Cortess Clarke

Julianna Santamaria

Ishmael and his friends go to a talent show away from their town Mogbweno, and while they were away performing, their village gets attacked by the RUF. This breaks Ishmael's spirit, as he doesn't see his mother, father, or little brother again. This key event represents Ishmael's transition from being an innocent child to losing everything of comfort and becoming a refugee in his own country

War is developed throughout this story because as the story progresses the war is shown to impact the whole country of Sierra Leone both physically and psychologically. For example, at the beginning of the story, Ishmael and the people of Mogbwemo believe that the war was far and that the horrors described by refugees would never reach them. However, as the story progresses, the war ends up reaching Mogbwemo, Mattru Jong and eventually catches up with Ishmael and his friends. As they continued to flee the rebels and encounter other people, it's shown that people struggle to trust one another, not knowing if they will spare or kill them as they all try to persevere through the inconveniences of the war.

He was in the army for two years where he dropped of most of the fear that he had. He eventually was able to kill without any remorse, he became addicted to marijuana

Where Ishmael stayed after UNICEF took him away from the army for rehabilitation. This was where he regained his humanity and where he got opportunities to share about what happened to him and set up programs to help other boy soldiers regain a more normal lifestyle.

*It is a Noun*

"He also said the salt water was good for healing the pain and preventing tetanus" (Beah 64).

*It is a Verb*

"Jumah looked toward the forest with his hands behind his back, Moriba was holding his head, Kanei stared at the ground, Musa wrapped his hands around himself, Alhaji covered his eyes with his left hand, and I stood akimbo to stop my legs from shaking" (Beah 108).

*It is a Verb*

"The building was roofless except for the tarpaulin that covered the boxes of ammunition and guns stacked against the wall; and in the only common space, a huge television screen sat on top of a dilapidated drum" (Beah 109)

This sentence paints a picture for the reader to comprehend just how extreme and overwhelming the scene is and just how intense the moment was after the gunfire

This sentence adds a human characteristic to an inanimate object in order to create tension and add a natural touch to the background.

This sentence comparing a scared boy to a 'soaked monkey', reveals the cruelness of the soldier and the pureness of the boy's fear.

This sentence provides the reader a visual of the grotesque reality of the war that boys like Ishmael went through.

Ishmael wanders with other boys after the attack in his village, and he ended up on a military base in Yele, where soldiers gave him hope by feeding him and offering him shelter, but then enlisting them to fight the rebels at an early age, being forced and subjected to drug abuse (brown brown, a mix of cocaine and gunpowder), emotional manipulation, and a loss of identity. This gives Ishmael extreme trauma and contributes to the loss of his sense of self.

Ishmael gets rescued by UNICEF workers and gets taken to a rehabilitation center in Freetown, and he struggles at first, being violent towards others, coping with drug withdrawal, and being untrusting and unsure of his environment, but over time, he returns back to a healthy state and begins to heal and reclaim what he lost.

When Ishmael had escaped the horrors and trauma of the war, he went to go live with his uncle, Tommy. He was the only family left of Ishmael, and he was his only safe haven/comfort that he had ever since the war began, so after his uncle was killed by the rebels, it reminded Ishmael that nowhere is safe and that he had to flee Sierra Leone again because comfort wasn't going to be found anywhere else.