Madi Conrad Journal 6

Madi Conrad

English 1109 at 1:30, M-W

Wednesday, October 16th, 2019

Journal 6

            Other than Ishmael, the character that has meant the most to me in this book was Esther. Esther has meant the most to me other than Ishmael in this book because she represents a role model to many out there. Esther has become a role model to me, as I would like to become someone who works hard while being selfless at the same time. Esther is one of the main people who helps Ishmael through his rehabilitation process. to me, Esther not only shows care for Ishmael but, also that she will be there for him in life. One specific example that Ishmael iterates in his writing when speaking about his rehabilitation process is Esther becomes someone that he cherishes as she has made him feel like he is back to his old self, “When I finished telling Esther the story, se had tears in her eyes and she couldn’t decide whether to rub my head or hug me” (Beah 159). In this line from the text, Beah finally came to the realization that even though he may not go back to his earlier self once he was forced into the war, but he would be able to make a partial recovery and Esther was one of the very few who was actually going to help him get there.

            I believe that it is possible for Ishmael to be rehabilitated. Ishmael’s rehabilitation process is very eye opening to me as he has come from such a deep, rough, and dark place that will be hard for anyone to escape yet a young teen. It was much harder for Ishmael to even start become and remember who he was before because he was forced into killing at the age where his brain was still developing. As a person who knows and is very close with many who struggle with PTSD from war, I would accept Ishmael to move into my neighborhood. Even though, Ishmael has had a rough past and started killing at such a young age, he did it for his survival and has also gone through a rigorous rehabilitation process to even make the improvements that he did. Many may not trust Ishmael to live in their neighborhood but I would because I like to look for the good in all people no matter who they are, and what they have done and are currently doing.

            One thing from my active reading that really pulls me into A Long Way Gone was that when Beah is communicating in the book he uses specific lines here and there to make you feel as you are one of them, going through the same traumatic experiences, while fighting for your life. The main sentence that stood out to me the most in this book that represents how he makes you feel as if you are one of the child soldiers fighting along side him is when Beah explains how devastatingly empty and difficult his journey of being a child soldier was, “For five days, I walked from dawn to dusk, never coming into contact with any human being” (Beah 46). In Ishmael’s book, this was one of the many lines he used that provided so much detail in such a short sentence. Beah has a way of being able to put the reader into the story with very little detail.

            My favorite passage that I was really struck by the writing is when Beah describes how his innocence has been robbed from him, as it states on page 17,  “Whenever I get a chance to observe the moon now, I still see those same images I saw when I was six, and it pleases me to know that that part of my childhood is still embedded in me “ (Beah 17). This was my favorite highlighted section of the text as Beah starts off the book explaining how the majority of his innocence has been robbed from him even at the start of the war. As a child soldier, Beah struggled a lot more than just anyone in the way of being robbed of their innocence, as the brain is still developing as he has been pulled into war. So he is left with a lot less of his memories and skills from when he was a child.