Chapter 10

“I didn’t know what I as going to do with my life. I felt that I was starting over and over again.” This quote is in the beginning of chapter 10. I think this quote is trying to say that Ishmael feels like his life is going nowhere and that where ever he made a stop, he always knew that it would be temporary. He has finally given up on trying to be happy. “It was much easier to be sad than to go back and forth between emotions, and this gave me the determination I needed to keep moving. I was never disappointed, since I always expected the worst to happen.” I think this quote is very important because you know what pain Ishmael is feeling. He feels like there is no happiness left in the world and even if there is, it doesn’t last long. He tries not to make connections with other people, afraid that something bad will happen because it usually does happen. When Saidu died I couldn’t imagine how much sadness and pain the other six boys must have felt. You were hoping that after they heard the news of that their families were in the next villages away that their lives would finally become happier. But instead, their lives got even worse and the happiness was drained away. I feel sympathy for the boys because they lost a friend who was apart of their family and now he is gone and won’t be returning. You hoped things would go well, but as usual, they didn’t and no one can change that.