A Long Way Gone: Post #2

Quote #1: People stopped trusting each other, and every stranger became an enemy.
- Said by Ishamel Beah (the author)
- Page 37
- Paragraph 1

Significance: I picked this quote because it related to the question, "What challenges do the characters face upon their arrival?" I also thought this kind of related to the question "How do Americans treat the characters?" I think this quote relates to the question"What challenges do the characters face upon their arrival" because when they came everything turned out bad to begin with. Now when we get deeper into the book and they get deeper into the war everything gets worse. Not even their friends and families can be trusted because the rebels told the children to kill them. Everyone is now a complete stranger and an enemy. No one does not want to take the risk to be killed. I think this quote relates to "how do Americans treat the characters." I don't think there were a lot of Americans where he is at right now because he hasn't immigrated yet. But I think it relates to this question because people heard rumors that the children were armed with guns and that the rebels told him to kill their families and friends. So everyone is scared of them and are trying to hurt them so they don't kill anyone.

Personal Connection: Character Judgment: I think that Ishamel Beah is a very nice boy that takes risks to survive this war. My feelings toward him are sad and scared. I would be scared for him because he has to be careful of not only soldiers and rebels but now innocent people to. Everyone is afraid that he is going to kill someone right out of the blue. I also feel sad for him because no child would want to be carrying a gun and be in a war at this age. To find your own food and to risk your life everyday to stay alive, and to might see their friends and family be killed.

Question: Do you think someone is going to be pretty close to killing Ishamel Beah because there is now a rumor that says that children carry guns and are forced to kill their friends and family?

Quote: "The silence in the village was too scary. I was scared when the wind blew, shaking the thatched roofs and I felt as if I were out of my body wandering somewhere. There weren't footprints of any kind. Not even a lizard dared to crawl through the village."
- Said by Ishamel Beah (the author)
- Page 46
- Paragraph 1

Significance: The question that I thought this quote related to was the question, "What hardships do the characters endure as they make a new life?" I thought the quote related to this question because when they get to where they are everything was terrible. Now when they get to this village it is empty and Ishamel is very scared. This I thought was a hardship because he has to face various risky situations. If he thinks a lizard can't take one step into the village then there is probably something wrong. He probably thinks that there is someone there getting ready to shoot.

Personal Connection: I thought that this quote related to when I went to a haunted house on Halloween. I was abut 8 years old and they made you go inside the haunted house in groups of 3. I thought it was very scary and could not put 1 step inside that haunted house. I ended up not doing it because I thought it was to scary. I think it was my first haunted house I have even been to.

In the 7th chapter it said that they tied their feet together and tied there hands to their backs until their elbows touched and were going to drown them in the rive/lake. Ishamel Beah got out of it by telling him what rapping was. If you were Ishamel Beah how would you react if you saw all the people being drowned? Would you react?