Due:
post to your blog before class on Wednesday, October 9th
Prompt:
As we continue to discuss A Long Way Gone and the themes of
Hunger, Escape, or Family, it is important to write on each of the themes more
in-depth. In this response, you are
asked to go back within the first 10 chapters of the memoir and reflect upon
how Beah has transformed so far, and also discuss what factors play a role in
his transformation.
In the blog response, do the
following:
1.) Enter in the title of the
blog post: The Transformation of Beah’s _______ (of course, in this part enter
your theme: Hunger, Escape, or Family, or, do you have another theme you would
like to analyze?)
2.) Within the actual post,
respond to the topic by going back into the first ten chapters and picking out
AT LEAST THREE (3) PASSAGES that speak to your theme.
Compare and contrast Beah’s
transformation by discussing each passage focusing on:
a.)
What
is happening at the time/where is he in his journey, and
b.)
What
Beah’s mental state of mind is in each moment, and explain how he
changes—mentally and/or physically.
The Transformation of Beah’s Hunger
ReplyDelete“We were so hungry that it hurt to drink water and we felt cramps in our guts. It was as though something were eating the insides of our stomachs. Our lips became parched and our joints weakened and ached. I began to feel my ribs when I touched my sides. We didn’t know where else to get food.”(30) The day before this Beah and friends went through and enormous amount of time and travel to go back to their town to get money so that they would be able to buy food. Unfortunately when they reached a town nobody would sell them anything and ended up stealing food because that was their only way of surviving through the night. In the beginning of Beah’s journey in the war his body was not used to not eating everyday so it began to weaken. I could never imagine the pain and the scaring struggle he went through in the beginning of his journey.
“Along the spring there were several trees with a ripe fruit that I had never seen. Birds came to eat this strange fruit every morning. I decided to try some of it, since it was the only edible thing around. It was either take the chance and this fruit that might poison me or die of hunger.”(51) A couple weeks before this Beah had been separated from his brother and friends during an attack at a village they were at. He had been walking for days by himself and needed food or else he would die from starvation. Beah knew that the fruit could be poisonous and kill him but he saw the birds eating it so he took his chances. I feel like he didn’t really care if he lived or died at this point.
“I should have killed that dog,” Alhaji said slowly, as he rolled on his back. “Why?” I asked.
“Yes. Why? What good have it done?” Moriba sat up.
“I just wanted to kill it because it ate the only food we had,” Alhaji angrily replied.
“It would have made good meat,” Musa said.”(78) While they had been asleep a dog came and ate the only food Beah and his friends had. Alhaji was so angry and wished he killed the dog while Musa wished they killed it to eat it, he had heard from his father that people he had worked with have eaten dog. It was a source of food they could have killed and eaten to live.
The Transformation of Beah's family
ReplyDeleteWhile Father listed to the news, Junior taught as how to move our feet to the beat. We alternately moved our right and then our left feet to the front and back, and simultaneously did the same with our arms, shaking our our upper bodies and heads. “This move is called the running man,” Junior said.(7) Before the attack Beah's village. Junior teaching Beah and his friends how to dance. This quote shows a big brother role of being the leader to this young group of boys. I feel Beah love that role from his brother. Rap music plays a big role in his relationship with his brother. Its a escape for him and his brother and friends.
Junior was in front of me and his didn't swing as they used to strolled across the yard on his way back from school.(26) Several days after the attack on Beah's village. He notice thing is up with Junior. He don't what to said at all. It worries Beah's things are not the same as the used to. Their keeping feelings from one another.
His face showed no emotion and his spirit seemed to have wandered away from his body. I wanted to know how Junior was feeling, but I couldn't find the right moment to break into the silence of the evening. I wish I had.(40) Beah and Junior is walking with the group Talloi, Gibrilla, Kaloko, and Khalilou. Beah sees a difference in Junior. Feels something is eating him inside but he doesn't share his feelings with Junior. The end of the quote that he regrets it. After, the attack in the village of Kamator that was the last time he saw Junior. I feel like their relationship was fallen apart from the war.
The Transformation of Beah's HOPELESSNESS
ReplyDelete"We were so shocked by this sudden uproar that none of us was able to run. instead, we shouted, please we are harmless and just passing by". (PG 60)Beah has been separated from his friends that he was with when he started the journey. He is technically alone because he doesn't really know the six other boys he is with. at this moment the seven boys childhood are gone, and they are all about survival. His state of mind is defeat and he cant honestly trust people. Before this event Beah was in the forest dying from loneliness and running from wild animals and letting his thoughts defeat him. because of his romanticizing experience by himself he has lost his faith, and hope. I feel like this because Beah is a fast runner and would have been out that situation. He didn't give up necessary, but he did just stood there, which is not like him either.
The seven boys had escaped, but with a punishment of walking on hot sand, which is equivalent to walking on tar road on a sunny hot day. The villagers that capture them took there shoes. the boys walking miles and miles resulted in bloody and affected feet. I would think that they would try to avoid all cost of being captured again to be safe. "In truth, realizing that i would eventually be caught, i had stopped running and offered my hands to be tied" (PG 65). Beah was so defeated that he stop running. he is so tired at this point of hiding and running from people that is scared of him because they fear he is a rebel. This boy has been run out of his village because of rebels and also being harassed and bullied and tortured because they think he is a rebel. I cant imagine having my childhood, nor could i imagine being alive. Beah is tired and cant even find hope when nothing good has happened while trying to find safety. I cant really identify his state of mind maybe because Beah character right now is lost, and he is lost because his faith is gone right now he cant feel because his soul is dead.
