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Bear with me...
Hey Everyone!
This is the first time I've actually committed to doing this whole blog-thing, so bear with me. :-) I've created this site for us to use as a place of discussion for the texts we will read for the rest of the school year. Since this class is supposed to ready you for college, and much of education is now online, you need to be exposed to online discussions of texts, (if you haven't been already). What's great about this is it can help spark class discussions over what we are reading and just keep communication open about different texts. College professors won't just assign you reading, they will also assume you can have an intelligent conversation about what you've read. So dive in and give this a shot!!! :-)
This is the first time I've actually committed to doing this whole blog-thing, so bear with me. :-) I've created this site for us to use as a place of discussion for the texts we will read for the rest of the school year. Since this class is supposed to ready you for college, and much of education is now online, you need to be exposed to online discussions of texts, (if you haven't been already). What's great about this is it can help spark class discussions over what we are reading and just keep communication open about different texts. College professors won't just assign you reading, they will also assume you can have an intelligent conversation about what you've read. So dive in and give this a shot!!! :-)
Expectations
Choose a quote you have encountered during your reading and respond to it in at least one decent sized paragraph. You should also be continuously reading in your choice non-fiction book. In addition to the reading responses, I would also like you to comment once a week on someone else's post. Whether you agree or disagree, it doesn't matter. You also do not have to be reading the same nonfiction choice as that other person. Maybe you have a question about the novel, or maybe you have read it before and have a comment about their response. All totaled, I would like you to complete three posts a week. Two of those can be your own posts about the text you are reading, but at least one of the three posts needs to be in response to someone else's post.
This is a major part of your grade and will effect not only participation, but will go in the grade book as separate reading response grades. Feel free to email me with any questions you might have regarding this. My email is: mtinkham@msad9.org
This is a major part of your grade and will effect not only participation, but will go in the grade book as separate reading response grades. Feel free to email me with any questions you might have regarding this. My email is: mtinkham@msad9.org
Loralai says : I just started this book and already in chaper one it is hard to beleave how quickly war can hit in chapter one . Ishmael and his brother have life preatty good. they have cloths and a roof over their heads. they may have a bad step mother and a divorced family but those are minor things. Ishmael and his brother Junior and their friend all go for a many mile walk to Mattru Jong. It took them about a day to get there but they didn't have school so it didn't matter. Suddenly their friends came home early from school and said that Ishmael's village had been attacked just like that they had left their village and in one days time it became a place that no one wanted to return to.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: THis book is already grusome and tradgic. Ishmael discribes a man covered in blood that drops out of a jeep which spills out three or so more bloody dead bodies. The madn had tried to escape with his family and the rebels shot them all. But the worse one so far is the woman and her baby . the woman running and then sitting on the ground in turmoil and her dress is covered in blood because the reabls killed her young baby girl by shooting her. It is all very grusome but at the same time very sad.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: In chapter two it is terrible the way he discribes how they treated solders who stood in their way of a raid or an attack. He discribes how they did not even care about the dead or being surrounded by the blood and dead bodies he says "as soon as we left the coffie farm, we unexpectedly ran into another armed group at a soccer feild adjoining the ruins of what had once been a village. We opened fire until the last livingbeing in the other group fell to the ground. We walked toward the dead bodies , giving each other high fives. The group had also consisted of young boys like us, but we didn't care about them. we took their ammunition, sat on their bodies, and started eating the cooked food they had been carrying. All around us , freash blood leaked from the bullet holes in their bodies" He was probobly about thirteen or so when he did that with the group of solders.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says : The rebels are not very schedualed people aparently. They are like a cat with a mouse and they are the cat while the village peole are the mouse. The rebels sent a warning and then nothing. So when people came out of hiding they sent another warning forcing people back into hiding. And nothing happened so the people came out again . and then without warning they attacked the village forcing every one to run. Some like Ishmael were luck this time and got away but others wre eather dead or had RUF carved into their bodies with a hot bayonette forcing them to join the rebels or die as well.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: I can not even imagine the hunger Ishmael discribes. He says that it hurt to drink an that they were so hungry all the time that they started raiding places and stealing food from people that had it. This seems to me to be the start of how Ishmael starts to beleave that in order to survive he must think not for other people but for only his group and himself.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says : This quote suppots the above statement in a paragraph discribing how he and the other five boys attacked a five year old boy to steal his two ears of corn later the boys mother gives them each an ear of corn. Ishmael says this afterwards about jumping the child for the corn "I felt guilty for a few minutes, but in our position, there wasn't much time for remorse."
