Journal Four

In chapter 14 Beah describes one of the most gruesome acts he has made yet in the book. Beah and the other soldiers had captured prisoners and had been ordered to kill them in a competition. Beah and others were ordered to slit the throats of the prisoners and the one who did the best job won. "His Adam's apple made way for the sharp knife, and I turned the bayonet on its zigzag edge as I brought it out"(Beah 125). I think Beah dramatized this part of chapter 14 because he wanted to show just how evil he had truly become because of the war. when I was reading through this part of the chapter I was wondering how much farther did he go but not tell the audience.I think Beah took out all of his anger he had towards the war out on the man he executed, just like how he was trained to. I think Beah could be rehabilitated, but to what extent. He will never be the same after going through and doing everything he had done. He had seen and done so many evil things that if he was rehabilitated, how long did that take?

Journal Four

In chapter 14 during a raid Beah and the army capture several prisoners. They are put in competition to see who can kill a target by slitting the persons throat the fastest. Beah ends up winning this competition. .”. . . and I grabbed the man’s head and slit his throat in one fluid motion”(Beah 125). Beah thinks about the death of his family  and quickly kills his target. I think Beah chose to dramatize this scene because of the killing. I think that he wanted to explain to readers that he didn’t just do it to do it but more because he had to. I feel like he did it to avenge his family in a way. Beah was challenging the anger he felt from his family dying into killing the prisoner.I believe that Beah can truly be rehabilitated. He was a very sweet and caring person before the war so I feel like deep down if he channeled the energy he had about life before the war he could really be rehabilitated.

Journal Four- Emaleigh Haimerl

     In Chapter Fourteen of a Long Way Gone a memorable part of this chapter to me is when Beah is talking about the drugs he does. I think he chose to dramatize this because it shows how much he has changed from previous chapters. Beah said "In the daytime, instead of playing soccer in the village square, I took turns at the guarding posts around the village, smoking marijuana and sniffing brown brown, cocaine mixed with gunpowder, which was always spread out on the table, and of course taking more the white capsules" (Beat, 121). This sentence reveals to me how war changes you. Before he was just a little boy that like to listen to rap music and dance and now he does drugs and kills people. As I read this I think that he has had to really go through a lot to change that much.
     The question I chose to answer is how the transformation of the character changed my perspective on Beah. The transformation made me change my perspective by just feeling bad for him. I know having to go through everything he went through was hard and sucked but I could never imagine him just switching up like he did after the first time he went out. I know people who switched to drugs when everything went bad in life and they lost people and he did the same thing which is why I feel bad for him.

Journal Four by Chas Martin

Chas Martin

English 1190 at 1:30

Mr. Lohre

September 24, 2019

Journal Four

     I thought the scene from chapter 14, where the corporal demands to know where the rebel got all of his ammunition.  I think Beah choose to dramatize this scene because its just another story where Beah could show how much he had changed. The things that he once feared, he now cheers for and craves. Beah writes, “The rebel ran up and down the village before he fell to the ground and stopped moving. We cheered again, raising our guns in the air, shouting and whistling.” When I read this, I actually lost all hope for Beah. I didn’t think he was over going to be anything close to a good person after this.

 Question: How do you explain the dramatic change in Beah that we see in chapters 12 through 15? Our hero has become a killer. Why did he let himself become a killer?

     I don’t think Beah ever let himself becoming a killer. In fact I saw this coming for a while. I thought it was going to happen much sooner in the book though. He loved his childhood and one second later he was separated from his family. Then he lost his brother and was isolated for several days. He was almost killed by many people along the way to becoming a solider. When he felt like he finally had a family again, some of his new brothers were ripped away from him because of the rebels and war. Then when he thinks he finally gets to see his family again only to find out they are gone or worse…dead. At this point Beah has become a killer. You can’t hold all this emotion in so he lets his anger out by killing people and keeps his memories away by using drugs. Honestly I don’t blame Beah, I would have probably done the same thing in his shoes and if you don’t think you would have done what he did, I think your lying to yourself.

