We had yet to learn these things and implement survival tactics, which was what it came down to.
This sentence from the book appears on the last page of chapter four. It comes after Ishmael his brother, and friends risk they're lives retruning to Mattru Jong. After walking miles, nearly getting killed by the rebels and almost losing his brother, the money they retrieved was useless.The uselessness was not limited to the money but the fact that the group was still living in the same place. That after seeing so much death and destruction being hungry and losing his family, they still believed it would all go away.
I have often wondered why we cann't let go. Why we cann't implement survival tactics. How we haven't learned that things are just things and life is what's important. There is an old saying "that as long as there is life, there is hope". Some people don't hope. We run around in circles not being able to save oursleves from what we own. Seeing danger and running back into a burning house to save pictures, or packing bags for a trip to the gas chamber. This situation is as old as time, just ask Lot's wife. No matter how little it is or how bad it was, it's still ours.
While reading A Long Way Gone I became frustrated with the people. Knowing what would happen and still not leaving or fighting. It's hard to understand especially for Americans, we have difficuity relating to war at home. None of us can remember being seperated from family. The closest we've come to homeland violence was 911 and hurricane Katrina. Many Americans wouldn't know how to escape or like Ishmael, where too.
Letting go moving into the unknown, is what this country is built on. We've forgotted how to move pass what we know, to make what may be better. We've forgotten that our antecessors did just that, escaped. some by choice, others like mine by force.
Sharon,
ReplyDeleteThis is a well-developed piece. You say so much about what is going on, and then doing a fine job of contrasting it with America.
The one thing I will suggest, but isn't too much of a big deal here, is to make sure to refer back to your main topic within each paragraph. The second and fourth paragraphs shift the viewpoint from the text to life. Instead of making those paragraphs so "reality-based," try to relate those views to the next within the same paragraphs.
One rhetorical strategy would be to connect Beah and company's behavior directly in the writing, and not use a "We" versus "them" type of contrast. Turn the first "we" into "humans."
For example: "I have often wondered why humans can't let go." Changing that pronoun to be inclusive of both Beah and the audience really connects us more - which is what you are after.
Then you'd be able to discuss both the general human behavior and how that is seen in Beah's memoir - all within that same paragraph.
Basically, my example above is another reason I suggest writers avoid (over)use of pronouns. A majority of the time, if not always, nouns help with clarity.
Grade: 10/10