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"It was infuriating to be told what to do by civilians. Their voices, even when they called us for breakfast, enraged me so much that I would punch the wall, my locker, or anything I was standing next to... In the morning, we beat up people from the neighborhood who were on their way to fetch water at a nearby pump."

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"The idea of death didn't cross my mind at all and killing had become as easy as drinking water. My mind had not only snapped during the first killing, it had also stopped making remorseful records, or so it seemed."

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In order for Ismael to be able to keep surviving, he had to become emotionally detached as he took rebel lives. Ishmael's mind had "snapped" and stopped making records of all the people that he had killed, as a way to make sure he wouldn't feel too much grief at once. I think that this had happened because if he were to be able to remember all that had happened for him, his mind wouldn't be able to handle it and keep him from living in the future.

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"My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector, and my rule was to kill or be killed. The extent of my thoughts didn't go much beyond that."

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"I began to look forward to Esther's arrival in the afternoons. I sang for her the parts of songs I had memorized that day. Memorizing lyrics left me little time to think about what had happened in the war."

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When Ishmael was brought to the city, he was angry and harsh because of his lack of drugs, and because he was left alone with his thoughts. Becoming friends with Esther helped him heal, because he no longer had to think about the war all the time, and he could be happy again, even if it was for a little while. Social interaction is important because the right influences can make us feel good again.

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"'If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die.'"

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Beah's life had changed drastically, and so his ideas on what and who was important changed too. His family became the people who were experiencing what he was going through, and his gun became what he relied on instead of others.

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Ishmael's father had told him, in hopes that his son would never lose his purpose. The hope that believing something good was finally going to happen gave Ishmael the belief that he was going to be ok.

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The hardships that Ishmael was pushed into had a negative influence on his life and how he treated people. Before he became a child soldier, he treated others with respect (with the exception of a classmate), but his view changed, and he no longer treated people like his equals.