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.

Chapter 8 and 9

These two chapters really showed me how much this war has affected Ishmael. I think it frightened Ishmael when he walked through the burnt village and saw the dead bodies all over the ground. “I had passed through the burnt villages where dead bodies of men, women, and children of all ages were scattered like leaves on the ground after a storm.” This made me put the book down because I took a minute to think of what if that was me? What would I do or how would I react? “I had seen heads cut off by machetes, smashed by cement bricks, and rivers filled with so much blood that the water had ceased flowing.” This part made me also want to put the book down. I couldn’t imagine walking through a town and seeing dead bodies and blood everywhere. I would never be able to get it out of my head and I wouldn’t know how to react to this. I have never been in that position before and I hope I never will have to. Besides this part I am very glad that Ishmael finally found people he could trust. I just feel bad because he has lost everyone so far and I’m afraid that it’s going to happen again. Everyone that he loves, he looses and he tries to not to think about what has happened but it’s the only thing on his mind at the moment.