Journal 4 By Jacob Ware

Part 1: My reading is going pretty well right now. To be honest, I usually do not read really anything outside of some articles here and there but when I find a book I really like it is very easy for me to read and that's how it is for me with A Long Way Gone. I am very active in this book and I enjoy every chapter, sometimes it is still hard for me to find the time to read it but I almost always complete its readings. The House on Mango street is another story though because I do not enjoy it as much and I also get very confused by the short 'chapters' and how the story kind of jumps. I do not always get the reading done for this one probably because I can't really get my self into it. My active reading usually consists of highlighting very well and I usually get a title and if I have time, I like to write random things in the margin.

Part 2: I think one of the biggest survival skills they have learned really is to almost not be frightened as much by death. You see this when Beah states, "His body was still sweating and he continued bleeding. We didn't say a word to each other. We all knew what had happened." (Beah, 99). It's weird calling it a 'skill' but really with out this experience they might have gotten caught up in Gasemu's death and maybe even been killed themselves trying to save him or being to startled by it that they might have stayed behind and let the rebels catch up to them.

Works Cited:

Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone. New York. Sarah Critchon, 2007. Print.

Journal 4 by Ben

To be completely honest, I'm really terrible at active reading. I started the beginning of the books alright, but then as we have progressed I have just gotten much worse at it. I get to wrapped up in the books to do the active reading. I prefer A Long Way Gone over A House on Mango Street. My strengths and weaknesses. Like I have stated before, I cannot stand to read. If I am forced to because an assignment, I get distracted so very easily. I prefer A Long Way Gone mainly because I like Beah's writing style. It also helps that A Long Way Gone holds my attention a lot easier.

One important survival skill that I noticed is adaptation. At the end of chapter twelve, he has been recruited for the fighting and that is not something that he was expecting to do. He had to adapt to his environment in order to stay alive. Beah at the end of chapter twelve talks about the other kid humming, I imagine it almost brining him comfort, especially when he says " His voice would echo into the dark forest, and whenever he stopped, the night got quieter" ( Beah 113).

Journal 4, Monica.

Part one: I would have to say so far my reading is going okay. I'm not much of a reader though, and I really don't like reading. These books have changed that for e a little bit though, they are some good books, but I still hate reading. I'm pretty active with them both though, more so A long way gone than The house on Mango street. The most thing I do to help me keep interest in the two books is to skim over and find apart that will catch my eye to read the chapter, if I don't it's very hard to get into the book, much less the story or chapter we have to read. So like I said the book I prefer the most is A long way gone. The reason why is because it has more to the story's and makes you wonder and your mind run wild, like you feel like you could figure it out but once you read it, it is the complete opposite. As for The house on Mango street, I'm just ready to be done with book. It's so many short stories and seems like it has know point of a book or even knowing where the end is going to end up, like it makes me wonder are they just going to end back up in Mexico?

Part two: One of the survival skills I notice in this reading was that they kept going from village to village to make it each and everyday. They had to get what food they could and take with them because they had no food or water source when they was traveling, They couldn't be picky either, if it was edible they ate it, even though sometimes they probably shouldn't they still did. " That night we stole a pot of rice and cassava leaves. We ate it under coffee trees at the edge of the village, washed the pots, and returned them." (Beah 84) I can say that I have been through that once in lfe before, I choose a wrong path in my life before that I picked my partner over family and they cut me off and when I needed them or something the most I had to learn the hard way, I had to steal food and hope I didn't get caught and put family before others. I understand these boys were only doing what they had to so they could survive.

                                                                          Work citied
Beah, Ismael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs Of A Boy Soldier. New York: Sarah Critchon, 2007. Print.

Chelsea Makowski
02/06/2017

Journal Four

      So far in my active reading I believe im doing really well, I find my self getting chapters mixed together and the stories are starting to jumble together. A Long Way Gone I am reading it a lot more intense and i am a lot more into the book than i am in Cisneros. Im really interested in the story of Beah and to me going from the two books Cisneros doesnt compete and i try to really read and comprehend her book but its hard to do when I want to read the other book and Beah just has an incredible story line. The two books are so different and have such a different story line but Beah is my favorite out of the books. I feel the strength in House on Mango street is the language how you can imagine exactly what she is saying and kind of plays with words to figure it out. When Cisneros is describing a feeling to you and wants you to feel it she descibes it in such a unique way where your mind automatically runs with magination. The weakness of Cisneros I believe is its not a story line so hard to follow or see where she is going with this. Their is no a key point in it or where the story is going. The strength in A Long Way Gone is the story its self, you get pulled in and filled with such emotion cause  you cant imagine what these young kids are going threw so you never know what is going to happen. The weakness of the book is when it hits a couple chapters its like he is dragging on and hard to follow exactly what he is saying.

      

      The survival skill tht Beah and his friends show is just incredible the point of adapt and over come has to be taught to people but being put in the situations that they find them self in they show how much of human nature it is to survive. The book describes how they learned how to use a bayonet to stab a tree, they never had to learn this skill but once the corporal told them " Is that how you stab someone who killed your family?" (Beah 112). They ways he describes this and you can feel the anger come out of them and the hate.

