CH. 21 response

Just when I thought Ishmael had finally found peace, the Gov. "cry havok, and unleash(maybe it was "let slip") the dogs of war"(Shakespear, play on Julius Ceasar) upon his new home yet again. I feel very sorry for him as he kept bringing up: "this feels too familiar". He has to go through a living nightmare as every thing he did was being acted upon him since he is a civilian, which is ironic. At least he has the sense not to go back to the army, like some of his fellow Benin home recoverers. Another heart breaker was when his uncle died, because i think that Ishmael could have had a pretty good life, and that he loses another loved one. He then decides to leave Sierra Leone, and makes a long trip to a neighboring country. that was a very nerve wracking thing, because if he gets caught, then he would most likely have to go back, and would get captured since he had to sneak out. While we do know that he gets out of seirra Leone, it could have been he has to stay for alonger time, and perhaps joining the army again, then gets freed, etc. I do find one more thing strange, which is the two sides, the army and the RUF combined to make the sobels (at least thats the impression i got), which is very very ironic. After all the torture, the fighting, bloodshed, all that ended up was that the two sides combine and gang up on the Gov, and of course after the chaos was extreme. At the end the "unanswerable" question is tough, and i really dp not know what i would do, unfortunalty i would have to make choice, and, I am sorry, but i would have to shoot the monkey, for the same reasons as Beah. Because no matter what i would lose someone dear, whether i shot the monkey or not. but if i did not shoot the monkey, i would lose one loving parent, and the little monkey would live on to kill off more of the people, so i might as well , dare i say it, kill the monkey, lose a loved one but atleast take solace in the fact that i prevented harm of another family. How ever no matter what choice i made i would essentialy become depressed because i would have to live with the fact that i killed one of my parents, which i know would not be my fault, but i would still have to choose which one. "knocking on wood" hope that never happens to anyone.

CH. 19-20 response

First of all, i loved how he did not how to use a elevator, or what snow was. I just never really thought how could someone not at least know about snow and what it is. Another amusing part was that the interview was extremely short, and how the man already knew by that one paragraph of talking that he would be the one (asuming from the smile). Also another part i liked was how the uncle did not think Ishmael would really go to New York. When Ishmael did go to NY, the story teller, Laura and him met and i do not really know exactly what happened at the end. Because it is thurs and most people would have read the ending by now, I take it that he got to New York and then he found Laura, and then would have to apply for citizenship, liscene, etc. well these last couple chapters have been relatively up beat in my mind, and these where some of my favorite chapters in this book because we get to see Ishmael finally be able to intergrate back into society.

CH. 17-18 response

In this chapter Ishmael is becoming friends with Esther, the nurse at his hospital, which i think is a good thing. For one he will get over his misenthropic(or how ever it is spelled) views of the "civillians". Also, as later pre-wrote, he gets over what he has done and believes the part when Esther says "it is not your fault" for the millionth time. Esther also gets him the rap tape, which helps cement their relation ship. Also he met his Uncle in Ch. 18. To be honest, I like how the uncle is always upbeat and stuff, and even more important, accepts a nephew he has never seen before into his already large family. I think that also helps Ishmael get through his experinces, that coupled with Mohammed and Esther is what ultimatley gets his life back on track.

CH. 15-16 response

I felt sorry for Beah and all the child soldiers in this ch. because the one person they trusted (the leuitenant), even though he said not to trust anyone, they still trusted him, gave them a feeling of betrayal, and that is why maybe the child soldiers might not trust anyone now but their fellow soldiers. Also i was not suprised when the 20 minute long engagement started, because the two sides hate each other with a vengeance, and the attrocities that both sides commited, and the simple fact that both sides where molded to fight each other. To see Beah go through withdrawl was pretty good, so even though he had a really tough time stopping, with all the cravings and violent mood swings, at least he stopped, well, is going through the process.

