Sunday, December 8, 2013

The Final Fishbowl: A Long Way Gone, Chapters 20 and 21

A few reminders if you're looking for an A for the day:

(A) Bring at least one quotation and/or page reference into at least one of your responses.

(B) Explain your thinking thoughtfully and thoroughly (try to avoid the one-sentence response).

(C) Keep it professional, including the usage of proper grammar and spelling.

(D) Comment frequently from the beginning of the conversation to the end.


Remember also that you're welcome to get into a hotseat in the inner circle for a little while and earn some of your daily participation points there.


Enjoy!

82 comments:

  1. Do you see Ishmael as a hero toward the end of the book?

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    1. Yes because I think he realized his mistakes and what he had done wrong. He overcame it by speaking out about it to other countries and trying to help save the people in Sierra Leone.

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    2. I don't see him as a hero. I believe Ishmael is a good person, but he is yet to do anything much heroic at this point in the book. The only thing I could see as heroic are some of his military actions but those were for evil not for good so he still isn't heroic.

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    3. Ishmael isn't a hero because he doesn't do anything to save anything else. All he does is save his own skin, such as the time when the helicopter came down and he jumped in the gutter. He never even tried to tell anybody else that they were about to get gunned down he just jumped out of the way.

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    4. No, not really because he did some pretty horrible stuff. On drugs and off Drugs he still did some pretty bad things. I think that the rebels think that he is a hero because he kill a bunch of innocent people. However; outside the rebels people think that he is a monster. I have to believe them at least in his past he was a monster, but when he got older he is trying to become a better person. But I still don't see him as a hero.

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    5. I believe that Beah is a hero. He did whatever he could to survive even if it was not particularly morally right. He learned from his decisions and mistakes and gained something good from this. He took his bad experiences and tried to help other people that experienced similar circumstances.
      Beah quoted in an interview, “Humans are capable of regaining humanity. You can transform a bad experience to something positive.”

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    6. I think it's Ishmael's choice to decide because if he sees himself as a hero or not really depends on him. But killing someone in the war doesn't take away what a true hero really is because sometimes there always has to be a sacrificed into something that you don't know what to become.

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  2. How is Ishmael a hero to everybody else in the book?

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    1. I think he is a hero in this book to everyone else because he is still surviving and not giving up hope and fighting against the past.

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  3. Why did Ishmael decide to end the book with that story? What did it reveal about his character?

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    1. The story about the monkey shows the impossible choices that people must take in times of war. There seems to be no "right way" out of anything.

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  4. After Ishmael had met his uncle and his family does Ishmael still wonder if they are his family?

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    1. I think that he might be skeptical but he just wants some sort of family that he can be close with so I don't think that he will really care that much is they aren't

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    2. I feel like he definitely has some doubts to whether or not they are his family but he doesnt really act on that.

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    3. I think that he has doubts about them because he hasn't been able to trust people in so long but I think that he knows that he needs them in his life and that they aren't going to hurt him.

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    4. Yes, because he just wants to be with his mom and dad and family because they got killed and he still wonders everyday why he wasn't there and why he cant be with his family that he loves.

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    5. He will have trouble accepting this, because he never lived with them before, but he will eventually feel safe, and be able to relax with them.

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  5. Do you think Muhammad was uncomfortable with Ishmael calling him his brother? Why or why not?

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    1. I don't think Mohamed minded when Ishmael called him his brother. They had both lost their families and Mohamed was the only piece of Ishmael's childhood that still remained and he was the closest thing Ishmael had to a brother.

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    2. I'm thinking that after Ishamel's family died he needed someone to resemble one of his family members, so Muhammad understood that.

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  6. Was Ishmael scared when he went to the new school after he moved in with his Uncle?

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    1. I think so because it was such a big change and he didn't really know what to expect.

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    2. I don't think so because he had his friend, Mohamed, with him and he has been to school before. I think it was him getting back to normal by going to school and what it was like there. How much better it was then being a boy soldier.

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  7. At the end of the book Ishmael returns from New York and everything is perfect and then all of the sudden the rebels attack Freetown and the happy moment is over. Why is life just that way? Everything is going good and then we come back to reality.

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    1. That's just the reality of life, it's an up and down roller coaster. There's going to be a lot of highs and there's going to be a lot of lows, it's never going to be consistant for a long period of time. That's just how life is.

