Books: A Long Way Gone and The Bite of the Mango

In ‘Disabled’, Wilfred Owen a war veteran tells the story of a young soldier who returns from war and realizes how dissimilar his old life is to his new one where he is disabled both mentally and physically despite the fact that his mind may seem unaffected by past traumas the reader will begin to understand the subtle hurts that have slowly damaged him. In contrast, the story of ‘Out, out-‘ is of a boy completing his everyday chores, sawing wood, in the backdrop of the Vermont mountains. He accidentally cuts his hand off and he succumbs to death despite a doctor’s aid.

First, the poor economic status of the village leads to a low quality of life for Giri and others around her. While Devi does not directly critique the poverty level in the story, readers can easily see what has become of it. When married off, Giri does not even have a place to call home as Aulchand has no home; Aulchand himself struggles to provide food and shelter for just himself. Giri’s first daughter, Belarani, was born in the “crumbling hovel with the tin door.” Giri works relentlessly to provide food, clothes, and shelter for herself and her family. Slaving for the necessities of life takes a toll on her body. When visiting home, Giri’s mom states that Giri’s new life has “tarnished her bright complexion, ruined her abundant hair, and made her collarbones stick out.” There seems to be little opportunity for advancement as well; Aulchand and Giri work on the road and at the babu household, and Aulchand works odd side jobs whenever the opportunity arises.

The moment she got trampled under the stomps and shoves of others, one could identify what she’d been feeling like previously - a witness to her own inconvenience. This incident not only exemplifies but also symbolizes the burden she feels having been born handicapped, unable to provide assistance or gain to the world. These feelings Adahs has for her life are later rebutted by her longstanding dreams of attending medical school and improving science. By achieving her academic potential, she finally recognized herself as an important asset to the world- no longer being seen as handicapped, physically or mentally.

Lost in a Desert World relays the story of the life of Roland Johnson, a man born with an intellectual disability and placed in an institution who eventually went on to be the president of Speaking for Ourselves, a group that encourages those with disabilities to stand up for themselves and their rights. This memoir offers a rare first-person, nonfiction account of the life and experiences of someone with an intellectual disability. Though filled with the harsh realities of the treatment of those with intellectual disabilities, the book is also one of passion, strength, and hope.

The first quote that stood out to me was when Beah was hiding with Kaloko outside of a deserted village:

People with disabilities are not completely gone. They are still there and have a mind of their own. They feel emotions and sometimes have a more complex mind than others. Two authors help enlighten this idea that disabled people are much more than helpless bodies. Both Christy Brown and Jean-Dominique Bauby perfectly illustrate their lives and what it is like to be disabled, and they prove by their stories that they think and feel, and can even develop enough to share what they feel with the world. My Left Foot is about the journey of a boy suffering from cerebral palsy. His entire life he was labeled as a loss cause by doctor after doctor, but his mom never gave up hope. Slowly, he started showing signs of development by random movements responding to certain situations. In the end he ends up being able to communicate with his left foot. The next story, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, is about an individual who suffered a stroke at the age of 43, leaving him paralyzed, only able to blink his left eye as communication. He develops his own alphabet inspired by the French language in order to exchange conversations with others. His thoughts in the story jump from the present, him currently disabled, and the past, when he was not. Both memoirs, with very different stories, show the lives of two individuals that are not like others. One who had their disability since birth, and the other who obtained one after a tragic event. In My Left Foot by Christy Brown and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby, both authors use characterization to show readers the struggles of disabled people and help them understand that just because they can’t use motions such as hand gestures to express how they feel, doesn’t mean that they don’t think and feel.

Kamara originated from Sierra Leone and lived in small villages until the age of 12. She heard talk of rebels coming to her villages and she and her family prepared for it every time until the day her grandmothers superstitions came true. “Whenever you dream of palm oil’, my grandmother had told me when I was seven, ‘blood will spill by the end of the day” (Kamara 25). Her first night in Manarma she dreamt of palm oil, and the next morning her life was changed forever. Ambushed by the rebels and nowhere to go, she was forced to watch villagers burned alive inside a house. After the rebels let her go, she travelled around until she found help from a man who pointed her in the direction of women who would help her to a clinic in Port Loko. Upon reaching the village, she was treated as if she was a threat, and after clearing up the misunderstanding, was told why. The rebels had been sending young girls under the guise of needing help, into villages, and once their guards were done, the rebels would attack. Teens were to be wary of in the villages. Once she reached the hospital and