Journal Four Madi Conrad

Part One: A scene that I feel is important in Chapter 14 was when Beah and the other child soldiers reach their above and beyond point as child soldiers that are over worked. In the book, Beah one of the many child soldier’s drafted for Sierra Leone’s army, states, “I took turns at the guarding posts around the village, smoking square, I took turns at the guarding posts around the village, smoking marijuana and sniffing...” ( Beah 121). I felt Beah Beah decided to dramatize this section because no one, unless you were a child soldier would understand that struggles that Beah and his peers went through. For the reader this reveals that war was a lot harder, especially for these young soldiers that were drafted. As I read this science I felt astonished as I did not realize the difficulties that these child soldiers were suffering through. In this section of Chapter 14, Beah describes what the soldiers would do to reduce their pain and suffering as they believed that these psychedelics would reduce their struggles and change their brain activity.

Part Two: The drastic change from Chapter 12 to Chapter 15 was that Beah who was once our hero became a killing child soldier at war. Beah let himself become a killer as I believe had had no other choice because that was all he witnessed around him. Beah was forced to be a child soldier so at the beginning he wanted to avoid as much contact with death and killing others. Where as in Chapter 15 and during the shift in Beah’s change to become a killer it is believed that he feels he can only survive if he becomes a killer. Beah’s mindset changed that if he wanted to make it out alive this wears his only way. Near the beginning of Chapter 14 and end of Chapter 13 Beah witnessed his peers being killed which also lead to this change in mindset that he had. Beah also begins to develop a strong anger towards the others around him which I also believe leads him into his change and need to become a killer.

Journal 4

The scene that stood out to me the most in Chapter 14, was when Beah and the rest of the soldiers raided the Rebels camp for supplies. Not only were they raiding for supplies but they were capturing rebels to kill them. Reading this made me feel as if Beah’s army is beginning to act just like the rebels. They were even attacking civilian villages, when they are supposed to be the hero’s and attack the rebels to end the war. Beah has totally turned into a different person. He is starting to become an addict and a stone cold killer. “We walked for long hours and stopped only to eat sardines and corned beef with Gary, sniff cocaine, brown brown, and take some white capsules. The combination of these drugs graves us a lot of energy and made us fierce. The idea of death didn’t cross my minds at all and killing had become as easy as drinking water.” (Beah, 122)  I truly believe that since Beah has gone through so much emotional and physical trauma that he doesn’t know what he is doing. He is beginning to do all these drugs when readers including myself know that’s not him. In reality, this is his only way of surviving. It’s hard to understand his part of the world and its hard to read the type of person Beah is now but we have to realize that this way the only way he could live.

How does the transformation of character change your perception of Beah?
Beah went from an innocent, scared young boy to a soldier who isn’t afraid of killing and who is addicted to drugs. My perception of Beah has definitely changed. It’s hard to read about the new person he has become but I am trying to understand. Beah isn’t evil, he is just sad and lost because of the world he lives in currently. He lost his family and has seen too many deaths. Unfortunately, he has turned to drugs but I’m hoping this is just a phase and he becomes stable.

Journal four

In chapter 15, Beah and Alhaji were chosen by UNICEF. The lieutenant states, “You have been great soldiers and you all know that you are part of this brotherhood. I am very proud to have served my country with you boys. But your work here is done, and I must send you off. These men will put you in school and find you another life.” (Beah 129) Beah didn’t want this. He was so used to the war, he never thought he’d find a way out. He was starting to get angry and anxious without his gun. This is dramatized because it’s sad what war can emotionally do to a person. He lost his family and friends, the only thing he has left are his weapons. He wants to seek revenge, he wants to kill. He’s becoming heartless. As I read this scene, I felt sorry for him. He didn’t deserve to go through all those things that young. I get that he wants revenge, but killing isn’t going to bring his family back. I think he should take this opportunity seriously, and get the life he deserves. 

     How would you feel about Beah if you were a family member of someone that this young boy murdered? I would feel devastated. Did it really have to come to this? The war wasn’t started by my family members, we just had to play the part just like you do. I would want to seek revenge to, just like Beah. I wouldn’t go to the extreme extent  like he does though. Taking a life for life is not helping anything. I would find peace, and help others find their peace. Put an end to this awful war, once and for all. 