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    2. I agree with Joey. Life is never going to be perfect. You are going to experience good and bad things. Thats just the way life is. Nothings ever going to be perfect.

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  8. Did Ishmael like his new life in N.Y. with the cold weather and the really fast paced life, or was it too much for him?

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    1. I'm sure he prefered to the civil war happening is Sierra Leone and he moved back there when he was older, so he must have liked New York City quite a bit.

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    2. At first I think it was really hard to be in, but after a while he got used to it. It's like living in Colorado then suddenly moving to Africa. Huge change.

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  9. If you were Ishmael and you watched people get raped, killed, beaten up, hurt, etc, what would you do? Would you run along with everyone else or stand up? Why?

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    1. As awful as it is I would probably run. To experience something as awful as Ishmael did at his age is truly awful. I couldn't handle it. Thats too much for a child. It is for even an adult.

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    2. I want to say that I would stand up for those people but when I have to make the decision between life and death I start to get indecisive. That is why war is such a complex, hard experience. You never know what the right decision is to make.

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  10. What did Ishmael's Uncle mean to him? Was he really sad after he died or was he used to death from the war?

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    1. I believe that he truly feels pain from his uncle dieing, because he started to consider him family.

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  11. Do you think Ismael will ever really tell his friends what about truly happened? Or will he just trying to keep his worlds apart.

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    1. Well he technically told his friends and everyone else in the world by writing A Long Way Gone. We'd have to ask Ishmael if he ever told his friends personally before he wrote the book, but we do know that they know his story from reading A Long Way Gone.

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    2. Yes, I think that Ishmael will be able to tell his friends. I think that it helps Beah cope better when he tells people his experiences. When he is interviewed and asked about being a child soldier he is willing to tell his story. There is also a quote on page 3 before the book begins.

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    3. He said in his interview that he was given a second life. So I think that he will try to avoid the subject as much as possible but he won't like to his friends about what had happened to him. I think what happened to him will always be apart of him but he has grown from it and become a completely happier person.

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  12. On page 217, there is a story about a hunter who went into a bush to kill a monkey and the monkey said, "If you shoot me, your mother will die, and if you don't, your father will die." What would you do if you were the hunter? Do you think that this reflects the choices faced by people in times of war?

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    1. I think it symbolizes Ishmael's journey because he could either join the army or run away and both would cause suffering and death to him and others.

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    2. Well, I think that Ishmael's reply was the best. "I would shoot the monkey so that it would no longer have the chance to put other hunters in the same predicament" page 218. Shooting the monkey would have the best affect on the world because he takes the burden of having a dead mother so that somebody else wont have to go through the same pain of having a dead parent. Which would be the attitude of a hero.

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    3. I would not kill the monkey but warn my mother and father in advance so that they are ready (seeing as I was the hunter, not personally). I think it reflects on standing up to soldiers when you're in a war. Either way, (whether you stand up or not) you gain something but you lose something. If you stand up, you gain courage and respect from others and lose your life. If you don't, you get your life but you'll feel horrible for the rest of the life that you saved.

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  13. How was it the woman who bought him a winter coat when he got to N.Y. would turn out being his mother in the future?

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    1. I think he finally saw kindness in someone and felt emotionally attached to her as a result of that

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  14. Do you think that his being able to be with his uncle at his death, relieved some of the pain of not seeing his family again before they die.

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    1. I think it definitely made it easier to let him go and move on from his death

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    2. Yes, most definitely. He got the satisfaction of being there for his uncle and knowing how he died, not always assuming the worse.

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  15. On page 195 Ishmael explains how shocked he is by by how different New York City is than what he thought it was from rap music. How has rap music affected the way people look at the USA and how they look at the citizens?

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    1. I think because of some rappers people would look down on us because of how stupid they are.

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  16. I heard a quote once that said "The only thing constant in life is change." How come life is full of change? Such as when Ishmael comes back from New York everything in life is good but then Freetown is attacked by rebels.

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    1. Life is constantly changing, because if there was no change, there would be no point of living and we might as well call ourselves dead.

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    2. Life is all about changing and it can be up and down all the time. You never know what could happen next.

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  17. “It was not easy being a soldier, but we just had to do it. I have been rehabilitated now, so don’t be afraid of me. I am not a soldier anymore; I am a child. We are all brothers and sisters. What I have learned from my experiences is that revenge is not good. I joined the army to avenge the deaths of my family and to survive, but I’ve come to learn that if I am going to take revenge, in that process I will kill another person whose family will want revenge; then revenge and revenge and revenge will never come to an end . . .”

