Page 3: Ishmael and his friends.
"Did you witness some of the fighting?"
"Everyone in the country did."
"You mean you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?"
"Yes, all the time. "
"Cool"
Ishmael's friends already knew there were things about his past he hadn't told them. But they pressed to know more about him anyway. They asked about something they thought was "cool" therefore acceptable to bring up. Still to Ishmael, it's probably the thing he wanted to talk about the least. But still Ishmael says it with no emotion, because it's no longer a big deal.
This personally connects to me because I play video games where we shoot at each other, I'm about the same aged as Ishmael. Like him I've shot guns at random people and played on teams with my friends. But where I do it for points. Ishmael had to do it in real life, for his life. He didn't get a respawn, and neither did the people he killed. People now are proud of their kill/death scores in games, they love having double the amount of kills as deaths. But for Ishmael, every kill was forced, and he only had one life he had to kill to keep.
Why do you think Ishmael wouldn't want to talk about his past?
Page 38, Line 9: Chief of a small town and Ishmael.
"Are you rebels or spies?"
"No."
"...Drown the rebels."
There is no more trust in the lives of the people in Sierra Leone. There are only two types of people the tribes see, they see rebels/killers, and spies of rebels. There is no room for Ishmael to be a boy. No one would believe Ishmael anyway, not him or his friends. There are only two roles, the rebels, and the people living in their own towns. Anyone else is dead, or absorbed by one of the groups. Ishmael wanders looking for a place to belong, but is neither, and not trusted.
Ishmael's journey is not an easy one. He tried as hard as could to get to safety but other people had their safety to think about too. He's just a little boy, younger than me. But already he's seen so much blood and death. Been forced to leave his home and run. Then gotten thrown out of towns scared to face the same fate. It saddens me that he's gone through so much and the hardest is not behind him.
Do you think the lack of trust within the country is justifiable?
2 comments:
Why do you think Ishmael wouldn't want to talk about his past?
I think it is because he doesn't want to have to relive what he experienced in his home.
Do you think the lack of trust within the country is justifiable?
I think that it is justifiable to a certain degree. If your country was inn civil war and 12 year olds could be spies than you have to be careful to preserve both your life and the life of those in your responsibility.
Andy Brooks
I think that Ishmael wouldn't talk about his past because it is just too hard for him, or because he thinks that all the other kids would think its cool when it is clearly not. Something like that would/could be tramitizing for some one his age. Actually for anyone any age.
I think that it is not the governments fault for this lack of trust because there really is none. I think that if all the people worked together to try and make their world a better place they would/could do it. But instead some of them choose to fight and kill each other for power and money. The only people that you can blame are the ones who want to fight for their own greedy needs.
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