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: The discription of the first close encounter with the rebels is one that is hard to read. He discribes them being caught at gun point and being forced to march to the camp in line in 2 lines of 3. Then it discribes the fear of not being picked. and how the rebels used fear as amusement like picking on a sixty year old man and laughing at the boys lined up to be shot to death. He was almost to be shot in front of his own brother when gunshots went off it was Ishmael and his groups second lucky escape from the rebels
ReplyDeleteIn the new world of rebels and war. People in the villages and all around now fear children they are afraid of young children from ages eight to fifteen mostly. It is hard to beleave that they fear these children because as Ishmael discribed from the group of rebels at the camp . The camps and the rebel groups were made up mostly of child solders there were very few adults. So people feared the young boys now because young boy were mostly the ones doing all the killing and attacking .
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: No one is trusted in the war. Ishmael an his group came to a village and wee tied up and taken to a cheif. The cheif then interigated them and asked them if they were rebels or spies. They tried to justify themselves but the cheif just wanted to drown them. The cheif found a rap tape and allowed them to explain the tape and where they came from. He then asked a young boy from the same place if he knew them . And finally when he clarified their names and that he did know them . they were finally set free and treated kindly after that.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: it must have been so hard for Ishmael to loose Junior. His brother and his only last connection to his family. his brother and him had a close family bond and they took care of eachother Ishmael was a young twelve year old boy who relied on his brother for a lot of things and so Junior was his rock I cant imagine what it must have been like for Ishmael to loose Junior.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: it is hard to beleave the trust level durring the war is low enough when they even hear about seven young boys coming their way that they actually hide . and although Ishmael and his group prove they are ok they are still very mistrusted and watched. Familys even run away in terror from them although they do not even weild guns.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: running barefoot across miles of extreamly hot sand I can not even imagine. Ishmael discribed it as having the same effect of someone stabbing and slitting a knife through the bottom of feet . that must have been a terrible punishment.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: plants seem to be the remedy of chice in this book they seem to fix everything. as Ishmael discribes it he says there are plants to enhance inteligence, to rid the body of poision, to give you the ability to control snakes and even to remidy and kill pain from wounds.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: it is nice to know that occasionally people can be trusted . Like when the village welcomed the boys in Ishmael's group with open arms, fed them, feasted with them, danced with them, and even wished them luck when they left it was one of the few happy times they would all have .
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: these people including ishmael seem to have many beleafs and superstiotions in their life. one of the superstitions is the spider. the spider is someone who would use trickery to get what the wanted . however this always seems to backfire on the spider. like the story ishmaels's friend tells about the boy named Bra Spider who tried to use trickery to get food but in the end lucked out and was trapped by his own idea. and didn't get any food.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: The bond between Ishmael and his group seems to be like a brotherly thing. They all lost all the members of thrir family when the rebels invaded their home and now they are all eachother has. Brothers bonded by tradgidy and kept together by friendship and the need to survive.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: Ishmael finally got his big break he met a man who was going to bring him to his family but when he got there the rebels were already attacking the village and as far as he could tell his whole family had been burned in their house which was on fire. so close to having the only thing hever wanted and in a moments time he lost it all.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: it is sad to think the anger that went on in the boys Ishmael attacked the man from his past who had told him where his family was. He attacked him because when he got there his family was dead this angered him and he attacked the most close person that he could blame. The boys out of similar anger started to argue and attack eachother.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: even safe places were no longer safe. Ishmael and his friends went to a safe place but after a while the rebels came to close and even the places that were said to be nice and safe were controlled by guns and solders and that was what they thought made it safe but now even that place is not safe enough to ward off rebels.
