Double Conciousness

Ishmael is a young boy trying to find his way out of a full grown fighting soldier. This "soldier" was a kid not to long ago. He was forced to become this soldier boy. No body cared how old he was. After the war between the Army and the Rebels had began Ishmael and his friend left, they got sent to this reform housing. Where you get taught how to become a kid again. He was not ready to make this change he was still a soldier at heart that is what he was trained to to kill and serve.

A song For Boy Soldiers

War "Bob Marley"

War in the east,
War in the west,
War up north,
War down south -
War - war -


This song really relates to the book A Long Way Gone. This makes song reminds me of when Ishmael is at war with the rebels and all he sees or here's is about war. No matter were he goes or looks that's all he knows.

Civil Rights

Martin Luther King Jr.

"If man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live." Speech in Detroit 23rd June 1963.

I think that what Martin Luther King Jr. is trying to say is that he feels strongly about getting African Americans equal rights. While he was fighting for the rights of African Americans he was shot in 1968.

I think that I feel very strongly about child abuse. I think that the people that hurt the children of today should be killed or put away kill death. If I saw that a baby was getting hurt physically or emotionally I would step in and say "STOP!" I would not care if people came after me or stepped to me with a gun. Because you know when taking a risk like that there are consequences. Just to stand for what you believe in is very hard. No matter what you do there is always a risk of something. I think that we should always should have had the free dome of speech, or when we do have the free dome of speech we should not be punished for what we say.

Poem(Apple)

A Single Slice Reveals Them
By:Naomi Shihab-Nye

An Apple on the table
hides its seeds
so neatly under seamless skin.

But we talk and talk and talk
to let somebody
in.

This poem really relates to the book A Long Way Gone because Ishmael doesn't like to show his real feelings, no matter what they are. He is very good at not telling anyone how he is feeling. When you talk to him you have to sit down and get to know him. As soon as you do then you will now him. And then you will see under the seamed skin. Inside he feels like he has hate, anger and aggression. He wants and needs to have someone to sit down and talk to. He doesn't act like he wants someone to talk to because he doesn't like to show his true emotions. This is going to take quite along time for Ishmael because, he does not like to talk. So doing this for him will be quite harder than usual. Ismael is living know at this shelter. The consulers there are trying to bring the "Boy" back out from in him. Every time something goes wrong Ishmael would go up and punch someone in the face, put people in the hospital. But when they would come back, they looked at Ishmael and say, "This is not your fault".

Little Rambo

L acking fear.

I ntense feeling.

T o the end we will be friends.

T ogether we will make it happen.

L ust is here.

E veryone killing their neighbors, friends and family.

R evenge is in the air.

A ttempts to kill.

M achete killing left and right.

B ullets are flying everywhere.

O pportunities for revenge are everywhere.

The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie

This book is about a indian boy named Arnold who is living on a reservation and he is in a struggle every day. He fights just to go to school that was not on the reservation. This book relates to real life, I felt very strongly about this book. He went off to real school so that he could have a real life and not be a drunk his whole life like the rest of the people on the reservation. He wants to become a basketball player but he thinks that he will never make it. Arnold had two different personalities he had one for white and one for indian. He was kinda like two different people everyday.

Keeping Things Wholes, "Mark Strand"

In a field

I am the absence

of field.

This is

always the case.

wherever I am

I am what is missing.

When I walk

I part the air

and always

the air moves in

too fill the spaces

were my body's been.

We all have reasons

for moving.

I move

to keep things whole.

Explanation:

This poem relates the book A Long Way Gone because Ishmael is missing his family and he is what is missing from his family. Ishmael and his friends are walking around trying to find his family. When the poem talks about when the air is being parted, that makes me think about when he is somewhere no one knows because when he steps forward the air fills back in like he was never there. When the poem also says, "We all have reasons/ for moving" that makes me think that there is always a reason for moving on, trying to win!