CH. 13-14 response

I thought it was interesting on page 116: ""the corproal said it will boost your energy(refering to the white tablet)" the soldier announced with a secretive smile on his face" does the soldier want them to get addicted, or does he just know what will happen and is seeing himself starting out all over again. At the fire fight this is when Ishmael actually becomes a child soldier that is a "killer", and he becomes addicted to the drugs, and considering what he is addicted on, now wonder he becomes distorted on what he does. Also you can see how movies affect his squad. the squad want to have the big, heavy weapons, and that is all they talk about, who they killed and how they killed them, i do find that disturbing, since they hardly care who they kill as long as its not a gov. soldier. I find it ironic that the lieutenant said that they where killing the civilians for the "betterment of this country" if they did kill some civillians. while i can understand some accidental casualties, though most of those could have been avoided, having a squad go kill some people is defiantly not accinedental.

CH. 11-12 response

I am just going to say in ch.12, the begining, it was gross but interesting. I mean how has a man still survived with his head severely damaged, i think maybe all the drugs might be helping him because normaly i think that would hurt alot, to the point of a concussion. any way i will not ponder such a gross thought right now, the jest of ch. 12 was mainly training and his learning to use weapons, so i think i will go back to ch. 11, i thought it was sad that Ishmael did not get to see his family, but i do not think that he should have blamed Gasemu. if it was not for Gasemu Ishmael would not have found out that his family was indeed in the next town, so to blame him, in my opinion was wrong. and for better or worse (ishmael thought it was for the worse) gasemu saved all the kids lives. Again another moment that Ishmael had to go through trouble was losing Gasmeu, which he was sorry for attacking, but even more important was the lose of his family, this, I personaly agree, is what made him the most suceptable to becoming a child soldier. and it was what the troops did use to mold him more.

Ch. 10(c) response

Finally last post. I think it is interesting how the dogs are acting in the Village Saidu had died, because tamed dogs do not cry in such a manner ussually. it is eery how he died that night, but it could of his loss of will to live, which i still advocate. and it is ironic because at first they all loved the night and the moon, and now they are extremly scared of the night: "That nightfall would turn over the uncertain pages in our lives". i think it means that things such as whether who will make it or not. Also it means it brings the pasts troubles they have had and make it seems closer than when they where hiking together, because i think they did not expect anyone to die in this way, of unknown causes, maybe the thought rebels would come, or villagers catching them, but not dying when every thing seemed safe.

CH. 10(b) response

I like how that when musa tells the story of the spider, we get that calm since of everything of how it was before their lives where affected by the war. But the following moring everything was shatterd, you can clearly see that the group do not trust each other at all when the bag was stolen from them by the dog and the people immediatily start to fight amosngt themselves. Again this is natural, but it shows that kids think anybody will turn on them in a second, which could be very true. And it amazes me how lucky the survivors are, i mean after reading the stiry the chances are so slim that a person could be getting water, or Saidu went to get the rice or with the panicked boat and such. I really hope at this point Jumah and Alhaji live, because i do like them. of course i think i might have jenxed it since every time i think that, the character in question has a nasty habit of biting the dust, but knock on wood. (at this point i am just trying to fill this out to two hundred words since i still need one more post but have almost nothing else to talk about)

CH. 10(a) response

Upon reading the end of CH. 10, i see that saidu's death came not from phsyical means, but mental. by completely giving up, he , well simply gave up on the hope of living, and that's why Ishmael has made it this far. he made it this far by not giving up and finding a hope/determintion. Ofcourse we found out why saidu has given up since he heard his family taken and sisters raped three times. I do not know what i would do under those circumstances personaly, and i really hope that never happens to my family. If any of my parents or brother or sister where being killed/raped/stolen, I would plan to rather die trying to fend for them than to simply hide, hear the worst things you could hear, and simply run away. I know those are hardcore killers that think cutting off someone's fingers is fun, but at that point if what was happening was going on, i would not care if i was killed, though i might not want to get tortured, if it meant saving my family, heck yeah. I really had a strong reaction to this (here it comes, the classic i am disturbed) but really i feel this is worse than seeing the all the gore and violence in the world in one square mile, having to hear my closest people in harm and in internal agony, that i think would be worse than death or being tortured. but again, I do not know what i would excactly do, but what ever i did i would do with calm and clarity if i could