Since the start of the Sierra Leonean war in March of 1991, innocent civilians have been the primary target of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)’s wrath. The people of Sierra Leone have faced significant problems due to the invasions and attacks by the Rebel Forces and are the main population that is being affected by this group’s disapproval of the government. One person who experienced profound changes in her life due to the start of this war is Mariatu Kamara, a victim of a Rebel attack that cost her both her childhood and her hands. Throughout her memoir, “The Bite of the Mango,” she is faced with numerous traumatic events and meets an abundance of people who were very significant in her life and some of whom helped her survive the war. Kamara also gives the reader a variety of themes to use as a foundation to understanding war life, which also serve to help readers learn more about life, grow as people, and rise above to help others in need. Mariatu Kamara has not only changed the lives of people all throughout Sierra Leone by giving them a voice and an outlet to share their experiences, but has also proved to be an inspiration for countless amputees around the world.

In the beginning, Beah states that he was first, “touched by war at the age of 12” (Beah 6). This leads Beah and his brother Junior to take refuge to neighboring villages to further extend their chances of not being captured from the barbarous rebel army, RUF (Revolutionary United Front). While traveling to various villages and having to escape from the rebel army, Beah’s flashback to his Brother Junior’s stone skipping lesson allows the reader to understand how much Junior cares for his little brother, “Junior gave me his bucket, took my empty one, and returned to the river, when he came home, the first thing he did was ask me if I was hurt from falling” (Beah 39). This memory is brought to remembrance to comfort and console Beah when traveling with Junior, and call upon happier times with his brother to try and take his mind off the war. Further in the story, a village Beah and his brother Junior were taken refuge in

As for this book investigation, the novel for this assignment is called, When Books Went to War, by Molly Guptill Manning. The purpose of this novel is to demonstrate how books helped soldiers in World War II. Throughout this book, it explains how American troops read textbooks to help escape the world around them. Soldiers turn to books to release the tension they have from the war. Most of the time veterans feel lonely or depressed and by reading novels, it helps them to manage their emotions. This novel is written because it indicates how powerful books are towards people. These books have the power to “... soothed troubled minds and hearts...” (Manning 110). As the author claims, books helped win World War II.

In the film “The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun”, we follow a young disabled girl in post-independence Africa while she gets a job selling government newspapers. Djibril Mambéty, the maker of this film, proposes a kind of moral code to the audience. He illustrates a strong willed and lovable character named Silli. The way Silli walks, although a little wonky, the help of the crutches and her own determination keep it constant in the face of obstacles. The way Silli walks is symbolic of how the whole movie functions. In the grand scheme of the entire film, the filmmaker wants to convey that Silli, with the help of people, overcame obstacles through inner strength and determination. The crutch symbolizes the help of people around her. In the final scene of the film, the crutch has been taken away and is literally replaced by an actual human carrying her. The filmmaker wishes to convey the message to the audience to act as a crutch for the disabled: to be a source of support. Help given to disabled people are like crutches; it helps them succeed when they have the willpower to. It is like a symbiotic relationship. However, this help is merely a stepping stone for disabled people. They aren’t superior or inferior in any way. This ideology can be applied to the interactions in all forms of life. Silli is a child. Though strong willed and determined in the face of adversity, she like all children, disabled or not,

Disabilities within the characters of “The Life You Save May be Your Own” by Flanner O’Connor

During her early years, sues characteristics did not give her family much hope as she engaged in behaviors which were different from the other children, such as physically hurting herself. Sue’s transition from childhood to adolescence shows that living with a disability is a lifelong condition.

The dominant model of disability for the majority of the 20th century was the medical model. The medical model’s emphasis is on impairment; this is the cause of the disadvantage disabled individuals face and therefore the site of interventions (Crow, 1996). It is based in the biomedical and clinical. It views disability as a personal tragedy, an idea which is often implicit in work around disability based on the medical model. (Oliver, 1990).

“Disabled" is a poem written in the 1910s by Wilfred Owen, the poem describes the experience of a young soldier who was fighting in World War I. After the war he lost his limbs as it was very unfortunate for him. As the poem goes on, he was then laughed and discriminated about his unfortunate loss. He then feels regretful of the reason why he went to fight for his country. The adjective “Disabled “is associated with negative connotations. The poem is about the negative feelings of an ex-soldier who lost had an unfortunate loss of limbs. As this is similar to the poem ‘Out, Out ‘.