#4 post

QUOTE: pf 149"We left him sitting against the wall, blood coming out of his mouth, and didn't' think much about him after that. Mourning the dead wasn't part of the business of killing and trying to stay alive." This quote shows Ismael's life in his home country by showing that he has grown from the cowardly boy into a survivor that would kill to stay alive until the war ended. At some points he found refuge in new villages and even run-down shacks to stay alive. A way I connect to this quote is because when I was younger I would do anything just to not get bullied at my old school. I would try doing things that would entertain the bullies around me and I would do the same thing for my friends by helping them. It was all about survival.

QUESTION: What would you do to stay alive if a war came to America?

QUOTE: pg 190 "I hadn't told my uncle that whenever I went to the bush with my cousins to fetch firewood, my mind would begin to wander to things I had seen and done in the past. Standing next to a tree with red frozen sap on its bark would bring back flashbacks of the many time we executed prisoners." This show Ismael's hardships have not ended because he is still remembering what has happened to him in Sierra Leone. I think it still effects him because he is in a new country where the war hasn't reached its shores but when he entered New York he can still remember all the times he was running from soldiers, hiding in different places, thinking about people he has lost and all the times he has taken a life.

QUESTION: If anything that has happened to Ismael during the war happened to you and you came to a new country, how would you try to forget the past and move on?

1st Post V.2

Conversation between Ismael and peer at school. Page 3. "Why did you leave Sierra Leone?" "Because there was war?" "Did you witness some of the fighting?" "Everyone in the country did" "You mean you saw people running around with guns shooting each other?" "Yes all the time." "Cool"
Significance: This quote shows that Ishmael tried to cover up his life by only telling small pieces of his past meaning that he doesn't want to remember and be labeled as an outcast for being part of the war. Another quote is significant is because it shows why Ishmael left Sierra Leone because a huge was was raging through the country and in the book he witnessed the war and saw people who ran from it and people who fought in it and people that died in it. He also left his country for America was to escape all the fighting, shouting, and fear of being shot by an AK-47 or decimated by an RPG.
Personal Connection: I think this quote relates to me because usually I was a really big fan of guns and warfare but since I started reading this book I have changed my opinion of war because I thought it was simply infiltrate, kill the enemy, and done. Now I see the sadness in the war zone and when people perish in the war zone, others are scarred emotionally and mentally by the sight of the killing. Through what I have read so far, this book causes you to visualize the scenes through the ink and examine the see the action and witness what is happening.
Question:Did this book change your opinion of warfare or do you have the same opinion of war as you used to have?

Conversation between a man with his family and Ishmael. Page 48
"Where are you from, where are you going?" He was Mende and he understood Krio very well. "I am from Jattru Jong and I have no idea where I am going."

Significance: Ishmael has no clue where he is or where he is going and ti shows he is running anywhere that there are no significant sound of gunshots, burnt pastures, blood stains in the soil, or the smell of corpses. I think this quote tells how Ishmael's journey to America was hard because he has no clue where he is going and it is a sign he is completely lost. He is going places that seem safe but one of the places he was going to turned out to be where a village guarded by soldiers who that he was a rebel. So far his journey has been filled with sadness, pain, and agony.

Personal Connection: I can connect to this quote because when I am lost in a new town or a new street I will keep looking for an area that I can find refuge in and keep safe for a while. A time this happened was when I was in Los Moches, Mexico over Christmas Break and I got lost in the streets at night when I told my family I was going for a walk while at my aunt's house. I didn't keep track of the street names so I kept walking until I found something familiar or safe.

Question: Have you every experienced being lost in a place that you never been before and have you looked a sanctuary in that situation?