Hunger -- by Meg Reilly

Hello Class,

It's Meg. I have decided to take this opportunity to set an example of what your post should look like.
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"On our way through the quiet and almost barren town, which now seemed unfamiliar, we saw rotten pots of food that had been left behind" (27). Here, in Chapter 4, Beah is describing his experience returning to Mattru Jong, his hometown, after the rebels have attacked, killing its citizens, disseminating its buildings, and setting fires. At this point, Ishmael is unclear if his family is alive or travels in hiding through the jungle. Ishmael and his friends return to Mattru Jong to find the money they had left behind to buy food. At this point they are starving.

This line describes the boys' hometown of Mattru Jong, which "now seemed unfamiliar" to them. The wording of this strikes me as unnerving, scary, and ironic for many reasons. The boys are returning to a home which, for them, should mean safety and security, but at this moment represents death and danger. The wording of the "quiet and almost barren town" and the "rotten pots of food" show the effect that the rebels have had on the town. The image of rotting food is also ironic, because this is the item that the boys are searching for. The citizens of the town had to run from their homes, leaving their food on the table. They were provoked to flee, and now these boys see the aftermath. There is a great deal of unfamiliarity with this place which they had known so well. The boys are fearful, confused and hungry.

It must be hard for someone who is starving to see abandoned and spoiled food, and even harder to know the reason why the food was abandoned. I wonder, did Ismael walk around pondering the fate of everyone in the town at this moment? Was he still hopeful that his family was alive?

Also, I can't help but think back to my original idea about home symbolizing safety and security, when in reality there are many people in the world, and in our own country, who live in an unsafe home. Before the rebels came to Ishmael's town, his description of his everyday life was positive, supportive and happy.

*******************First Textual Analysis Post

Hello Class,

 

Below you will again find your prompt, on which you should comment. I cannot wait to hear your opinions on the first five chapters.

It is okay to type your "quoted" sentence at the beginning of your post. I want also see what page your quote is from. You can format it by putting the page number in the parenthesis after the quote like this (40).

 Once you post, we will gather in the classroom and present them to one another. 

 Meg

FIRST RESPONSE to A Long Way Gone:

Pick one line (sentence) from Chapters 3 or 4 of A Long Way Gone that really stands out to you and makes you think about ONE of the following topics: hunger, escape, or family.

In a blog response, do the following:

1) Enter in the title of the post, Hunger, Escape, or Family – depending on which topic you have chosen.

2) Within the actual post, respond to the topic by re-stating your quoted line, and giving a detailed explanation of how you understand this line represents the general topic.

In this response, you must also spend only one brief paragraph summarizing the story to provide context for the quoted line (4 sentences), and the interpret the line in terms of what it says about hunger (or escape, or family)? (This should be another couple of paragraphs, at least 7-10 sentences. This is the bulk of your blog post. Make connections to yourself, and share your opinions. Always ask why you feel the way you do about the lines.) What do you learn from and/or feel about the line in our book?  How does this connect to yourself, what we've seen in the gallery, or what you've talked about in your essays?

hip hop

hip hop is like when your are tell a story about where you come from or you just talk about your friends or family or just saying have much fun you have in the world hip hop music just talk about people dance or just talk about fun in the world that is what hip hop is ti me

Welcome to ICW and to Your Class Blog!

Hello Class,

Welcome to our class blog.  We are going to spend time discussing the book, talking about our lives, and voicing our ideas here in written form.

For your first blog post, I want you to think about what culture you belong to, and describe your connection to it, focusing on how you participate in this culture.  In A Long Way Gone Ismael Beah talks about his experience in Sierra Leone growing up there, and then later in the book, he details his experience within its military culture.  Is culture something that you are born into, choose, or in some cases forced into?  We may be part of many different cultures.  Do you feel connected with the student culture here at Columbia? A certain art culture? Hip-hop culture? Skateboarding culture?  Yoga culture?  How do you know you are part of this culture?  How ingrained, important, or influential is this one culture to you?

Take some time to share what one culture you find yourself playing a role in most.  Describe it fully, with as many details as possible.  Remember that many of your classmates may not know what this culture is like. Show them. Explain about it from your own prospective.

Your entry should be three or more paragraphs.