Looking forward to a great last discussion of A Long Way Gone.
If you are choosing the blog as the receptacle for your thinking, to earn full credit for your work, please be sure to...
- Employ effective writing strategies, such as carefully proofreading your work
- Contextualize your questions & defend your claims with quotes, not just page numbers, from the text. Remember what we talked about last time about how those really specific questions & comments inspire better discussion.
- Participate thoughtfully throughout the discussion, contributing at least a few well-developed comments.
Here is a great example post from last discussion. I love how Ashley not only used a quote, but also led into the quote, giving some context for the evidence she includes. She then goes on to discuss its relevance to her claim and to cite that quotation. Her post is also carefully written.
Ashley commented, " I think the justification, is that he's been brainwashed by the Corporal. 'Over and over in our training he would say the same sentence: visualize the enemy...those who are responsible [for] everything that has happened to you.' (112) During the training everyday the Corporal has engrained it in the brains of the boys that the rebels deserve to die, and that it is their duty to kill them."
Let's make it a great last discussion!
What kind of a person is Ishmael now than what he was in the beginning of the book?
ReplyDeleteI think Ishmael has been forced to grow up a lot. I definitely don't think he has his innocence or "that glow" that was previously mentioned in the book. He is a violent overly matured teenager. I think that he will eventually start to bring back his own happiness and innocence later on.
DeleteHe is a much more violent person. While he and the other boys have been at the rehab center, they have been acting so violently towards the staff members, and I think it is because they had become addicted to violence just like a drug. He is very traumatized and I don't think he knows how to deal with the PTSD, he has from the war.
DeleteIshmael is a completely different person than who he was at the beginning of the book. Before all the violence it was easy to relate to him being a twelve year old boy who loved music and went to school. But in a short period of time he was forced to mature and see the darker side of the world. He is forced to do things that are unspeakable for most adults but he is just a child. He has completely changed from the innocent boy to a violent militant.
DeleteI think it is kind of stupid that the staff members are saying it is not their fault because it really is because they are causing a lot of trouble. They are getting into drugs and they are doing everything that they could possibly do bad.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Geddon. I think that drugs do play an important role. But I also think it is the violence that has entered in their mind to as a survival resource.
DeleteI think they were brainwashed though. When the staff says these things I think they know that they had no other choice
DeleteI think what the staff are saying is that they didn't bring them upon their selves. The formal leaders they had did. They encouraged them to do drugs and to kill and to not think about the consequences. Because that is all they've been taught to do that's how they act. The staff knows that because they were taught this way it's not their fault to not know that that stuff is bad and wrong and there's a different way to handle things.
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DeleteThen again, they don't really have a choice. When they first go into the rebel camp they show the dead who didn't want to be apart of it. He didn't want to die and they put a sense of safety and home on him so he felt like he had a family.
DeleteWell Geddon they didn't choose to start drugs the generals "secretly" gave them the drugs saying "The corporal said it will boost your energy he said with a secretive smile on his face" pg. 116. They were tricked into taking these drugs and now they are addicted. These were 12 and 13 year old boys, they didn't really know any better and it's not like they knew 'hey look this white capsule that the general just gave us is cocaine' like no, they didn't think of that because they trusted the adults and the adults took advantage of their minds.
DeleteDo you think that in a way Esther saved Ishmael? Why or why not?
ReplyDeleteYes, by showing him love and affection and showing him kindness, which he has a lack of, he is shown that the world isn't just a pure evil place. She gave him "family" like she said in chapter 18.
DeleteI think that Esther did save Ishmael because he brought back his hope. He needed to break through the barrier of his memories to remember what his life and childhood, and Esther helps him do that through music and talking with him.
DeleteHe hasn't had any love or moral support or hope since he found out his family was dead and she gave him that back. So yes I beleive in a way she saved him.
DeleteThe staff members are being extremely patient with him and they are trying to rehabilitate him. Do you think he could ever regain the innocence that he had in the beginning of the book?
ReplyDeleteNO and yes. He is scarred permanently and will never be the same person, but he is starting to gain back some of his memories and himself back
DeleteNo I don't think he can. He has been through so much and he is in a whole different place now and he will never be the same. Once you go through something like he did it changes you.
DeleteNo based on what he has gone through, the loss of his family, watching his friends die, killing innocent people, he grew up over night, lost his innocence over night. Doing the things that he did in the war, will forever affect him, in his whole life.
DeleteI don't think he could gain back his innocence but he could bring back his happiness and he could learn how to react differently and learn that violence shouldn't always be the thing that you lean towards first.
DeleteI don't think he can ever be innocent again, but I believe he can become a "normal" human being. The first page of the book shows that he does re-enter society and learns to be a member of the community but, he will never be innocent again. Once you lose that, you can't ever get it back.
DeleteNo, experiencing what he has experienced has no doubt done irreparable harm to his mental health and he will never be able to return to the state he was once in.
DeleteI don't think he will ever regain his innocence, that was lost throughout all of the violence and killing he took apart of and witnessed. I think he will gain a sense of maturity and will eventually learn to forgive himself in doing better for other people.
DeleteI honestly think it was a mistake to make them fight as soldiers in the first place because these characters have really changed in personality. I think that if all they did was make them fight and not let them take drugs and watch war movies we would see this in a lot different perspective.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the war was already bad, and then the fact that they put the boys on drugs and had them watch war movies twisted his perspective of how war is. Instead of fighting to help his country each day, he fights to kill and dreams of taking on a whole village by himself and using big weapons.