Ch. 8-9 response

Ishmael's response to the ongoing violence is very understandabley, by keeping to himself. But if he actually did acknowledge it and face it in the long term it probabbly would be better. As for the ink eating part, we went over it in non-west that it was and is fairly common practice, so if you did not know, there you go. back on subject. As for survival he is relatively good at living in the wilderness, i espcially thought it was neat how he used the grass as a soap. When Ishmael met with his current group (Alhaji, Saidu, Kanei, Jumah, Musa, and Moriba.) again i thought that it was silly that they would chase people saying we are not rebels, and that only made them more scared. Probably made the people more scared since the soldiers usually got high, and that the boys could simply be high soldiers. at this moment numbers is probably the best answer, even though there would be draw backs like the people thinking they are rebels. As for the old man i agree completly that people at this point have lost trust in each other. Trust is very important for obvious reasons, and it is not a good thing not have in small communties. how ever i can see why people are somewhat skeptical about each other, but if this war is to end, the people would have to unify, and that requires, if you have not guessed already, trust.

Ch. 6-7 response

On ch. 6, not too much happened. But they did show how different the life of farmers is vs. "cityfolk", which i think is kinda interesting on how tough the farmers actually are. which I think makes it Ironic that even though they are the most physically strong, they themselves are probably the most vulnerable of all the people in the region. I think this because many do not seemed concerned, just like Ishmael at first. Also they are espcially vulnerable when they go to harvest and planting season, since they took Ishmael off the gaurd to help. In ch. 7 obviously the villagers lack of upkeeping the gaurd was there ultimate doom. I do have to admire how the Imam did not tell where the people where hiding, even though he was burned to death, which is a way i do not want to go, personaly. But at the same time i was thinking: "what are you doing!?!". I mean, if he ran away he could have lived and hide. maybe he thought by doing that he could keep the rebels busy and give the people long enough time to hide, but I guess like most things we will never know. As for Kaloko, i think it was not a smart move to stay, however it could potentially be good because most people move around and do not come back, the rebels might not come to the same place since they are essentially hunting the people.

CH 3-5 response

Ch.3-5 response.

Well, to be honest, my first post was my excact same thoughts as to what happened. Though I also think: “where in the heck do these rebels get their equipment?!” I mean, they have RPGS, an assortment of guns and weapons. And it’s not like it is easy to find these things. I think they could have gotten most on raids, but still, it amazes me how theses rebel forces find all these weapons. I know they also could have gotten these weapons from countries that did not necessarly Sierra Leone. But regardless, I also think that they probably did the right thing by running, because they would not have had a chance, and that it was also smart that they stayed together. I also think that the rebels making fun of the old man and when they where about to shoot the kids to make the chosen get used to blood was very bad, I obiviusly was glad that Junior did not have to see his brother, Ishmael from dying. If it does not make sense, sorry, I have been up forever and it is 4:50 am right now, and I have no intention of sleeping soon, and I figured I might just type this now.

response to first 2 chapters. (i might have accindently added some from the 3rd ch, though)

In first chapters, I have to admire how Beah and his friends could still finction, though they where shaken when they saw all that has happened. I think how can one see all that death and destruction and torture dialy, against people that have no reason to be killed or hurt. I am not very squimish when it comes to seeing blood since I have looked at books on how to do surgery, but what makes me squimish and sad is when it comes stuff like this, is that the person is still alive, they have distinct personalalties, future hopes, etc. Then you must wacth (or in this case read) them slowly gettong killed. Any way, ithat is why I have to admire what they did in the sitiuation that happened. At the same time, I thought it was stupid that the gaurds left, the could have ambushed the rebels if they hide throughout the town or hide in a treeline, or anything to fight back, but I guess that is what most of those corrupt guards do, save their skins when they where hired to help and protect the people.