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I disagree with Sathvika, because although the likelihood of a child dying from the war is extremely high, not every child will then kill without mercy if still alive. To add on to what Arjun said, I agree with him when he says you must be mentally strong enough to handle the effects of the war. Ishmael, an innocent 12 year old boy, is nowhere near as mentally strong as an adult may be. Because of this, Ishmael is not able to balance the effects of the war and his health, and he, although forced to, becomes a child soldier and murders the Rebels. On page 121, Ishmael reveals to the readers, "I took turns at the guarding posts around the village, smoking marijuana and sniffing brown brown... as I had become addicted to them." This shows how much Ishmael needed an escape from reality, as he went to drugs. On page three, Ishmael, now a grown up, introduces the book by explaining his high school friend's reactions to his involvement in the war. Ishmael is extremely mature, and simply says "Yes, sometime," when told that he should elaborate on his experience in the war. This contrasts his maturity as a young 12 year old boy, to a high-schooler. Ishmael in high school would be able to handle the effects of the war, while the young 12 year old boy he once was would not be able too. This shows how you must be mentally strong enough, not just physically strong enough, to be able to handle war.

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Children are born innocent to the realities of the world. No child is born with the experience of the oldest person. They cannot use their experience to apply to situations, so children, with generally such little experience, are innocent. Ishmael is a dynamic character, as his innocence leaves him in within just a few days of him fleeing his home. When too many stressful things occur to a child at once, they are forced to face reality too soon. On page 13, Ishmael witnesses brutal injuries/bloody sights on his return to his hometown. He says, "I felt nauseated, and my head was spinning. I felt the ground moving, and people's voices seemed to be far removed from where I stood trembling." At this moment, Ishmael loses his innocence. After this, Ishmael will experience more negative things rather than positive things in his life. This causes him to not trust anyone, as we see through his rehabilitation. A child, who has grown up seeing nothing other than hurt, revenge, and fear for more than two years, will inevitably face trust issues. You learn to be solely independent in almost every situation, as you lack love. Every animal will do what they do simply because they want love. Ishmael experiences unconditional, unwavering love through strangers, such as Esther and his Uncle, through his rehabilitation, and this love is what gets him through the effects of the war. Children effected by war will have the mindset of an experienced adult, and will have a more realistic opinion on everything. Due to their lack of love, they will face trust issues, but wholehearted love will help regain it.

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Arjun is definitely correct about how Ishmael had a hard time with rehabilitation. Other kids like him (from both sides- Sierra Leone military and the rebels) have just as a hard time. What I find interesting is that both the Sierra Leone military soldiers and rebels find similar problems in rehabilitation and similar violent tendencies. Some do not find peace and join the military again. One quote is "Every time people come at us with the intention of killing us, I close my eyes and wait for death. Even though I am still alive, I feel like each time I accept death, part of me dies." (Page 70) This must be one fear that the soldiers have and killing other people give them a confidence that they need for survival. Fear is what also kept them alive because it keeps them awake for new terrors. As a soldier, you see violent images and there are many instances where Ishmael gets nightmares from this. As the child grows up and loses innocence, their fears are no longer gory images. Likewise to what Disha said, new fears of survival, fear of death, fear of losing friends, fear is what keeps them going. All of this also connects to what Disha says because revenge is still a driving factor for those who try to be rehabilitated, but end up joining the military. All they see is revenge.

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Every child is grown up in a different environment hence will react to things differently than others. Some will be more mature and accepting of the war. I believe the reason why Ismael reacted the way he did is because of his kind and gentle nature, I don’t think he was mature enough or very strong mentally to handle the war. Though it may be true the common feeling of war will have fear I think it is up to one’s maturity to stay strong mentally and not let it take over you. Everybody will be scared but among those will also be those who are strong and won’t let the war take over their minds.

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I agree with Sathvika and Disha about the effects on Ishmael from the war. I wanted to add on that even though he entered a rehabilitation center after the war it wasn’t an easy process. During this time Ishmael had sleeping and psychological problems as an after effect of the war as it says “I was afraid to fall asleep, but staying awake also brought back painful memories. Memories I sometimes wish I could wash away, even though I am aware that they are an important part of what my life is; who I am now. I stayed up all night, anxiously waiting for daylight, so that I could fully return to my new life, to rediscover happiness I had known as a child, the joy that had stayed alive inside me even through times when being alive itself became a burden. These days I live in three worlds: my dreams, and the experiences of my new life, which trigger memories from the past.”

