Short Summary Of Belzhar By Meg Wolitzer

This coming-of-age story is narrated by Ari, thus the reader is constantly aware of his feelings and his point of view. Ari is angry at everything and everybody. His family

This book follows the true stories of Belva Gaertner and Beulah Annan, while reporter Maurine Watkins is tracking their stories. The girls are always referred to as beautiful and charismatic, essentially all that matters to the media. They find themselves in a sticky situation of getting caught possibly murdering a lover, and now face a lengthy trial and penalty that could cost them their life in jail or death.

Ishmael Beah was a boy from Sierra Leone who became a soldier in the country`s tragic civil war. He spent nearly all his childhood running away from the war and eventually ended up joining the army. During difficult times, Ishmael always held on to hope to continue his life’s journey. In A Long Way Gone, the theme is “Always have hope”, and is shown through Ishmael Beah’s hope for a better life, to find his family, and through the rehab staff`s hope for the boy soldiers.

There are some images and events that stick with a person forever and can change their entire outlook on life. Sometimes these events are experienced indirectly, through the media, but that does not mean that it impacts the person any less. Audre Lorde is one of those people who is indirectly affected by a tragedy that she witnesses through the eyes of the media and her society. For Audre Lorde, the brutal murder of a young African American boy sticks with her and inspires her to write an emotional poem entitled “Afterimages.” The image of the boy, Emmett till, is forever engraved in Audre Lorde’s brain (Lorde 48). Her poem clearly expresses how distraught she is, not only with what happens to Emmett Till, but also with the views of society as a whole. The theme for Audre Lorde’s “Afterimages” is traumatic events can reflect the attitudes of members of a society and can also significantly impact the lives of young people.

In the memoir A Long Way Gone, author Ishmael Beah describes his survival journey as a lost child in his country, because of the civil war in Sierra Leone, then becoming a child soldier facing war daily, afterward the process that Beah went through during rehabilitation and finally in fear escaping the civil war. Ishmael Beah emotional journey has three stages of development in which Beah utilized music. In the first stage, Beah uses music as a survival mechanism to keep sane and safe. In the second stage, begins when he loses his brother and friends, Beah reaches the lowest point with the loss of his entire family again, some friends, music, and being forced to join the war. In the final stage, is the process of rehabilitation where Beah connects with music once again. Ishmael Beah exposure to music at a young age stayed with him throughout his life. (Beah, 2007, p. 5-218)

Steven is a thirteen-year-old gifted drummer with an imagination that takes him from writing in his daily English journal to musing on his own life. The book is about his experience of the year his five-year-old brother, Jeffrey Alper, gets diagnosed with leukemia. He totally didn’t expect his little brother to get leukemia. This was a big change for him. From worrying about a drumming performance, and attention from Renee Albert, to a huge worry for his brother he had thought would only try to embarrass him. When people from school found out about Stevens sick brother, Steven gets a lot of attention and sympathy from his friends. As time passes and Jeffrey goes to his treatments, Steven stops doing all his school work to only think about his

and implausible to influence our characters, however, in times of difficulty come to our aid. Furthermore, sometimes we forget how much our identity is shaped by the stories and narratives which do not have a written form. From the developing world, in which science and technology continue to have no detrimental effects to familial relationships and or oral storytelling of elder members, amazing writers have emerged. These writers, generally, value storytelling and conversations in their writing. Ishmael Beah recognized the importance of storytelling and highlights his views of music and poetry, as they play a large role in his life. Moreover, as we observe his memoir in further depth, apart from music and poetry, storytelling and conversations had an extensive impact on Ishmael and his identity, especially when he refers to the stories as a coping method.

This book explores lots of different emotions, all tying into each other. Each emotions feeds off others, and different people experience different feelings. Emotion is a major part of the book because, while it doesn’t often go that deep into it, it is the driving force for lots of the plot

This memoir about a boy soldier was very condescending. This was a true story for the author, Ishmael Beah and his life-changing events that occurred in his past. Ishamel Beah was a twelve year old African boy who lived in Sierra Leone Africa who fled attacking rebels due to a civil war in his country, who wandered into different villages trying to avoid the violence that seemed almost inevitable. He sauntered along with his brother and friends who scraped by day-by-day scavenging for food and struggled for survival. In the fifth chapter of the book, Beah describes the struggles he went through by saying, “…our joints weakened and ached” (p. 30). After days of traveling, Beah was eventually taken by the group of rebels and became one of

This novel “is a book that truly speaks to adolescents in contemporary language and with teenage characters about adolescent sexuality” (Kaplan 27). Katherine is learning about her sexuality in the novel.

During the civil war in Sierra Leone great numbers of people died and if they survived, traumatic images keep them company for the rest of their lives. Ishmael Beah, who was a child at the time, had to face the horrors of war. Beah’s innocence was stolen and replaced with the mentality of a soldier. Fortunately, he survived long enough to be rescued by UNICEF agents. He is rehabilitated but those memories cannot be forgotten and it is impossible for him to have another childhood.

A Long Way Gone tells the story of a boy residing in Sierra Leone who loses his innocence at a young age and manages to overcome his traumatizing events through story telling. In Ishmael Beah’s riveting memoir, A Long Way Gone, Beah explores the idea that reminiscing upon joyful memories and loved ones when undergoing distress, allows children to be able to recover from their loss of innocence through the use of imagery, foreshadowing, and flashbacks. Evidently, Beah is seen throughout the story recalling every childhood memory to aid him through survival.

War is horrific no matter where it takes place. Mothers, fathers, elders, and children are all affected by war. In fact, there are many memoirs depicting life in war torn countries. Two such memoirs are A Long Way Gone written by Ishmael Beah and The Bite of The Mango written by Mariatu Kamara. A Long Way Gone depicts Ishmael’s life running from the civil war in Sierra Leone and becoming a child soldier. The Bite of The Mango recounts Mariatu’s journey of losing her hands and escaping to different countries is written with the help of Susan McClellan. Both writers go through traumatic events due to Sierra Leone’s Civil War, but Ishmael’s will to live was more tenacious than Mariatu’s.