Journal Four

In chapter fourteen of A Long Way Gone written by Ishmael Beah, Beah, was on drugs, the white pills, sniffing brown brown, and marijuana. The drugs made him feel numb and gave him energy. This soldier army group he was part of has changed him and has brain washed him. He depends on drugs and is not afraid to kill, but worst of all, he sees a gun as safety, and it provides him comfort. A typical child would never see a gun like but to Beah that is all he has left. A critical scene that occurred in this chapter was when the lieutenant lined up five rebels and commanded the boys to slit their throats (Beah 124). Beah has so much hatred towards the rebels that without thinking he, “grabbed the man’s head and slit his throat in one fluid motion” (Beah 125). Beah dramatized this scene because it reveals his hatred towards the rebels and how skilled he is at killing. The rebels has taken his family away from him and everything else. It shows to the reader that he has changed, ever since the first time he killed someone and held a gun in his hand. Beah is not the boy that was once scared, sad, and on the run. I believe Beah has changed, and the drugs he was on made him forget his feelings and morals. I feel shocked that he went through with all the killing, weapons, and drugs. He has stopped to have internal thoughts or debates on his actions and his morals. I never imagined that Beah would end up like this and would kill others without remorse.

No, I do not think Beah can be truly rehabilitated because he has been through way too much. The war started when he was twelve, and now he is fifteen, and he is still in the war. These three years began with him being all alone and finding ways to survive and hoping to find his family. After that, he was part of a soldier army that forced him to use a gun, do drugs, and killing rebels and other civilians. This journey has traumatized him, and he will never be able to recover from it entirely. Since he is just a child, and his mind is fragile and not fully developed yet, and he was put into situations like this that will change his life forever. He has lost his family and friends, and he would carry that with him and the anger he feels towards the rebels since the rebels have tortured family, friends, children, and other villages. He will get better at the UNICEF, but he will never be able to fully recover from all the pain and trauma he has been put through. 

Journal four

Part 1.Chapter 14 Beah finally got to see how war was like, he saw one of his friends get killed and it made him think about how it would be like if he went and killed someone. When he watched his friend die it made him angry and made him want to fight back even more and he killed somebody for the first time and he also started doing drugs. This sene was important because if you look back to when beah wasn’t a soldier he wasn’t like how he was now the way he reacts to situations now he’s very anger and killing somebody is a traumatic experience so it changed how he perceives things whoever’s prisoner dies the quickest wins” shows Beah has become heartless and he likes killing now because the soldiers over the camp brain washed the other soldiers to thinking the only way is to kill all the rebels.

Part 2. “Do you think he can truly rehabilitate? Why or why not?” I think Beah can rehabilitate with time but it’s not granted that he will because he could get PTSD it all depends on how he comes out of war and if he would be willing to put in time to get help.

Journal Four

Keaton Hipsher

Professor Mike Lohre 

English 1109 1:30 Mon-Wed

24 September 2019

The scene that I feel is important is in chapter 14. Instead of playing soccer around the village, Beah took turns at guarding post around the village. As Beah was smoking marijuana (weed) and sniffing brown brown, which was cocaine mixed with gunpowder. What this reveals to the reader is that Beah the good kid is starting to take a turn for the worst. Well what happen is Beah started taking some drugs. What I feel as I read this scene I felt bad for the kid and I was just in shock! You just don't see Beah doing any of those bad things. "of course taking more of the white capsules, as I become addicted to them (Beah 121)."
     What would I have did if I was in his shoes? I'm not going to lie I probably wouldn't know what to do as a 12 year old if I lost my family in the war. I would like to say when I got to this point in my journey and was a solider now. I hope I wouldn't do the drugs as he is but maybe that is the only thing that is keeping him cool with all the other soldiers. Also maybe the drugs are making him so high he doesn't have to think of all the bad things he has did as a boy solider. So I would probably just go with the flow because what else would I have to lose at this point other than my life?

Journal 4

When Beah started murdering people I was shocked he could do such a thing, and the drugs he did too. Beah most likely starting killing people and using marijuana and cocaine as a coping mechanism. To numb his pain, which he has been through a lot. He’s changing a lot. Before, he couldn’t stand seeing the dead bodies everywhere he turned. Now he’s shooting people, and slitting their throats. I feel like he thinks he is in control now, and now he can be fearless and powerful. “I stood there holding my gun and felt special because I was a part of something that took me seriously and I was not running from anyone anymore.” P.124

 If I was a family member of someone who Beah murdered I would feel hatred towards him. But, I wouldn’t want to kill him either. Just because you’re in pain doesn’t mean you can hurt someone the same way they hurt you. It doesn’t do any good. But, no one deserves to be ripped away from life for no reason.