Journal 4 by Matt

Matt Hall

Professor Mike Lohre

English 1109.01

30 January 2017

            Throughout these two books this semester I have tried to read activity, and understand the book at the same time. I find myself having trouble trying to comprehend the book while reading actively. I often have to go back and reread passages, because I will get more focused on what I am writing down, then what is actually going on in the book. In both books there are strengths and weaknesses. In Cisneros, I think the book is too jumbled up and random to get a true feel to what the book as a whole is about. I also feel that the chapters can be too short. As soon as you start to get a feel about what the chapters about, it ends. I don’t know if this is a weakness, but I consider it to be for me. In Beah I feel that the book jumps around in time too much. I often get confused when they go back in time and show flashbacks. Both these books have a lot of strengths. In Cisneros, the chapters are short, and simple. This really allows the reading to pick up more and understand the language more. In Beah, there is always something going on. This book is action packed and really makes the reader feel the need to read more. Out of these two books, I prefer A Long Way Gone over The House On Mango Street. I am a person who loves a book with a lot of action.  A Long Way gone is easily my favorite.

            Some of the survival skills these kids have to pick up is amazing. In this last chapter You really see the emotional, and physical toll these kids are put under. One of the survival skills the boys had to learn was to be mentally strong. Seeing all this death in the war really hardened these kids minds up. It’s almost as if they don’t want to get too attached to anyone, so if anything happens to that person, they wouldn’t get hurt as bad. Beah shoes this when he says “Everyone else was crying, but I couldn’t cry. I felt dizzy and my eyes watered (beah 85). This just shows how much the war changes these kids. Not allowing death to bother you is a survival skill to these boys and helps to allow them to stay safe in the war.

Journal 4 Jeremy Johnson

     In this point of our reading, I am having a wonderful time reading the books for this class.  More than I had imagined I would, being that I don't read too often.  The way that the active reading is set up makes it a lot easier to get into the reading and not just read words on pages to get an assignment done.  Paying close attention to key points of the chapters and main characters being highlighted over and over anytime their names pop up in the reading really helps remember what the reading is about and who we have in our plots.  I love reading Beah, A Long Way Gone, more than that of Cisneros, A House on Mango Street.  I just relate more to Beah and his struggles with the war and how close to the struggles of my own war of fighting Anxiety everyday, unsure when my next attack will come, much like Beah, running from the rebels everyday.

     Much like the survival skills in Beah, A Long Way Gone, I too face my own adaptations of everyday life.  Dealing with my anxiety relates to this book on so many levels and this is a reason I find it hard to put the book down this far in the active reading.  Being plagued with fear is hard to manage, yet in life all we can do is push on and look for a brighter day. I worked at Honda for many years with no issues of anxiety, and when it hit me, it never let go to this day.  As Beah mentions in his reading " Apart from their fatigue and malnourishment, it was evident they had seen something that plagued their minds, something that we would refuse to accept if they told us all of it" (Beah 5.)

Just like my anxiety, I know I have had it for over two years now;  I just find it hard to believe it has happened to me.

Works Cited

Beah, Ismael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs Of A Boy Soldier. New York: Sarah Critchon, 

               2007. Print.

Journal four By. Brandi

Part One: So far active reading is going pretty good! I feel like its helpful if you are reading a lot in your other classes and it helps you to remember what you have already read. If I wasn't recording what I have already read I think I wouldn't remember as much or pay attention or appreciate to the writing style of the author. I feel like I record more of the plot, writing at its best, and nutshell of the paragraphs. I also keep an eye out for metaphors, alliteration, and dialog.

The House On Mango Street, strengths in my opinion is how Cisneros describes things in the book with her creative metaphors. I also can appreciate how she uses good dialog. Also her strength is indirect dialog but at the same time its a weakness because it gets kind of confusing at times when you are reading some of the chapters.

I feel like A Long Way Gone has a lot of strengths when it comes to describing location, characters, and events.  Beah really takes you back to where he was when he was a young teen and it causes your heart rate to go up with each intense event that he faces. So far the only weakness that I see is that Beah leaves you hanging sometimes and forces you to assume what happens instead of just telling you. For instance How did Saidu die?

I honestly can't pick which book is my favorite. I like reading the House On Mango Street because its a shorter chapter book for someone who has A.D.D and I also like learning Cisneros writing style. I like reading A Long Way Gone because I feel like its very descriptive and I like learning about different cultures and the history.


Part Two: One of the most important survival skill I have noticed while reading A Long Way Gone is Beah and his group do not spend a long period of time for grieving and being depressed about their situation. Despite their disadvantage and life circumstances they don't give up and they keep moving and looking for a safe place. In chapter eleven Beah writes "we all knew we could grieve only for a short while in order to continue staying alive" ( Beah 89).

Works Cited

Beah, Ismael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs Of A Boy Soldier. New York: Sarah Critchon, 

               2007. Print.