Ishmael also experienced guilt during his time as a child soldier. When he was in the war he was otherwise known as a "killing machine". He couldn't see past his acts he couldn't understand how he could have done that. But it was all for survival. If he tried to fight against the rebels he would have been killed. He would have never see his family again and he wouldn't have been able to tell his story. So is killing people bad, yes, but when that is the only thing you can do to survive and to see your family again I think it would be necessary. Even though the rebels did end up killing his family he was reunited with his friends, and the family that he made on the battle field with the other boy soldiers. 

Ishmael overcame his guilt when he was rescued by the UNICEF. Him and many of the other boy soldiers were rescued and brought over to America. For him it was hard at first but he found ways to take out his anger and eventually forgave himself for what he had done. Coming to America I think was very hard for him and all the boys. No one really knew what to say to them and they didn't really know how much to say to other people, what stories would they tell? 

"Why did you leave Sierra leon?" 

"Because there is a war"

"Did you witness some of the fighting?"

"Everyone in the country did"

"You mean you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?"

"Yes all the time"

"Cool."

I smile a little.

"You should tell us about it sometime" 

"Yes, sometime." 

 a long way gone

By: Ishmael Beah

   Ishmael and his friends are getting very scared. I can see they don't like what they are doing, stealing food and water from people. But how else are they supposed to survive? If you were in this situation what would you do...

Personally I think I would do the same thing. If taking food from someone was the only way for me to survive I think I would have to. I would not give up till I find the rest of my family. And that is exactly what they are trying to do. Just find their way back home and find their families. I think that maybe if I knew my family was gone I wouldn't be performing these acts but if I knew there was a chance of seeing them again I would do it no doubt. 

I don't think they should feel ashed for what they are doing. Everyone needs to survive and everyone has their own way of surviving. They keep having to run from village to village to keep away and stay hidden from the rebels so they have no where to settle down. No where to find their own food and shelter so they must take others. I think the boys will find their family soon but I don't think what awaits for them in the future after that is any good.. 



a long way gone

By: Ishmael Beah

    A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. This book I think would be considered a personal narrative. It is so far a story about his life as a boy soldier. So far he has talked about when the war first started. Him and his brothers, Junior and Talloi. They were traveling to a different town to perform in a talent show. And on their journey is when everything started. They were approached by a friend who said the radicals have reached their home town, everyone was lost and everything was destroyed.    




   I think this could be a scary time for everyone at this age. No one really knows what is going to happen or if anything is going to happen. I think also being at the age these boys are at it could be a scary time for them. I think this defiantly shows the characters developing. Or we will see more in the future of how they develop. We will see how they go from just three boys who wanted to show people their music in a talent show too three boys who are becoming soldiers for the radicals.                  




   I know that once I start getting more into the book we can see this development for the characters and we can find out what happens to them once the radicals reach them..                

Looking For Alaska

By: John Green

      

Spoiler Alert!!! Death is tragic. That is all I can say about the ending of this book. John Green never fails to make his readers sob at the ending of all his books. For some reason he just has this thing about wanting to make people cry when they read his books. 

Alaska Young. The most beautiful girl at Culver Creek anyone has laid eyes on. Or at least that Miles has laid eyes on. Alaska was always a mystery to everyone. She had her group of friends but at the same time she did her own thing. She never really talked that much, or at all, about her home life and her family. She was really just a big mystery. 

       "How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!"(128 before.120) These where Alaska Young's last words to Miles. Alaska died one night in a car crash. Some people think it was intentional. Many people had a hard time excepting that Alaska would actually kill her selves. And many other people think it was all just an accident. The question that bothered Miles the most, where was she going so late at night? Why did she have to be driving? Was she drinking? These questions lingered on for a while but I feel like it was all part of Alaska's image. She always came off as a mystery so why not stay a mystery even in death.
       One of the biggest themes in this book was the theme of this labyrinth that we all live in. Chip and Miles were very open about their view on it but Alaska not so much. And I found it kind of funny that her last words to Miles was her wondering if she will ever get out of the labyrinth. That is why I think her death was a suicide. I think she was just very lost in the world. She didn't have much family and she drank a lot. She was sad. So maybe her way out of the "labyrinth of suffering" was to no longer suffer anymore. Maybe she thought the only way out was death. Miles claims that she "self-destructed." "Forgetting her mother, failing her mother and her friends and herself-those are awful things, but she did not need to fold into herself and self-destruct. Those awful things are survivable, because we are as indestructible as we believe ourselves to be." (136 after.17) Maybe she could have lived and fought through the pain, maybe she could have found another way out of the labyrinth. If she was as strong as Miles claims us humans are then maybe she could have stayed with us. Or maybe that really was her only way out of this labyrinth of life. But it is really just all a bunch of 'maybes'. No one will ever know her real reasoning and we may never find a way out of the labyrinth. There may be no way out at all.