"i knew that the changes of coming back were slim, as we had no control over our future. We knew only how to survive" (PG87). Beah has witness a death of one of the boys walking with them (Saidu). Beah is feeling remorse, and perhaps cold both on the outside and inside. Having events like this as achild takes away your childhood it kind of teach you about the hard life at a n early age. No child should live through that, but they did and no adult is there to help with that so all there is left is hopelessness and sorrow and pain.
The transformation of Beah’s sense of hope
ReplyDelete“We sat on our heels for a while, looking in different directions, trying to locate what was making the sound. Without saying anything to us, Kanei crawled out of the bushes and started walking on the sand, toward the water. It was the Atlantic Ocean.” (58) This section was a very important moment for all of the boys. By this time Beah has been through so much. He’s been kicked out of villages, and was on his own for awhile until he found these other boys. He has traveled so far and this moment was a brief, and very quick moment where Beah could rest his mind. shortly after he says “My eyes widened, a smile forming on my face. Even in the middle of the madness there remained that true and natural beauty, and it took my mind away from my current situation as I marveled at this sight” (59). He desperately needed a break, and throughout the story he hasn’t had much of a break at all. But this was a point where he forgets everything that has happened for a brief moment, and gains some desperately needed hope.
“We were not fast enough to escape the men who came for us. Twelve of them ran after the seven of us, wrestling us to the sand. They tied our hands. In truth, realizing that I would eventually be caught, I had stopped running and offered my hands to be tied.” (65) By this point Beah and his crew were doing really well being taken care of by this fisherman. He’s cured them of their scars and pain but even Beah knew that they couldn’t stay there forever and they were bound to be caught, and when that time came Beah was hopeless of his ability to escape. He gave himself up to be captured which is breath taking because after everything that’s happened to him so far you would think that he would put up a fight. You would think that he is so beyond tired of being captured and mistreated and misunderstood. But instead he holds his hands out making it easy for the man to capture him. In this moment he doesn’t care what’s going to happen to him. By now he’s just letting himself go.
“Every time people come at us with the intention of killing us, I close my eyes and wait for death. Even though I am still alive, I feel like each time i accept death, part of me dies. Very soon I will completely die and all that will be left is my empty body walking with you. It will be quieter than I am.” (70) Saidu said. “ I sat on a wooden bench against the wall and thought about Saidu’s words. Tears formed in my eyes and my forehead became warm, thinking about what Saidu had said” That was Beah’s response on page 70 as well. We can clearly see that He’s out of energy. These children have been through so much and Beah is having a moment where he wonders if he believes the same thing as Saidu does. Do they have hope? What is next in their life or is there a next... those are the same questions Beah is asking himself.
Overall his hope changes, and goes back and fourth throughout the book. There are points where he can let go of what is actually happening and believe he is in a save environment but then when he thinks that everything is ok it always goes away. He has hope but it’s slowly being diminished throughout the story.
Jamie Condon
The Transformation of Beah’s Hunger
ReplyDeleteIt was either take the chance and eat this fruit that might poison me or die of hunger.(Page56) This is something that show that he was found his hunger find another food to find. There was another one drinking water and it became motionless upon seeing me.(Page 56) Showing that he was able to drink some water. I WALKED for two days straight without sleeping. I stopped only at streams to drink water. Going back to Chapter 8 on page 55)
I knew I was hungry, but I didn’t have the appetite to eat or the strength to find food. That was truly bad struggle that he have to go through alot different of the feeling have was going on.
Sterling Gilmore
The transformation of Beah’s hunger
ReplyDeleteWhile running from the rebels through sierra leone, Beah’s hunger is not just limited to physical hunger, while we do see him talk about “on one evening we chased a little boy who was eating boiled ears of corn by himself. he was about five years old and was enjoying the corn that he held in both hands, taking turns biting down each ear”(30) he then goes on to talk about how he would never do this regularly, but he didn’t know what else to do in this situation. Beah also makes references to being able to feel his ribs and his eyesight going blurry in previous chapters. Keeping himself alive and on the run does show his hunger to live, talking about how he walked for two days and “often, my shadow would scare me and cause me to run for miles”(49). The hunger Beah shows is not to physical food but he hungers for survival and companionship, the idea of death still scares Beah and his hunger for life causes him to walk from his home to the coastline purely on a rumor that it was safe in Yele. Throughout the reading the only thing that Beah hungers for beyond survival is companionship which is emphasized in the section where he meets up with the second group of 6 boys, at this point he has spent a few days on his own in the forest eating a mystery fruit, sleeping in trees, and minding snakes in the area, Beah states “I was once again in a group of boys, this time there were seven of us. I knew this was going to be a problem, but I didn’t want to be by myself anymore”(55). Showing that even though his physical hunger and hunger to survive was strong, he craved companionship much more than anything else.