Weblog #4

1. "I became fascinated with the different shapes that I saw inside the moon".

I really liked this excerpt from my book because I can actually relate to this. I've grown up everyday just looking at the sky, and the moon, but not really caring enough to really observe it. When I finally just laid and took a deep breath and looked at the moon, I noticed all the craters and holes, and different sizes of the craters, that were on the moon. While I was observing the moon, all my stress just seemed to disappear, and all I could think about was the moon and how beautiful it looked. Just thinking about this gives makes me feel calm, and collected.

2. "I thought about where my family was, whether I would be able to see them again, and wished that they were safe and not too heartbroken about Junior and me. Tears formed in my eyes, but I was too hungry to cry".

This passage, I guess it isn't necessarily my "favorite", but when I read this at the time, this really made me stop and think about how this poor boy would actually be feeling. He's so mature for his age, to worry about how his parents would feel, rather than about himself. Honestly if I was in this situation, the only thing on my mind was how I miss my family, and when my next meal would be. But Ishmael has the maturity and kindness to sincerely worry for his parents' well being, instead of his. This also made me realize how important it is to love your family, and the ones you love, because you really never know how many "tomorrow's" there'll be.

3. "When he pulled himself ashore, he could see people drowning in the water, screaming as they fought to stay afloat. The rebels laughed at the dying people. He had wept all night as he followed the survivors, who made their way to a village down the river".

This excerpt, is so full of description, I was able to perfectly picture this horrid image in my mind. I imagined innocent people getting into a boat to escape, but the rebels laughing and making jokes at all the people dying, who I'm sure also included young children, and women. This excerpt also made me just think, what has this little boy done to deserve, to have to see these things. Especially since this book is a true story, I don't even want to imagine what this boy went through, and how he must struggle to live, or struggle to love/trust anyone, anymore. Such harsh things happened to this boy, and this passage was another part that helped me realize how real the situation is.

In the memoir "A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah, Beah eventuall expresses to the readers how even though extreme things like these happen, there is always hope. Near the very end of the book, after Ishmael snuck his way into Conakry illegally, and finally settled down to think, he says "Nonetheless, I was happy to have made it out of Freetown, to have escaped the possibility of becoming a soldier again. This gave me comfort". This quote shows how Ishmael, after everything he'd been through, all the tragedies and death, he was able to make it to this point. This shows how there's always hope in the future no matter the situation, it's always there. He stresses in many different ways how he had almost lost all hope, and at point was about to give up, but he managed to pull through and finally make it here.