Snapshot 4 collin thacker

9/23/19
English 1109
Collin Thacker


I chose to use chapter 15 because this is the scene where Ishmael Beah is what we would call being rescued from the war scene. He is rejecting to be helped and medicated from this hospital; that is part of UNICEF. They really do have the best in mind for him he just has to accept them, and be compliant to their different methods. It reveals to the reader that beah is stubborn and has gotten used to the war life. I felt disgusted that that could even happen...getting used to the blood, violence, and killings. “I had forgotten about the grenade in the side pocket......” (Beah page 130). Beahs change has created the worst kind of person you can be....into a monster and killing machine. His whole persona is horrific and disturbing. If you honestly ask me what i think of this novel, i would tell you i regret reading it not for the book itself which was brilliantly written but rather the content is rather graphic. Blood, death, fire, stealing, drugs, alcohol, rape, guns, etc. NOT my cup of tea and not something that is pleasing to the eye. there are horrific scenes and incredible detail that also be used to conjure up some of the most horrendous of thoughts. Not trying to sound cliche but I'm glad I'm not him right now.

Journal 3 Robert Nicol

Robert Nicol

English 1109 1:30 mon

9/9/19
                                                                  Journal 3

     My reading is going well I had to highlight and annotate in high school so I’m somewhat used to it. I sometimes I think highlight to much making  it a bit harder to pull out the more important things.
     I prefer a long way gone for the fact that I prefer more serious writing. I think it’s writing style is it’s strong point and weaknesses are that  it does not appeal or relate to as many due to its somber and melancholy atmosphere. While I thing mango streets strength is also in some ways its weakness in how true style of writhing is broken but flows if you understand how to read it and it can certainly be more relatable than a long way gone.
     I feel a good theme would be longing. She talks abut wanting more and not wanting to fall into place and wanting to create her own path in life.A good example of this Woolley be the quote”I Inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window’’. (Cisneros,11) this is important to understand as a theme because I feel it somewhat defines her character.

Journal Three- Tammy Guo

My active reading is going pretty good, I enjoy annotating while I read since it helps me remember what occurred in the chapters. I started annotating in high school and it was really useful. Highlighting favorite passages and important events makes it easier to look back when we are discussing in class. The margin notes let’s me remember what I was thinking when I read the passage and also a short summary of what occurred. Also boxing words I didn’t know in the book helps with expanding my vocabulary and I could use them in my future writing. The thing I might struggle with is finding all the figurative language in the book since I have forgotten most of the terms for them and the definition. I can find similes,  metaphors, repetition, sentence length, and personification just fine but others I have trouble with.

The strengths and weaknesses of each book so far in The House On Mango Street is that the strength all the similes, metaphors and other figurative languages she uses in the book. She does a really good job on explaining and presenting  characters in the book. Another strength is the word choices she uses enriches her thoughts and you can really see the vivid imagery. Her writing in each chapter has their on specific title and she focuses on it and explains and tells a story about it.  I didn’t see many weaknesses in this book, I am really enjoying it but a weakness in the book is that the chapters don’t follow along one after another. In the book a long way gone by Ishmael beach the strengths in the book is showing the real horrors of the war through word choice, imagery and other figurative languages. Everyone in the story goes through a lot of trauma and beah explains his emotions really well. There weren’t many weaknesses in this book but a weakness is that it might not be a book for everyone since of all the vivid imagery. The content might be a little mature for younger audiences since it talks about blood and dead bodies everywhere and how the rebels label people after their done torturing them. I personally prefer the book The House on Mango Street because I enjoy the different stories that in each chapter and to me it's a fun read. This book is not gruesome and has a lighter feel to it.

A theme I noticed in chapters four, five, six, and seven in a long way gone by beah is survival. It’s important because in war time people are separated from their family and are really far away from their home town. Their having trouble to find food and to survive and keep going to find a way to survive. They went against their morals and perform actions they never they thought they would like stealing food, “One evening we actually chased a little boy who was eating two boiled ears of corn by himself. He was about five years old... we rushed to the boy at the same time, and before he knew what was happening, we had taken the corn from him(beah 30).” They have gone so far that they went and stole food from a child. This is unspeakable, but their need for food was so bad that they had to take food from a child.  Also, in times of war adults and children are traumatized from all the gruesome sights and they can never unseen what they have seen. This is especially traumatizing for the children and hard for them to process everything that has occurred, they have lost their innocence. Survival for the kids is hard since they don’t have the capability to keep going like the adults and having to endure all of this is appalling.

