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.
Hey Madi! I agree with you that the child soldiers were overworked and this is harmful to them physically and mentally since their brain and strength are not fully developed yet. They are exposed to drugs at such a young age and this harmed them. I liked your direct quote about them taking turns guarding the post and they were smoking marijuana (Beah 121). I also talked about the children soldiers in my blog but how they have changed from being scared and alone to killing others and doing drugs. The only way Beah believed he could survive was to resort to kill because if he didn’t he will be dead. The drugs did indeed help the children to not think about the pain and suffer they have been through. We both included the build up anger Beah had towards the rebels since they have taken everything from him. I liked how you talked about how he was forced to be a child soldier and he didn’t ask for any of this. Also that his mindset changed after all of the violence and drugs he was exposed to. In mine, I talked about Beah and the other child soldiers will never fully recover because they are traumatized and have been through so much in the war. They will never be able to forget about what they have been through. I really enjoyed your blog and thoughts! :)
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