Dialectical Journal For Laura Simms

I find the fact that they were able to even smile during this morbid time was extremely uplifting. To still have such spirit when so much had been taken away from them is astonishing. This shows so much character in Ishmael, how he does not let the war get to his head. He still preserves whatever happiness he has left. It is so important not to take life for granted, as shown in this memoir. In one instant Ishmael was a boy, in another he was a boy soldier. He manages to find joy in a terrible time.

“I hate getting flashbacks from things I don't want to remember. ”“In violence, we forget who we are.” these are some of the quotes that come to mind when I think of the violence and the consequences and after effect that Ishmael experience in the novel. Throughout the novel Ishmael encountered many deadly and violent events. From his experiences I have learned that the consequences and aftereffects of violence makes a person feel as though they are losing himself and/ or as though they are dying a little on the inside, many lives may or may have been taken, are some of the lesson I learned from his experiences.

The drastic change in Ishmael’s character is unexplainably noticeable. The book began with an innocent, troublesome and mischievous boy untouched by war, and by chapter fourteen, he was unrecognizable. I did not understand nor recall the boy I was reading, it was as if the points of view had been interchanged, and I was reading from the perspective of a blood thirsty soldier. He had become that soldier. The deterring character development that Ishmael undergoes during his time in the army is as sudden and shocking as the death of his family. Just as he was given a flicker of hope, it was snatched away from him mercilessly, along with his childhood and innocence. Ishmael had become one more among the mass, he was another brainwashed and drugged

The book is based on actual events and is expressed through a personal point of view. Ishmael wrote a memoir that tells the story of a young boy who is torn from his peaceful life, and then forced into a frightening world of drugs and slavery. In writing about his experiences, he has made the decision to present his experiences in a particular way by missing out details and recounting others. This

Beah had never a home, he had never a place where he went and felt safe. Ishmael was never loved, he was just used for the benefit of others. He had to survive all the physical and emotional pain. Beah overcame the psychological problems that the war left him and learned how to regain his humanity that the army had taken from him. Ishmael never lost hope, he always looked forward for a better future. He kept having hope even when he was brainwashed by the army and was forced to do bad things. He was always hoping to survive. Despite what Ishmael lived through, he regained his humanity by the help of others but mostly by his perseverance and personal strength he could vanquish his killing thoughts and become a confident person

1) “They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment” (O’Brien 20).

He didn’t know how to act or what to say but all his uncle could do was tear up and remember Ishmael’s resemblance of his dad. Ishmael then slowly open up to his uncle and goes home with his uncle. In conclusion, No matter how hard your past was you can overcome it with caring supporters by your side. The message in the book is really motivational to me, it make me feel like life is too precious to hold on to the past and not move on towards the future. Throughout the story Ismael had supporters who motivate him to keeping him going. Now he is a successful man who lives in New

A final theme tells us when everything else disappears, there is always love. Ishmael learns this the hard way. He has a kind of family unit with the soldiers that actually carries over into the love and friendship between him and Alhaji. Then, there is the love of Uncle Tommy and his family and their willingness to make Ishmael a son and a brother. Finally, there is the love of people like Esther and Laura who accept him unconditionally and welcome him into their homes when he most needed help and love.

Ten years ago on the sun there was a girl named Emily she was just five years old and so was her twin their mom and dad thought that it would be better to send them to Earth in a separate rocket well when the rockets left the ground Octavios came and stole their mom and dad. Emma her twin got stuck on a twig and those are very dangerous because if you touch anything like that on the sun you may die. and then the rocket started to catch on fire and it almost caught her on fire with it but it didn't she got out at the perfect moment because it blew up right after she started to fly away and she was shocked because she have

“You’re breaking every decent human law, every decent human relationship, every decent thing that’s ever happened between your sex and mine” (114). This passage makes me really pity Miranda, and shifts my perspective of how she is truly feeling and all the actions that she has tried to escape have become justifiable. Throughout the story Clegg hypnotized me that what he was doing was right, mostly because he was telling it from his perspective, and I wasn’t in the perspective of Miranda constantly. With Clegg whenever Miranda was rude to him I didn’t feel any pity towards Miranda, which was very odd, how could my subconscious be put in the back of my mind the horrid thing he was doing to this helpless girl? Even when Miranda tried escaping

Ishmael had become a victim from the effect of the war because of the impact it had made on his life and how it made him change. While

In ‘’A Long Way Gone’’ Ishmaels childhood is taken away by being brainwashed for war. Ishmael didn't know what was right or wrong because he was never shown what was right. “I took turns at the guarding post around the villages, smoking marijuana and sniffing brown brown, cocaine mixed with gunpowder.” The Drugs took away his childhood and he didn't feel pain for killing. In ‘’Night’’ we also see a connection to ishmael when Elie has to follow to nazis orders. ‘’Yet i felt little sadness. My mind was empty. ‘Get up!, Roll call!’ We stood, We were counted.” This shows how the jews are all placed together and are counted as if they aren't human. Elie and Ishmael both lost their childhood at a young age and they are put in a setting were no one cares for them.

Ishmael is in an unfortunate situation, where he is forced to grow up fast, or he won't survive. Growing up in Sierra Leone while a war is taking place, with no food, water, or a family, it is hard to find hope, but you have to. One of Ishmael’s memories of his dad is, "If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die”(Beah 54). Ishmael, is motivated to find hope, through this quote stated by his dad.

When Ishmael first meets the narrator, he tells him his life story so that the narrator would consider him as a teacher. Ishmael was taken from his home in the wild and put in captivity to be displayed in an exhibition. From being held in captivity, it’s due to that reason that Ishmael believes that he can teach the narrator about captivity. What surprises the readers is that Ishmael doesn’t hold resentment or anger towards the people he called his captors. Instead he feels a sense of sadness and pity of them due to the fact that these men are also held captive. He shows readers that he believes that is captors are held by mother culture, which creates limitation for people. It’s for that reason he

Ishmael writes his present in a complicated way. His present is his past, it's important to realize that the whole story is his past. The amazing thing that Ishmael was able to do tho, was to write it in a style that we were able to distinguish between the past and present. One of the most important quotes that were said is "We didn't know we were leaving home never to return."( Ch 1, p. 7.) By saying this we realized that Ishmael life was different starting from the beginning of the story. He is now going to have to be a survivor. Ishmael has an older brother that is with him for a quarter of the story. The older brothers name is Junior and throughout the story, the boys show that they care for each other very much. Such as when the rebels attacked the village the recently were at. They were standing in a line because the rebels were trying to get new recruits. Ishmael says "Junior edged next to me. he gave me a soft poke. I looked up at him and he nodded and rubbed my head."(ch 5, p. 34.) Junior and Ishmael were very close to the point that when