Journal Three From Teylar

Active reading for me is going pretty well so far. It was a little hard starting off, but it eventually got easier. I tend to struggle with writing down my notes. I sometimes have to go back and write down the questions I have. I also have to go back and write down the plot points. I think about them, but I do not physically write them down. Highlighting the main ideas, characters and places is the only part that is easy for me.

There are multiple strengths for the story The House on Mango Street. The author uses great figurative language. I can picture what she is writing down on the page. She also shows you her thought process in a great way. She doesn’t leave you confused while reading, she states a fact and finishes the thought. There are many strengths of A Long Way Gone too. One of those strengths are that Beah writes with great imagery. He goes back throughout the book and shows you his experiences. They’re sometimes fun, they’re sometimes sad and graphic. I don’t see any weaknesses in my opinion in either of the books.

In chapter 6 the theme of people not trusting each other is shown multiple times. I believe that it is important because it helps you understand just how trusting the villages were before the war. It also shows you how all of the trust has changed for the worse since the war has taken place. On page 38, it the boys try to go into a village and get stopped by people trying to protect the village. The people in the village ask them if they are rebels and the boys respond with no. The chief gets angry and then states,“If you do not tell me the truth, I am going to have these men tie stones to your bodies and throw you into the river.”(Beah 38) Later in the chapter Beah states that before the war, interaction between people was respectful and trusting but, that since the war it has not been respectful and trusting

Journal three: reading response from Zion

Zion Jackson
English 1109

      I think I’m doing good at highlighting and research work as i read. But I need to make more notes in my book because I like to make mental notes in my head rather then taking notes in my book. I need to start making more notes in my book so it will help me remember more as i read and have more information on certain pages and chapters so I’m not struggling to remember what I read about.

 My strengths for each book is there both interesting books so I understand more and comprehend what I’m reading rather then just reading and not really knowing what I was reading about. And my weaknesses of each book I don’t really know my weaknesses but I like to read “ a long way gone” more then I do “ the house on mango street” because it’s more interesting to me and I like reading about the events that goes on in “ a long way gone”.

chapter 4 Ishmael and his friends go through a lot of struggles like being scared 24/7 and not having food. They try to make good decisions like when they returned to khaliolou’s house to grab some money because they was hungry but the war changes a lot so they started stealing food from people but i feel like Ishmael felt bad because at the end of chapter 4 he said “ it was the only way to get through the night” from that line I got the thought he really didn’t wanna steal from people but it was a last resort because all the change that was happening because of the war. The theme I got from the chapters is that Ishmael has to do certain things he doesn’t wanna do but he has to so he will survive and that things happen so fast that he has to be ready or he won’t survive the war that’s going on.

Journal 3 Marissa Hardin

My active reading is average I would say. I did some in high school, but we weren’t allowed to actually highlight and write in the book, we just took notes on the side. It feels weird to write in a book, but I’m starting to get used to it.  I highlight and write out new names, places and I highlight some events that I think might be important later on. I also write a recap at the end of the chapter so I can look back to that to give a summary of what happened.

In The House on Mango Street, my strengths are, highlighting the metaphors and similes. Her metaphor and similes really stand out in her writing. My weaknesses is that sometimes her writing doesn’t make sense. She will have some errors, but most of the time I can see though them. Her chapters are also very short, so I feel like I can’t really highlight enough in one chapter. My strengths in The Long Way Gone is, highlighting events, names, places, and sentences that really can make you imagine what he is seeing. My weaknesses are that I don’t know some of the terms he uses a lot, and it is interesting to learn what he’s been through, but some of the chapters are really long and I get bored. That’s why I like The House on Mango Street better.

A theme I noticed in Beah is that life is unexpected. Before the rebels came life was good for Beah and his family and friends. But all of a sudden, the unexpected happens. Their home is no longer a place to go back to, everywhere was chaos and madness. He was so young, and had to go through terrible experiences, that no one should go through. “I pressed my fingers on my eyelids to hold back tears and wished that I could have my family together again.” P.45 He had lost everything, his friends and family.

Journal 3 Corinna Hardin

     I would say my active reading is going great so far. Everything is going well, I don’t think I am struggling at all. I used to do active reading in one of my English classes from High School. We used this technique while reading The Great Gatsby. It really helped me understand the book, hopefully It helps me with this one as well. Highlighting the passages and writing notes make me like reading more than I used to. It is very helpful and helps me remember more details about the book.