ReplyDeleteLoralai Says: "They have lost everything that makes them human. They do not deserve to live. That is why we must kill every single one of them. Think of it as destroying a great evil. It is the highest service you can preform for your country."
ReplyDeleteThis quote was said by the lutenant who was convincing a group of men and boys why they must fight against the rebels . But in a way he is just saying the same thing the rebels say about people like them. The rebels say they are fighting for the country, for freedom and for a cause. So really the people killing the rebels end up no better than the rebels. All they do is rack up the bodies and feel a slight thrill and surge of pride when the exicute a group of many people. Most of those people are just like them young men but mostly young boys that are tricked and manipulated into thinking they are doing the right thing by killing all that stand in the way of thir purpose. their revenge, their freedom, or just simply thir food and weapons.
Loralai says: In Ishmaels group at the village there was over thirty boys two of which were seven and eleven extremly young and not even old enough to be able to support the weight of holding the AK 47's they were forced to do drills all day and had stools to support their guns durring drill exersizes. so young and innocent but not for long soon these poor young children will probobly be like the boys who are thirteen to seventeen. they will no longer know incocence, just death, revenge, and the sick and wrong thrill of killing the enemy. So young and yet so currupted.
ReplyDeleteLoralai syas: The drill sargent keeps telling Ishmael and the other boys to picture the ones who killed their familys and picture all the pain and wrong they have done all the wron that the rebels were resposible for all that had happened to them. Ishmael thinks about this in his tent later and laughs to himself as he pictures killing and maiming the rebels. These visions and the starange humor he gets from them are the start of him becoming a child solder , a murderer.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: I feel bad fro Ishmael in his new life he still has nightmares, thoughts, and bad mamories of his time as a child solder. He remebers being a murderur and taking pride in it. He is upset and sickend by this. It was not fully his fault like he said before he felt guilty about it all but what else could he have done in the position he was in. what would you have done? if your choice was stay and fight and mabey have a chance to live or go away and be shot by the next rebel that saw you.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says : on the first day of combat for Ishmael he realised the reality of it all. When he was handed the gun he understood they were going to war and the guns would be used to kill. He lost most of his friends in a very short amount of time and out of the anger from that he sho and killed all that he could. he was only about fourteen and he had lost all that he had left on that first day all except his life anyways.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: drugs seemed to be a regular thing in the camp Ishmael was at he talks about Marijuana and smoking it. he also talks about "brown brown" which was a mix of cocaine and gun powder. Lastly he talks about the white pills that are givin to the solders for energy it does not have a name but most of the people including Ishmael become addicted to it because it gives them energy. Ishmael says at first taking or doing all the drugs at once made him woozy and empty but he quikly became used to the drugs and used them all the time. He bacame nothing but an empty shell of himseldf with lots of energy and a mind that when it was not having a migraine would only run on one thought survive, kill, revenge, and protect.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: Ishmael and his camp group soon became no better than the rebels if they ran out of stuff they would raid rebel groups, villages, and other places where even civillians wee. They would also raid and attack civilian villages for more boys to recruit for their camp. this really did make them no better than the rebels themselves.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: These people were insane . They had the boys do a compitition for who could slit the thrght of a rebel the fastest. Ishmael slit his prisoners thrght fast and looked into the eyes of the prisoner at the time he felt no remorse. and when he was proclaimed the winner and his friend in second they were put up in status to sargents. That is what it had come down to killing someone and taking anothers life meant nothing and you got paid by moving up. that is just terrible .
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: " It hadn't crossed their mindsthat a change of envoroment wouldn't immediately make us normal boys; we were dangerous, and brainwashed to kill"
ReplyDeleteSadly this statement was very true. when the people of UNICEF first picked him up he hid a bayonette and a gurnaide . he was ready to attack anyone. when he first met som enew boys in the recovery unit he was ready to kill till he discovered that they had been army not rebel. but then he met rebels and he and his friends were ready to attack. they all beleave the same things the rebels beleaved that the army were bad because they killed their family and ransaced their villages and the army beleaved the same orf the rebels it was a mutual hate. These boys were not to get along or be friends because that is what they were manipulated to beleave.
