father will." After telling this story Ishmael comes to the conclusion that he would shoot the monkey so it can't put other people into the same predicament.  This relates to Ishmael's life because no matter what decision you make somebody will be hurt. He says through the monkey analogy that he would try to end the violence, even if someone had to get hurt in the process, just so nobody else would be affected in the future. I enjoyed the end of the book because it showed that Ishmael at least got out of the country, but still left some mystery for the reader as to what he does after that. I also particularly liked the monkey story because it got me thinking about what I would do. 

Week 5

The whole concept of what family is is challenged by A Long Way Gone.  At the start of the book Ishmael has a seeming "normal" family, with a mom, dad, and two brother. Then he is suddenly left without them in the middle of the book, and must make a new one. This new family becomes his best friends which he travels with all over the country, trying to run away from the war. He cares for them deeply and what happens to them happens to him. After once again losing that family he finds a brand new one-his squad. The squad protected each other and left no one behind, even Ishmael, when he got shot in the foot and couldn't move. It was the first family that he actually felt safe and some-what love since his first family. This new and strongest family to date is also one of the most unconventional. It would seem that Ishmael wouldn't like these people, because they drug him, brain-wash him, and force him to shoot people, but in actuality they made him feel important, loved, and protected, which is what is the base of what a family truly is. At the conclusions of the book Ishmael is transported to his final family- one composing of his uncle, aunt, and cousins. This is one also unconventional according to our standards, but it is what Ishmael needs and deserves: a healthy family. A Long Way Gone  challenged what family is by showing that just because your family isn't composed of your blood relatives doesn't make it any less of a family.

On page 128, the soldiers start singing the Sierra Leone national anthem. The words Ishmael reprints are “High we exalt thee, realm of the free, great is the love we have for thee…” Ishmael reprints these lines because he thinks that people in Sierra Leone believe that they are free, even though their rights are restricted. To be a free person in a free country you must have freedom of expression, and be able to make your own life choices. You should be able to chose whether or not you want to participate in an army- and Sierra Leone definitely does not give that right. A free person should also have the freedoms of religion, speech, press, and petition.  The US gives all these rights and should be considered a free country. 

Week 4

My friend once told me the story of when her uncle died, and how she was never the same after. See, they were always considerably close and he had practically raised her since she was a small girl after her father had died. It was heartbreaking  and she even told me that she turned into a different person after. I think this instance gives an example of something that instead of contradicts that phrase "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Some things are so heartbreaking and so traumatic that they actually kill you from the inside out because the pain is too great for one person to handle. Another great example of what could cause this is what Ishmael and his friend Saidu went through.

Week 3

On page 37, Ishmael writes, “This was one of the consequences of the civil war. People stopped trusting each other, and every stranger became an enemy.” I have felt this way sometimes, but not as extreme as Ishmael has. Some days when I'm having a particularly bad day I can feel the everyone I meet, everything I see, basically the whole world, is out to get me. In Ishmael's case a great deal of people that are in his country are out to get him, but the feelings are mutual. Some other times Ishmael feels that every stranger is an enemy is on page 99. Ishmael was being lead to a local village by a man he once knew, from his original village of 
Mogbwemo, to see his family again for this first time again in many long, long months. Right as he is nearing the village, rebels enter the community and burn it to the ground while shooting the fleeing refugees. Seeing this Ishmael gets very mad and frustrated at his luck, but he still continues on to see if there are any remains of his parents and brother left.  He stays in the village too long and rebels see him and the other boys and chase them out of the village while shooting machine guns.  Just as they feel they have reached safety Ishmael releases the older man has been shot, and he soon passes away. At that moment Ishmael is stunned, confused, and slightly angry at the world. He thinks that every stranger he meets is against him because of the future events.  

Week 2

The book A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah,  is a first hand report of what life is like in the civil-war savaged country of Sierra Leone. In the novel Ishmael is faced with many horrific events while on his travels, but he sometimes finds joys in things. Two of these things are natural events: the presence of the moon and the large waves of the Atlantic Ocean. "Even in the middle of the madness there remained that true and natural beauty, and it took my  mind away from my current situation as I marveled at this sight," Ishamael says about the ocean. I think these things console him more than others because they were pure and could not be tainted by man. These things, especially the moon, have been with him since childhood and have not changed. Things that console Ishmael also console me. The moon is a great comfort because no matter what choices I've chosen or mistakes I've made it will always been unchanging. It's very relaxing to know that some things people cannot  alter or remove, no matter how hard they try, and I feel that Ishamael thinks the same way too.

Week 1

Here are the links for the documentary about the rehabilitation center preciously discussed: http://www.documentarywire.com/soldier-child  or http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VgHQS9aUFTw

Week 1

On Saturday night I watched the documentary Soldier Child on DocumentaryWire. This heart-breaking film featured a rehabilitation center in Northern Uganda for children that have kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army and forced to kill, beat, and maim people, or for girls, become sex slaves. When I first started watching I was appalled by the horrible acts that these poor children were forced to commit. I honestly don't know if I could knife someone to death, bathe in their blood,  and still have some sanity. But when I continued to watch the movie I suddenly became proud and awe-struck of the social workers and counselors that work at the center for little or no visible reward. Learning about the situation of Uganda earlier from a relative I had known what was going on and my stance on: that the acts being committed in the "name of the lord" were purely awful life-changing things that need to be stopped. Soon. The specific events that made me feels these things even more was that several boys and I shared a common love: soccer. They would play it almost everyday like I do, even though are lives are drastically different.