     The strengths in A Long Way Gong is that he goes into detail, he makes you visualize the scene as you read. A weakness is that the writing makes you feel sad. He writes about things no one should ever go through. A strength in A House on Mango Street is that her writing is very interesting. She uses many things to catch the readers attention, like her metaphors. A weakness can also be her metaphors. It’s mostly all she writes. She also uses grammar errors, like run on sentences.

     I chose to write about chapter 6, from a Long Way Gong. I would say the theme is “Live everyday like it’s your last.” He lost his brother when he was least expecting it. He wanted to know how he was feeling. If he was okay. He didn’t ask. “I wanted to know how Junior was feeling, but I couldn’t find the right moment to break into the silence of that evening. I wish I had.” (Beah 2007) It is important to understand because he lost everyone, even the ones he thought he’d have by his side forever.

Journal 3- Jacob Francis

             Active reading is going well. I am used to reading books this. I read The House on Mango Street, but I don't enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy reading A Long Way Gone. The House on Mango Street has a lot of metaphors in it which makes it hard to follow at points. In A Long Way Gone, The whole story is based off of true events which is probably why I enjoy reading it.
           I enjoy active reading because I can just flip through my book and know what is going on, this is especially helpful when we have class discussions. I have never struggled with this process. But, with The House on Mango Street, active reading becomes more challenging because there is no real plot line to follow.
           A theme I have seen apparently in A Long Way Gone is isolation. This is apparent even when Ishmael is still with his friends. When traveling, they hardly ever talk or have interaction with each other. They act like they don't even know each other, this may be because of the stressful situation that they are going through or possibly because of how little energy that they have because they have no food or water. When Ishmael was separated from his brother Junior, he seemed to have started to really keep to himself besides when he went to talk to the family in the river. The use of  child soldiers by the rebels does not help Ishmael's isolation from everyone else. No one wants to or can trust him in all honesty, they don't know if he is a rebel or not and there is no real way of showing that he isn't one.

Journal Three Emaleigh Haimerl

     So far my active reading is going okay. I have never done it before so I am not used to it and not sure what to really highlight besides quotes I like and stuff that seems important and I don’t know what to write in the margin besides names. So far what is going well for me is highlighting parts that seem important. Stuff that I am struggling with though is what quotes are important, yes I can pick out one’s I like but I never really understand which one’s are important until our class discussions.
     The strengths of A Long Way Gone are that it is important to history and tells this man’s story and it also lets the world know what he had to go through. A weakness of this book is that at times it can be boring to read. A strength of The House On Mango Street is that all of the chapters are interesting. A weakness of this book is that the chapters are kinda short.
     A theme I have realized in A Long Way Gone is not to take what you have for granted. This is important to understand because everyone now takes what we have for granted and almost like they should be given everything. We take everything for granted, family, electronics, money, food, everything. Beah said “One evening we actually chased a little boy who was eating two boiled ears of corn by himself.” (Beah, 2007). Reading this quote made me think of what we take for granted, these boys had nothing, not even food and still went on, if anyone nowadays weren’t even allowed on their phone for 30 minutes they would complain until they could get on it again.

Journal three by Chas

     I would say my active reading is going well. I feel like it’s easier to make more comments and marks in A Long Way Gone because the suspenseful moments make my mind wonder and start thinking. It’s easy for me to write down my thoughts about a situation that happens in the book but I’m struggling to get some of the good metaphors mentioned in class because I just read over them without even thinking. I am starting to get better at least with picking them up.
      I would have to say that both of these books are great and have many strengths and few weaknesses. I do feel like that Beah does a good job describing all the horrific things he’s seen and witnessed. The only weakness I see with all the gore, torture and hate. It’s not having the same effect as it did in the beginning. Reading it every chapter you just get used to reading it and even though it’s still disturbing it starts to lose it’s effect in my opinion. A House On Mango Street is written so beautifully. I love books where you have to analyze the text to better understand what’s truly happening. Even re-reading some chapters I pick up things I didn’t pick up before and it sometimes makes the chapter so much better. I haven’t noticed any weaknesses in her writing.
     The theme I’ve noticed in the chapters so far is isolation. Everyone separates them and treats them differently because they are seen as the enemy. This is gonna eventually gonna start making drastic changes to Beah. It already has in my opinion, he’s stealing food, and camping in the forest to avoid everyone. I think the part where he is almost killed for going into a the village is a underrated scene. He is a 12 year old boy having a gun pointed at his head because he’s a 12 year old boy. Not stealing food and not causing trouble. Just because he’s 12, imagine what changes this made to Beah. Specially on page 38 Beah describes the experience, “Then our hands were pulled behind our backs until our elbows touched, making our chest tight from the pressure. I was in tears from the pain.” This is the game changer for Beah. He is now unwanted by everybody except maybe the rebels.