Loralai says: The boys and Ishmael in the recovery center seem to have an addiction to vilonce they attack and interrogate when the want something and always do things to try to break teh rules. they do not want to be tame they are addicted to the life of a child solder in th earmy and even when they are away from the army they still hold anger and only want to attack and distroy.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: It is hard to beleave that Ishmael and the boys in recovery would remeber so much of the war that sleeping was hard. sometimes they would awaken and try to choke people. other times they would sleep walk and wake up in the grass or bushes near a soccer feild they would also suffer from brutal nightmares of blood and death. Their childhood memories were no longer programed into their minds the war blocked it all so all they could remember was the blood, the bodys, teh need for revenge, and the need to survive.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: Ishmael finally was at peace with himself after a while he was able to recover and create new memories with a new family with his aunt and uncle and all seemed well he even got to go to a confrence and speak at the UN in New York but it seems like in a place like Sierra Leone happyness can't last the rebels and army joined forces to take over the goverment death, bullets, and dispair soon came to Ishmael again.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: It is hard to beleave how much turmoil Ishmael had to go through to be happy he decided that he must escape the country. He first had to get a home set u pwith a friend in New York and he did but first he had to leave the country to do that he had to travel far and be searched many times , sneak into one of the citys illeagally and pay much money. He would witness much on his trip to get out of the country most of it was the brutality of the solders. Which at one point he himself used to be.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: Overall this book was very tougching and difficult in some places to read the only quote that comes to mind to even discribe the fear of death and the need to get away for Ishmael and many other child solders would be the coment his friend says on page 70 " How many more times do we have to come to terms with death before we find safety?" For this never came for Ishmael till probobly he arrived in New York. This book keeps you on you toes till the end wondering what will happen to him next. It also angered me to read about his life to think that a child should grow up like that . to force a child to be a murderer and the fact that this is still going on today. He discribes war in true brutality he does not hold back in discribing the blood the gore and the bodies and the feeling of not being able to trust anyone. This book is raw and truthful to the end and definatally an eye opener to the issues of the world.
ReplyDeleteLoralai says: this is a story that Ishmael said he and his friends were told by Pa Sesya and I want you to think about it and how you would reply to the question at the end what would you decide?
ReplyDelete"There is a hunter who went into the bush to kill a monkey. He had looked for only a few minutes when he saw a monkey sitting comfortably in the branch of a low tree. The monkey didn't pay any attention, not even when his footsteps on the dried leaves rose and fell as he neared. When he was close enough and behind a tree where he could clearly see the monkey, he raised his rifle and aimed. Just when he was about to pull the trigger, the monkey spoke: 'If you shoot me your mothe rwill die , and if you don't your father will die.' The monkey resumed its position , chewing its food, and every so often scratched its head or the side of its belly. What would you do if you were the hunter? "
The response that was made in the book to the above question I feel is very considerate of others, which was that he would shoot the monkey so others don't have to go through the same predicament. I like his response and that gives insight to the intelligence and perhaps some compassionate that this person has.
ReplyDelete"He spat at the corporal's face, and the coporal immediately shot him in the head at close range." (123)
ReplyDeleteWhy, why, why must there be death? Why must there be war? Why can't there be an eternal peace between mankind? Books and movies like these make me stop and reflect on life and death. It makes me cringe that there is so much hate and killing in this world. In this instance at least, people have pride. They see themselves over others and they do what they wish. They kill, torture, maim, and terrorize those who they feel is beneath them.
"The boys and other soldiers who were the audience clapped as if I had just fulfilled one of life's greatest achievements." (125)
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm sure that killing someone is a superb acheivement and killing a defenseless one is a proud, noble action too. Such cruel and merciless people are significantly present throughtout the history of human life, unforunately. From school bullys to genocide inducers to serial killers, the worst of the human race have been ever prevelent in its history. There will always be people like these. It's so sad that this particular specie of human somehow manages to reproduce its populace.
How old was Ishmael when the war first broke out?
ReplyDeleteIn response to Loralai's question posed by the book, I agree with what Azriel pointed out. It would be hard on the hunter to shoot the monkey, knowing that by doing this, he was killing one of his parents. However, you must look beyond this to the compassion he would show to other hunters who came after him and wouldn't have to face such a decision and sorrow.
