Ishmael Chapter Reflection Paper

Throughout the novel, Ishmael and his friends begin to those their humanity and become completely different individuals because of their exposure to the war. The

Ishmael is a kind man, working for his fellow child soldiers. He is someone I look up to. He is a former child soldier who was forced to do unspeakable acts even though at heart he is a fairly gentle person. He is a lover of music and often memorized songs and used to sing and rap them with his friends. He is a strong person who has gone through hell and back, and yet he is still able to smile and forgive himself for what he’s done.

Ishmael is about a young scientist that can telepathically speak with a gorilla named Ishmael who will soon to be the teacher. Ishmael taught himself his education when he was able to talk to his owner telepathically to get him books. Ishmael helps the narrator realize that we can’t just take whatever we want from the environment and all of its resources. The narrator sees Ishmael for days in a row but ends up having to miss days to see him. He then finds Ishmael at a traveling carnival to finish the lesson they had. The narrator has an idea of buying Ishmael from the carnival owners and finally when he got enough money to buy the gorilla, Ishmael dies.

Ishmael's steady presentation to violence made him encounter serious measures of mental injury that tormented him later on in life. Ishmael experienced bad dreams that profusely agitated him:

Obviously Ishmael did not deserve any of this tragedy that happened to him, but as his grandma said “The sky speaks to those who look and listen to it. She said, "In the sky there are always answers and explanations for everything: every pain, every suffering, joy, and confusion." (Ishmael’s Grandma

Even though he feels as if he has failed; he has not. Ishmael is one of the strongest people I have heard about. At age 12 his whole family had been taken from him, his home destroyed, and he was on his home with a few friends wandering the country looking for help. Imagine what was going on in your life at age 12? Then by age 15 he became a child a soldier. Ishmael became high off the feeling of war and killing others, but not only that, but he also became drug dependent. He numbed himself to become this child solider, at one point within the book he says, “My squad is my family, my gun is my provider, and protector, and my rule is to kill or to be killed” (Beah 116). Ishmael has become a ruthless killing soldier at the age of 15, but he did not know any better. He was brainwashed into this way of life. Ishmael eventually found his way out of being a soldier with the help of UNICEF. Ishmael continually shows the struggles he faced, but illuminates what someone who is strong should be

Ishmael is initially sicken by the acts of war but as he is continue to see people killed in front of him and fed drugs it became the new normal. Ishmael becomes desensitize about the situation and accepts the challenge. He was told that if he didn’t want to kill he would not be giving rations. “They have lost everything that makes them human,” (108) he was told and killing them would be his chances to help get rid of a great evil. A young child can easily be manipulated into thinking that he is doing the right thing. Everything is knew was destroyed and he now was building a new

The human relationship to food is central to Ishmael's lesson. Quinn draws a contrast between the way food is handled and distributed in civilization, and how it is done in the wild. In the wild, food is plentiful and free for the taking,

Social Injustices in A Long Way Gone There are countless examples of social injustices in the book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. In his Memoir, Beah is greatly affected by the civil war taking place in his homeland of Sierra Leone. He is forced away from his normal life and to survive became a boy soldier.

After reading this section of the novel I learned that regardless of someone’s upbringing or even their personality, we can all be friends. In the novel, Ishmael notices Queequeg, the savage, sitting alone and counting the pages of a book. Ishmael watched him with interest, he was taking note of Queequeg’s behavior and social awareness and it amazed him that Queequeg can be so at ease. I feel that society has forced people to act and talk a certain way but those who don’t follow this unspoken rules is looked at as an outsider. What Ismael realized is that we are all human and we can all bond. Ishmael decided to approach Queequeg and after some talking they began to smoke together. This is when Ishmael realized that he had developed a strong

The people in the village were no longer selling food in fear of the war. “Some of them were saving their food in case things got worse, and others simply didn’t want to sell any more food for unexplained reasons.” (Beah 29). The boy’s urgent need for food led them into stealing food. “That night we were so hungry that we stole people’s food while they slept.” (Beah 29). This helps develop the story by showing the worsening conditions in the town. Chapter 15 was a very important chapter in the book because it marked the start of a new life for Ishmael. “In my head my life was normal. But everything began to change in the last weeks of January 1996. I was fifteen. (Beah 126). Ishmael and some of his friends were rescued by UNICEF and released by their lieutenant. “I am very proud to have served my country with you boys. But your work here is done, and I must send you off. These men will put you in school and find you another life.” (Beah 129). The boys are not finally receiving help and aid to restore their life. This is significant because they now are starting a new life. Chapter 21 is vital to the plot. He returns to Freetown to live with his uncle. He starts school but all the kids are afraid of him. He starts to live a normal life but then his uncle dies. He is left alone with only Mohammed. A new war breaks out and forces him to seek someplace else to live. He decides to leave Mohammed and go to the New York to live with Laura. “I asked her if I could

Early in his account, Ishmael Laments how “the war had destroyed the enjoyment of the very experience of meeting people” (pg. 48). From the story after the death of Ishmael’s family by the rebellion, trust and survival are being forced to Ishmael's life. Some of the consequences suffer from the violent is Ishmael have trust and survival issues. Ishmael are put in the condition where he have to fight for his own food with the boys. Go through survival by not get killed by the rebellions. He also have protect himself from starving and get killed. Ever since the attack of the rebellions started all villages are being scared and have no trust of the people not from the village. Ishmael is traveling with the boys and when he is going through villages

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

They both had to mature very quickly and toughen up. When someone see as much death and sorrow as did Ishmael and Marjane, the person in a way slowly becomes insensitive to distraught incidences that happen around them. For example when Marjane says “After the death of Neda Baba-Levy, My life took a new turn. In 1984 I was fourteen and a rebel. Nothing scared me anymore” (Persepolis 143) .

As I reflected on the resources from the SAMHSA, I like that it lists a lot of resources to help professionals. According to the Find Leading Change 2.0: Advancing the Behavioral Health of the Nation 2015-2018. "Research, clinical experience, and users of behavioral health services have increasingly documented the connection between trauma and mental and substance use disorders." This makes me wonder as the work I have done in the past, as well in the future how much that plays a role into the approach we use with clients? I realize that when I work some clients trauma can lead to some clients being more violent.