02/14/2017
Journal Five
In the book A Long Way Gone in chapter 16 when the boys are in this camp and they are looking for violence every chance they can get they start fights and look for innocent people to hurt that are trying to help them. One big example of this is when Beah describes on page 140 how a civilian that talked to them in such a way and they unleashed blows on him, as he held his head and tried to cover his face the boys continued to kick him and one stabbed the mans foot. This shows that the boys are so angry that any type of violence they can have they will take. Beah even says " I missed my squad and needed more violence". The paragraph really shows how they were brainwashed and needed the high of killing and hurting others much like they have been hurt. This chapter you see the down spiral of Beah adapting to this way of life being safe for once and how he slowly accepts the help of the staff like on page 151 after his bad dream he describes to use how one of the staff members would wrap him in a blanket and and tell him " Its not your fault, you know. It really isn't. You will get through this." This paragraph shows how he is accepting the help and is changing able to sleep even though the nightmares still come but is trying to get better. This I feel is where Beah could get better with more help if he accepts it and change for the better and hopefully helps changes the boys around him since they all follow him.
When i was growing up I had my best friend since kindergarten her name was Sarah, we did everything together and even tho we were really different we got along so perfect. We never went more than a day with out hanging out with each other and seeing one another. One year when we were going into our Senior year of High school we had different plans on our life after school i wanted to go out and do things with the military see the world and have a purpose but Sarah didn't have any ambitions and wanted to smoke pot and stay with her looser boyfriend that never did anything with his life. As I was preparing to leave we seen one another less and less and she tried to talk me out of leaving but I didn't wanna just stay in the same town and get high every day. Once i left we haven't talked since and she never went on to college and lives with her same boyfriend at his parents house. We always talked about living together and having great jobs but i actually perused my life and have goals but Sarah still has noting and shes not doing anything with her life.
I had the same experience with my friend Brendan. We spent everyday together but we lost track of each other towards the end of high school. He felt that it was more important to look popular than to do good in school, and later got into drugs.
ReplyDeleteI feel like we've all had at least one friend who has gone through a similar situation. It's so unfortunate, but all we can do is try to help and respect their decisions. If that means losing a friend, so be it. It might end up being for the best.
ReplyDeleteI've had the same experiences going into the military myself, a couple of my friends have fallen by the wayside. Its weird, but sometimes a good reference, to see a friend do nothing with their life while you progress and work towards a good future.
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