Tuesday, April 12, 2011
A Long Way Gone 2nd and 3rd book clubs
On page 65 of A Long Way Gone Ishmael and his friends are caught by a group of men who fear that he and his friends are part of the rebels. Ishmael wishes they could see he "was just a twelve-year-old-boy" (Beah 65). He realizes he is not living anymore and just surviving. Beah opens chapter 10 with something that troubles him throughout his journey, "One of the unsettling things about my journey, mentally, physically, and emotionally, was that I wasn't sure when or where I was going to end" (69). Reread the opening paragraph on page 69, then refer to the list of themes and comment on Ishmael's journey so far, bringing in one of the themes and discussing how the theme relates. (Themes: religion/spirituality/faith, self-motivation/self-reliance, child-parent relationship, alienation vs. belonging, coming of age, loss of innocence, addiction, violence, loyalty, poverty/hunger, hope/false hope, survival, fear).
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Wow, there's actually a lot of themes that could fit this. The themes that relate to this passage are faith, self-motivation/self-reliance, poverty/hunger, hope/false hope, survival and fear. Ishmael is growing up on his own now and it's just him and his friends trying to survive night in and night out. "To survive eah passing day was my goal in life" pg 69. This quote proves that Ishmael is pushing himself everyday to stay alive. He's determined to keep moving with the little food and water him and his friends receive. It's very difficult to keep passing through villages, because like Ishmael said, it's only temporary. But with the little hope he has, I know he's going to make it.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Toyia. theres so many things that can fit into this. I feel like this would be a little more fear though since along his journey he is always feeling some type of pain and fear of the unknown and . Even if its about his family, or even loosing friends and watching innocent people die. He's scared that what if he doesnt survive and he never see's his family again? The thought of not knowing where they are or if their even still aive scares him, and i think that gave him Hope., so he has something to not be afriad of thinking of the positive even though it doesnt look so promising, But he'll have that fear and hope as he goes through each destroyed village . I know Ishmael will make it through this hard time because he has the strength deep down and determination needed to survive
ReplyDeleteThe theme that relates to this paragraph is survival. Like Toyia said, he is pushing himself to survive. He has no idea when this whole thing is going to be over. He just wakes up in the morning and keeps moving. The little happiness that he sometimes finds goes away within a blink of an eye. He just remains sad and keeps moving. He keeps hoping for the worst and waiting for death to come to him.
ReplyDeleteIn the fight for survival your mind is your greatest enemy. If you find a way to control it then you have won half the battle. To win you have to be mentally , and physically strong . For that you have to be self reliant and constantly motivate your self. There will be times when you would want to give up but keep on walking, soon you'll do more that just survive.
ReplyDeletethe theme that best represents this passage is loss of inocence. this is so because Ishmael is only twelve and he has seen things that grown men are afraid of. He also always has the thought of never seeing his family again.
ReplyDeleteI beilieve that toyia and ericka are right, but i believe that the two main themes are self-reliance/survial. The two are like one in the same with this book. In the book this is where its going to being for Ishmael he needs to survive and he has noones help he's by his self from now on. The need for survival causes Ishmael to make his decision eventually. He shows he is strong a determined and he has faith in his self that he'll make it.
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