Journal 3- Keaton H

Keaton Hipsher
English 1109 at 1:30, M-Wed
September 4, 2019


   
     My active reading is going okay so far. I am not going to lie its a little weird to get use to. But I am trying, it is just odd because I was never taught this way of reading in my life. Some things that are going well in my active reading, I am doing a good job of connecting things happening in the book to my life.  Another thing I think is helping me is highlighting key phrases so when I go back to a chapter I can see what I liked from it. Some things that I am struggling with is I am missing some of     of the main view points that I should be highlighting, I think I'm highlighting too many little things that doesn't make as much since to the main points of the chapter.
     Some strengths I see in both writings is they both are really good about going into every little detail. Well I prefer the house on mango street as my favorite right now at this point in time. Why I choose this book as my favorite is just because I am connecting with it more and I just simply enjoy reading it more in a way......
    A theme I see in a long way gone from chapters 4,5,6, and 7 is survival. why I think survival is  important is because they are trying to stay alive and trying to find food so they don't die of hunger. Here are some examples from the text to support my theme reasoning "One evening we actually chased a little boy who was eating two boiled ears of corn by himself." then they did this for another way of survival. "We rushed on the boy at the same time, and before he knew what was happening, we had taken the corn from him." then this another theme of survival. "Later in the evening, the boy's mother gave each of us an ear of corn. I felt guilty about it for a few minutes, but in our position, there wasn't much time for remorse."

Journal three from Abby

My active reading is going pretty good. I’m good at highlighting my favorite lines or the most important lines in each chapter as well as writing any notes in the margin that I would need to use in the future. The thing I struggle with most is coming up with valuable questions for our class discussions. I feel as if I need to become more creative with my questions to bring to the class.

In my view,  The House on Mango Street has many strengths and weaknesses. One of the strengths being the amount of personality in each chapter. I enjoy going through the sad, happy, funny, and intense moments with the narrator. One weakness I found in the book was the authors grammar. It might not even be a weakness, it makes the book raw and original. I think it’s just weird reading a book with grammatical errors. The 2nd book, A Long Way Gone there was also many strengths and weaknesses. Personally, a strength would be the description Beah uses to explain what’s happening. Whenever I’m reading this book, I can imagine what’s happening, in my mind and it really intrigues me to read more. One weakness would be the lack of explanation of how the narrator is feelings through all of this. I wish he would go more into depth about his emotions.

The theme of numbness and shock arises in chapter 5. This chapter begins with the boys basically living in starvation, silence and fear. “We were so hungry that it hurt to drink water and we felt cramps in our gut... We become irritable and sat apart from each other, as if sitting together made us hungrier.” Towards the end of the chapter they still continued to live in more fear and shock due to the fact that they were almost killed.

Journal 3 Reading Response from Collin Thacker

My active reading is well...different. I've never been exposed to this type of intense reading and comprehension. But I love it! It brings out the basic need for reading and shows that reading as well as writing is an important key task to do not just in college, but outside of school too! Although I do feel like I’m struggling to go into depth with what I learn in A Long Way Gone. It just doesn’t seem interesting to me... is that wrong? On the other hand, A House on Mango Street is a book picked to my liking! It’s packed with sadness, wit, humor, and most of all, personality! I had no problem getting into this book. It’s a medium pace life of Esperanza finding her place in the world with the help of a house on mango street which is why its the book I prefer. 

A common theme I’ve seen in these two books is not only having worth in what you have but finding your place in the world and being content with it. “Someday Ill have a best friend of my own, one i can tell secrets to. This clearly shows that Esperanza hasn’t found that sweet spot of where she belongs in life. This is important to understand because it shows the uneasiness there is and the tension in their lives because they need to find their self worth away from what the world so hastily taken away.

kinda funny actually...my highlighter died early on and so most of my notes are in pencil!!! just until recently i got a new one so..... going to be a little different!