DeleteOn page 47 the boys get money for their books and go to the city and buy goods. Why do you think they didn't use their money for drugs?
ReplyDeleteDid you mean page 147?
Deleteyeet
DeleteI think it shows their rehabilitation process and how they are getting better.
DeleteI think at this point the boys have now realized how bad the drugs were and the effects it was having on them. It let us see them mature more in a better way by not going back to drugs.
DeleteWith the continuous substance abuse and the immense violence the potential for severe PTSD is immense. How do you think Ishmael will face his demons? Will he be able to cope?
ReplyDeleteHe ended up writing this book and was able to tell his story. I believe that was his way of coping and turning his life around. I can only imagine it took a good amount of time to get where he is now but he was able to put the past behind him and move forward.
DeleteI think that if he gets the right care and if HE puts in the effort to getting better, then he will be able to heal. But he will never be able to fully heal from the war, it traumatized him as a young boy. There is nothing that can be done to get those thoughts out of his head.
DeleteOn page 151 Ishmael talks about how he and the other make the rebles dig their own grave. Is this self defense or too far?
ReplyDeleteI think this it is too far because they are basically making their own death bed. I feel like if they didn't make there own grave that they will think they have a chance of survival and that the war will end.
DeleteWhen I read chapter 15 to see how Ishmael and his friends acted after they were finished fighting made me disgusted because of how they treated the strangers. Just because they fought for the rebels doesn't necessarily mean they should treat them negatively. The strangers acted like innocent people and didn't really do anything to start this fight. I think Ishmael should've realized that they are pretty much rebels too because they were raiding villages and killing innocent civilians and it makes him look even worse how they started violence with the strangers for no good reason.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the boys relate to violence because they know no other way to deal with social situations? And they have no other knowledge of how to deal with people aside from violence?
ReplyDelete12 is a very vulnerable age and I believe that they have now been brainwashed into only knowing violence as the answer. I really think that they din't know that what they are doing is wrong because that's all they know.
DeleteIn the fishbowl Ethan said that Ishmael is attached to gun. Why do think this? I think why he is attached to his gun is thats his only thing that can protect him in the war that is happening. I feel like with his gun I think he thinks he has a chance if surviving and to make a stand. Without his gun he feels helpless and that people can pick on him like how people where doing later in the book.
ReplyDeleteI think that he is attached to his gun because it is the only thing he can rely on to protect him all of the time. It is reliable and he does not need to worry about it betraying him. Its something that helps him feel safe.
DeleteI think he has become attached to his gun because it was the only constant thing in his life he knew what it did, how to work it, and that nothing unpredictable could come from it.
DeleteDo you think some of the violence left in Ishmael is from guilt?
ReplyDeleteYes, because he doesn't have any other way to cope.
DeleteYes i do because since his parents died he has no one but his gun, drugs, and his friends. I feel like since thats all he has he has nothing else to fight for so he brings his guilt on something that he doesn't have anymore.
DeleteI don't think Ishmael's violence is left from guilt, I feel like it roots completely from fear.
DeleteDo you guys think that at this point Ishmael is worse than Assef because of the kind of person he is becoming?
ReplyDeleteI think that Assef is worse in a way, because Assef had a choice to do the right thing, while Ishmael didn't.
DeleteIshmael was in this whole thing to survive and to find his family and when he found out they were dead he kind of gave up and Assef choose to do those awful things. Ishmeal was brainwashed and was put on drugs and Assef did it because he wanted to. Plus Ishmeal ended up feeling really guilty even for something he didn't choose to do unlike Assef who enjoyed doing those things and got pleasure out of it. So no, I don't think that Ishmeal is worse than Assef, I think Assef is worse.
DeleteYes, Ishmael did have the option to stop and to stand up for his convictions and he decided to hide in cowardice.
DeleteIf he did he would have been killed Ben. He was just trying to survive. Plus he was on lots of drugs so he wasn't in a right mind. And the adults that he trusted told him it was the right thing to do.
DeleteAgain going off of what people have said about Ishmael and his gun. We should think about what it represents to diffrent people in the text. While to some the gun might symbolise death and distrustion to Ishmael that gun has probably saved his live hundreds of times. It was his provider out in the wilderness and it could be compared to a musician and their favorite instrument it holds value to the person on a deep level. They've spent hours with these objects it would be absurd for them not to be attached to these things
ReplyDeleteIshmael is not doing this just to defend himself he has been raiding villages and killing innocent civilians.
ReplyDeleteBut we have to think about the fact that he was under the influence of drugs, the people above his pretty much said kill or be killed, and he had lost all hope. This was the only form of stability that Ishmael had.
DeleteBecause he was brainwashed in to killing these people. He was put on drugs and told by the adults that he trusted that this was the right and the only thing to do. And now he feels awful and really guilty.
DeleteI think that migraines are a symbol of the internal conflict going on between Ishmael and himself. He is trying to break through his awful memories and become an innocent child again. How do you think Ishmael's migraines are representative of his inner struggle? How do you think Ishmael can overcome this?
ReplyDeleteI think throughout the book there is plenty of man vs. man conflict and man vs. self conflict. In the book which do you think is the more dominant type of conflict?
ReplyDeleteI have to say there is more man vs self. He tried to resist becoming a part of the war but he eventually got caught and had to become one of the soldiers. That feeling of not being able to control what you have to do is hard on some people and I think he has had a hard time accepting what he has become.
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