    Is revenge or violence ever the answer?

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    1. Revenge and violence is not the answer. If anything entails hurting others for the sake of your happiness or pleasure that is not the right thing to do.

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  18. How has revenge taken a toll on Ishmael in chapter 20?

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  19. In the end Ishmael on the last lines says he would kill the monkey so no other hunter was put in the same predicament but i took it has Ishmael will do anything so that children will never again be in the predicament of becoming a child soldier.

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  20. In the last chapter it says the prison doors were opened why were the doors of the prison opened?

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  21. On page 211 Ishmael says "When will I stop running from this war? What if the bus doesn't show up? Ishmael even said that he was worried. Did he think he would be any safer in Sierra Leone?

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    1. I think when Ishmael says that, he is asking if the war will ever leave his mind and will he be able to leave it in his past. I don't believe Ishmael is safe in Sierra Leone, in America he will always be safe.

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  22. Why are people scared of Ishmael and Mohammed just because of their past as child soldiers even though people aren't scared of adult soldiers?

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    1. Child soldiers were put in a very bad light, displayed more as ruthless killers without morals, while adult soldiers were fighting for freedom and were against evil. People only saw what was shown to them by the government and never looked further.

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  23. On page 194 Ishmael experiences snow for the first time, how does he feel about the snow? How would you feel seeing snow for the first time?

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    1. It seems like he is confused about it and didn't realize it would be that cold. If I saw snow for the first time I would probably be confused as well. I would want warm weather and try to escape from it like Ishmael tried to do.

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    2. I'm sure he was amazed by the sight, but was really cold. It is such a beautiful thing, but I hate it because It has to be cold.

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  24. Why were the student protesters shot down the military/police just for protesting they were all slaughtered.

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  25. Could Ishmael have the attitude of a hero, but never have the courage to show it? At the end of the book he says "I would shoot the monkey so that it would no longer have the chance to put other hunters in the same predicament" To me that is the very attitude of a hero, taking a burden so that others wont have to. So could Ishmael have the attitude but not the courage?

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    1. If the situation was in front of him, he would probably act on his attitude, because it is an emergency of sorts. He isn't a hero everyday, but he will show it when it is needed.

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    2. I think he has the confidence just the wrong circumstances. In the army he didn't have a choice, he was completely unable to leave because he would be killed by the Sierra Leone Army or the rebels. The only possible way he was able to become a hero was to get out of the war safely and have the right resources to share his story.

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  26. How did Ishmael feel about his past when leaving for Sierra Leone? Did it strengthen him and give him confidence?

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  27. Upon leaving Sierra Leone, is Ishmael running away from danger or running to a new start?

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    1. Both because he saw what a great life he could have if he were to get out of Sierra Leone and not get killed by the rebels and soldiers there. He wanted to escape the danger in Sierra Leone and become happy with his new life in New York.

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  28. Was there a lesson that Ishmael learned from the story that Sesay told him? Do you think the story ends the book on a strong note?

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  29. Do you think that Ishmael's need for revenge is what got him into this entire situation as a child soldier?

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  30. Do you think Ishmael could be independent on his own? Make a life for himself and not have to ask others for help?

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    1. I think he can eventually, but needs to adjust to normal life.

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  31. On chapter 21, page 218 "When I was seven I had an answer to this question that made sense to me. I never discussed it with anyone, though, for fear of how my mother would feel. I concluded to myself that if I were the hunter, I would shoot the monkey so that it would no longer have the chance to put other hunters in the same predicament." Near the end the book did you think that Ishmael overcome the national problems for other countries that need to be realized?

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  32. Would still love three more people in the hotseats...get ready!

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  33. Was Ishmael afraid to go to N.Y. because in his music it portrayed as shootings and death everywhere with bad people but when he got there was he relieved?

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  34. How could Ishmael overcome all the chaotic complications in the war?

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    1. He has to see that others went through the same thing and he wasn't alone. There is lots of other things that he could do not to be upset because he did what he had to do.

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  35. What was the main lesson of this book that we should take away?

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  36. Romain Rolland says "A hero is a man who does what he can." Rolland makes it seem like anyone can be a hero by just doing a simple thing but in the books we read the hero has done something extremely dangerous and executed the task selflessly. What exactly is the deed one must do in order to become a hero?

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