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I disagree with Arjun on how a child is mature if he had already seen an insight into the reality of war. That is because of how Ishmael handled his soldier experience. War affects not only the soldiers, but the civilians as well. The fear that the rebels could attack any minute or experiencing visitors from people whose village was attacked allows the children to be scared. One quote from the book shows how a village reacted to Ishmael and his friends staying over. On page 57, "At crowded villages where we sometimes stopped to spend the night, the men stayed up to keep an eye on us. When we went to the river to wash our faces, mothers would grab their children and run home." This shows how the fear of everyone in the village. The children see what is happening and have an insight about the war. They know about boys with guns and fear like their parents. Ishmael was among the civilians when his village was attacked and he ended up joining the rebels and killing countless people. In conclusion, any kid affected by the war will either die, or kill without mercy. They will kill without mercy because of the revenge they have and the environment they are situated in.

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We chose this conversation out of all the flip grid dialogues because we feel that it shows how badly the children of Sierra Leone in this book are affected. It is a thoughtful question that could have many answers. Children are the main focus of this book and our main character is also a child. Our discussion is mostly a debate on whether war affects every child the same, if maturity has a role and our agreements/ disagreements. The reason we put "child" into our question and not "person" is because we are emphasizing how children lose their innocence from the war and have less experience with it to being with. One reason we liked this conversation is because of how our answers relate to Ishmael's experiences and journey as a soldier. We could connect all of our answers to say describe his life from an innocent child to a violent, teen soldier and eventually a peaceful adult.

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I agree with Sathvika on how killing the Rebels in war gave him a temporary satisfaction for avenging the deaths of his loved ones, because on page 199, Ishmael says "I joined the army really because of the loss of my family and starvation. I wanted to avenge the deaths of my family." Revenge was a driving factor for Ishmael's involvement as a child soldier in the war. I also believe that fear played a large factor. Through the many life-threatening events that occur in the novel, such as how often innocents must run from the Rebels (eg, page 205, as the innocents free from the Rebels that have taken over their city. Fear of death. and the fear of losing loved ones keeps them going as they run), fear motivates them to keep living. Fear for their death, the death of loved ones, and the fear of surviving.

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War affects everyone the old, the young, and the soldiers, it carries the fate of not just those who are living but also those who have already passed away. War brings violence, hatred, fear of loss, and insecurity it also causes many families to be forced apart. Children are forced to witness or do crime themselves. In a long way gone Ishmael is a young civilian, where in his mind war was only a distant thought. On Ishmael's journey he witnessed his close ones disappearing right in front of his eyes. When his family and friends die he is made to believe by the commander that he needs to obtain revenge for them, doing so he joins the military. The death of his family was his motivation and killing people was his objective. He goes on his journey ruthlessly killing many people as he believed it was his duty. A person’s mentality completely changes during and after a war, we can see this affect in Ishmael. In the beginning of the book a gun seemed a long distant nightmare to which he would hope he never lay hands on, as it says in the book “My heart was beating faster than it ever had. Each gunshot seemed to sling to the beat of my heart.” As the book progresses and during the later stages of Ishmael joining the war he says “Every time I stopped shooting to change magazines and saw my two lifeless friends, I angrily pointed my gun into the swamp and killed more people. I shot everything that moved, until we were ordered to retreat because we needed another plan.” Ishmael went from being a young secure child to wanting a gun around him as his companion and protector during and after the war. War as seen on Ismael brought insecurity, self fear, hopelessness, and it deprived him of his childhood. However I believe if a child is more mature he will will handle the effects of the war differently as he has already seen an insight into reality of the civil war.

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When the war reached Ishmael's village, we see that he is a civilian and he is terrified when he sees all these people that were harmed form the gunshots. He first hand sees his friends die from this war and his revenge builds up little by little. I think war affected him by giving him revenge. All of it was released into a rage when he found out his family also died from the war, minutes away from rejoining them. One example is when Ishmael attacks Gasemu on page 96 for preventing him from meeting his family. Ishmael "locked [Gasemu's] neck under [his] arms. [He] squeezed him as hard as [he] could." (Page 96) This is the first act of violence we see Ishmael perform on his own conscience. It proves that he has revenge boiled up and is ready to fight to avenge it. This gave him the motivation and anger to dedicate himself to the army. We can also see Ishmael's change from the beginning of the book to the end. He was terrified in the beginning, then angry, violent and peaceful again. War affects a child's mindset by giving them revenge and giving them an excuse to kill people and to enjoy doing it. Getting rehabilitation from the center is not what really helped Ishmael. It was the knowledge that life could be good again and that he could actually forget his past. It is understanding that having continuous revenge will eventually kill you. At the UN conference, Ishmael quotes, " I will kill another person whose family will want revenge; then revenge and revenge and revenge will never come to an end…" (Page 189) He finally broke free of the cycle of revenge he was trapped in ever since he found his family dead. With all these things, he understood that life is still possible to live in.

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How does war affect a child's mindset and personality?