    I hope everyone who read my blog took a liking to the book and I hope everyone gets a chance to read this amazing book! 

Looking For Alaska

By: John  Green

          So far the book is getting pretty interesting. On this post I really want to focus on the character Chip Martin, or The Colonel. His character is very complex and at times very confusing. 

            Chip doesn't have the best past, you soon find out that his dad left him and his mother alone. Now they struggle for money. They have trouble buying food and other necessitates but mostly for the school Chip goes too. But his mother knows and he knows that he needs to get his education to get some where in the world. Because of this he has always seen people with money in a bad way. Like the kids at school who have money, they are not the best of friends. Despite the hardships of his life he is very confident. He doesn't let anyone talk down to him and people just know not to mess with him. He tends to deal with things like everything is a joke. In the beginning of the book he actually tells a joke about his dad leaving but you can tell he was really hurt by it. He is not the most popular kid in school but he is defiantly well known in Culver Creek. 

           Chip Martin, the prank master. Chip is well known for his wittiness and clever pranks. Right now they are the "Pre-Prank" for the rich kids in the school. They call them the "Weekend Warriors". So far all we know is that the pre-prank is supposed to distract the teachers and principals so they will get away from what the real prank is... 

         

           Another big theme in the story is The Labyrinth. A labyrinth is 

is not a maze or a puzzle to be solved but a path of meaning to be experienced. Its path is circular and convoluted, but it has no dead ends. A labyrinth has one entrance -- one way in and one way out. Each character has a different view on this and I think the Colonel's has a good view on it. "After all this time, it still seems to me like straight and fast is the only way out--but I choose the labyrinth. The labyrinth blows, but I choose it."(122 after 12) He see's somewhat of suffering in the labyrinth and he thinks the only was out of it is to suffer.  He chooses not to find a way out but to suffer more because he believes suffering is the way out of the labyrinth. His view is very different from the other characters view on the labyrinth. 

       

   

     Continue on reading my blog to see Miles and Alaska's point of views on the labyrinth and to find out what happens next with the big prank...

           

Looking For Alaska 

By: John Green

John Green

           John Green is an  outstanding author, creative blogger, and hilarious You-tuber. He wrote Looking For Alaska in March 2005 and in 2006 won the Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association. 

          Looking For Alaska is about a boy, Miles Halter. The book is split into two parts, Before and After and tells Miles story... He is moving to a new school, from Florida all the way to Alabama! It is very different from his school now because it is a boarding school. At his old school he didn't really have any friends and was pretty sad and did not care about anything, but all that changes when he starts attending Culver Creek Boarding School... 

         "I am going to seek a great perhaps" (pg. 136 Before 18). Miles Halter starts off his story by moving to Alabama. He wants this year to be different, exciting. When he's moving in he meets his roommate, Chip Martin, or as many people call him The Colonel.  He then meets Takumi, the Colonels friend. And then he meets her, the most gorgeous girl hes ever laid eyes on, Alaska Young. The four of them all become very close. But particularly the Colonel and Miles become close. They are both similar and differnt in so many ways. The obvious ways they are different is in their looks. Miles is tall and skinny, very lanky, and a little quiet. And the Colonel is short and chubby, and has a big attitude. The Colonel gave Miles the nickname Pudge. "Its irony" he said because he is so skinny. The Colonel is also somewhat of a rebel. He is well known around his school for being the "prank master". Miles is defiantly the complete opposite of that, or at least he was. Miles was always quiet and didnt really do much in his home town but since he has moved here he has defiantly broken out of his shell. 

         Despite their differences they had one big thing in common. They both have similar views on things. Even though they are room mates and they fight a lot over dumb stuff, I have realized that so far they have similar views on things. They always end up agreeing in the end. I think as the book goes on we will be able to see more similarities in the two and they will become closer than they are now. I think the book is about to make a big change in the plot and I am excited on reading it. Keep checking up on my blog to find out what happens next...