I just started reading this book and I ahve read a couple chapters. It seems pretty intense especially when they burn one of the leaders of a village right in the middle of the village
ReplyDelete-Isaiah
For the week of April 13th
ReplyDeleteYeah I think that book is really intense. The book has a lot of vivid imagery, especially when the book talks about the fighting and the conflict. You can picture the fighting and the death, which only adds to the feel of the book: intense, angry, chaotic.
For the week of April 13th
ReplyDelete"I liked being alone, since it made surviving easier. People like the lieutenant, whom I had obeyed and trusted, had made me question trusting anyone, especially adults. I was very suspicious of people's intentions." (153)
It's so sad, that in a world such as this, people have become so distrustful of each other. Fear runs rampant in this world. But when someone grows up with a life such as Ishmael Beah's, it makes sense why he is so distrustful. When a person is striving to live in a time of war, they usually do become distrustful of everyone, because they may get stabbed in the back. Since I grew up with 10 siblings, I can relate somewhat to Ishmael Beah, but obviously not to his extent.
For the week of April 13th
ReplyDelete"The rebels captured him and demanded to know what parts of the forest people were hiding in, but the imam refused to tell them. They bound his hands and feet with wire, tied him to an iron post, and set fire to his body." (44)
Wow... besides the awful imagery, thinking about the insane amounts of guts that this imam had leaves a lasting effect. I'm sure he knew his fate, should he refuse to tell the rebels anything. That makes me admire him all the more. I hope that if I'm in such a predicament, that I can have the guts to not give away my friends, or whomever it may be. But also, I hope that I'm in not such a predicament. This quote makes me wonder why in a revolution, any revolution, would people kill innocent lives? I realize that those people may not be on the revolutionarie's side, but, killing innocent people? Or how about killing anyone? Why?
At the top of Pg. 108, the lieutenant speaks to the village of the horrible things that the rebels do to some of the civilians. Once again I wonder how such a person can do things like those to other human beings. How insensitive to any form of life except their own they are. What reason is good enough to kill a person? If anyone deserves to die, it would be those who cut up living beings for pleasure and maker others suffer.
ReplyDeleteAll war represents a failure of diplomacy.
Tony Benn
All men are brothers, like the seas throughout the world; So why do winds and waves clash so fiercely everywhere?
Emperor Hirohito
Some quotes that I found that I like.
"If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If here is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die." (54)
ReplyDeleteI really like this quote because I believe every word of it is true. There is always hope. People should always have hope. People who don't have hope won't necessarily die literly, but mentally and emotionally I believe that they will die. They'll cease feeling any type of emotion. Wars end. Nothing is forever. There's always hope.
Its mind blowing to me that because of the horrible violence of war whole villages wouldn't trust small children that are obviously harmless. I don't get how adults could be so afraid to betray small children.
ReplyDeleteIshmael is just a little kid and his whole world is flipped upside down. He is forced to act like an adult. I don't really like this book to be honest, it kind of makes me sick.
ReplyDelete"when we woke up the next morning, all the smoked meat was gone. We started blaming each other. Kanei inspected Musa's lips. Musa became angry, and they started throwing blows at each other." (pg. 77)
ReplyDeleteThis really shows how desperate the Ishmael and his companions were for food. All they had was smoked meat and they had to ration it.
The rebels attack without any warning at all and kill everyone that refuses to join them. If they caught the villagers they would brand RUF on them meaning that they have to join the rebels.
ReplyDeleteThe hot sand sounds like hell. I can't imagine walking on that for miles and miles. I think that walking on any beach in the sun is hot. But Ishmael describes it like knives slicing his feet.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was odd but a huge act of kindness that a stranger would let Ishmael and his companions stay in his hut and eat his food and everything without even knowing who they are. From the rest of the book I would think he would of killed them.
ReplyDeleteFinal Blog Entry: I liked this book way more than "Smashed". It was more gruesome but I liked the story better and could get into it more. I can't connect with any of the situations but it made me realize how lucky I am to live where I do.
ReplyDelete