A Long Way Gone

I was supper shocked to read about how much Ishmael had changed. He was so innocent and scared. It's surprising the kinds of things drugs can do to someone. I knew drugs changed and impaired your thinking, but I had no idea that they made you think completely different. When I first read about Ishmael and his friends being captured, I thought that they had been captured by the rebels. I could not believe it was the army that had found them. I don’t understand how it is that the army brain washes you in such a way. It’s not something I think of when I hear of the army. I think of someone that is supposed to "protect" me. Over all I believe that the army is no better than the rebels. They killed in cold blood just as the rebels did.

When Ishmael was taken to the Benin Home he had to learn a whole new different mentality than the one he had. It is a lot for someone to go through so many changes. Most people change trough out their lives because of the experiences they have. Those changes, however, are throughout a long period of time. Ishmael was forced to change the way he thought, acted and lived. He went from his innocent childhood to running away and being precautious. Then again he changed, but this time he became a blood thirsty monster. Then after he was taken to the Benin home he had to change again and adapt to his surroundings once again. Those types of changes are very difficult and not everyone can adapt to their surroundings.

In A Long Way Gone, one of the main themes of the book is friends. Throughout the story Ishmael always or almost always has a friend. My thought is that having his friends around is what kept him alive in a way. Having his friends is what made him want to stay alive. In the book, after Ishmael looses Junior, he is along for a long time. You can see how he begins to loose hope, and himself. Yet when he was at war, he had his friends and he didn’t seem so down. Then at Benin Home he found Esther and she helped him trough many hard times. Friends are what keep many people going; even when everything else has been lost it’s always good to have someone that you know cares for you. For this reason I think Ishmael was able to surpass all the things that tormented him and is now past the whole idea. Although the thoughts are there, a true friend, as the ones Ishmael had makes things better. Even if they are in the same situation you are in it helps to know that they are there to support you and help you even when they need the same help you do.

The Road- Journal 8

In "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy you can tell that there was a huge imagination involved. McCarthy’s' way of writing captures the reader. The words he uses make things very interesting and descriptive. His way of writing captures your imagination and can make you imagine that you are in his shoes. You can easily picture the story in your head. In the last few pages were very capturing. While at the man and his son were at the beach they get their things stolen. The man finds boot prints nearby the place that they had left their things. The man and his son follow the boot prints till they find the man that had stolen their things. After they get their things back the man had left the other man naked on the road. The boy begins to cry. The man and boy get in an argument and man tells the boy that had to do it. He tells the boy that he’s not the one that has to worry about things. In response the boy tells him that he does. When the boy said that he was the one that had to worry was meant that he had to worry about his father’s well being. Although the boy is so young he notices things that the man thinks he doesn’t. Although the man attempts to hide what is going on with him the boy still notices what happens to his father.
At the end it was the boy that had to worry all the time. Although the boy did get sick, the man was the one that was constantly sick throughout the whole story and the boy noticed that. I believe that the boy knew from the beginning that his father was going to die. On page seventy-two the boy asks his father what the bravest thing he had done was and the man responded “Getting up this morning.” With that fraise I think the man knew his death was near. At the end he sacrificed everything so long his son was well. When he was close to death he gave up food and everything. He knew he was going to die and that made the man give everything for his son because he knew he had no need for it. He knew he was close to death and he decided not to eat. He also gave him all his blankets. The book made me think a lot about the love a parent has for their children and how that causes them to sacrifice everything for them.

Journal 6- The Road

The Road tells the story of a man and his son, the troubles they face while traveling south in a world that has almost been dissolved. I think it’s a very well told story, yet I’m not sure if it could happen in real life. People talk about Global Warming and the dangers it causes for our future, yet most people sit around waiting for someone to do something about it. There are parts of the book that seem realistic, and could happen but I don’t think it is all plausible. I don’t believe that with the technology we have its plausible that our civilization can disappear so easily. I think that if global warming did get that bad and cause that much destruction we would find ways to prevent it or help each other.
While traveling on the road one day, the man and the boy run into an old man that calls himself Ely. The boy pity’s on the old man and asks his dad if they can share the food they have with him. Although the man doesn’t seem convinced about sharing the food, he agrees to do so because the boy asked. That night the man built a fire and sat around it with the old man and his son. They sat around the fire and had a very weird conversation. The man says, “People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn’t believe in that. Tomorrow wasn’t getting ready for them. It didn’t even know they were there.”(Page 59) This quote stood out to me a lot. It made me wonder what “tomorrow” has in store for us. The old man he says “people were always getting ready for tomorrow,” when I read that I began to wonder if people knew what was going happen. Then there is also the part that says “Tomorrow wasn’t getting ready for them. It didn’t even now they were there.” That part left me thinking for a while. What will happen to humanity if we don’t prepare ourselves for the future? This is our world; we live in it, there for we must take care of it. That includes our futures. We can’t expect to let “tomorrow” fall into place by it self. When we want to accomplish something we cant wait around and wait someone bring it to us, its never going to happen. We must prepare ourselves for what ever might come our way.

Page 150- 200

The Road- Journal 3

There were two moments in particular that really stood out to me in the book. One was when the man and his son are walking and they see a dog. The boy gets scared and asks his father if they are going to catch it so that they can eat it. The boy’s father says no and then they continue walking. The second was when the boy’s father goes into a house in search of food. While the boy is sitting outside on the front steps, he sees a little boy and a dog. Before he sees the boy he had seen a little boy. The little boy sees him and begins to run. The boy quickly gets up and runs after the little boy yelling “Come back. I’m not going to hurt you!” They man hears his sons shouts and quickly runs out of the house and holds him in place. After they leave the house the boy begins to cry, he tells his dad that they should go back and find the boy and the dog. His dad tells him that he needs to forget about the boy and the dog, yet the boy doesn’t obey and he keeps trying to convince his dad. He suggests t his dad that the little boy might be alone and not have “a daddy” to take care of him. Yet the man doesn’t agree with the boy and they continue walking. The boy adds that he is willing to share his food with the boy and that the dog could be used as a hunting dog. He argues that the dog might be able to provide them with food, yet his dad tells him that he needs to forget the boy. The man shouts to the boy and questions him if he prefers to be dead. Sobbing, the boy says yes and then his father stops shouting and stops shouting at the boy.
I believe these scenes stood out so much to me because it surprised me how the boy was so concerned about the boy’s safety. It surprised me how the boy, although very young, cares a lot about other people although the world he lives in is very dangerous. The boy was abandoned by his mother when he was very young. He was left alone with his dad, and ever since the only love he has known is the love his dad shows him and the one his dad tells him about. When the boy tells his dad that the boy might not have had a “daddy” to take care of him, it makes me wonder if he thought it would hit his dads heart. I think he picked his words carefully so that his dad might consider going back for the boy. I believe he thought that it might make him feel sympathy for the little boy if the boy was alone and had no father, yet the man was more concerned about his son. Also, it’s amazing all that the man does and is willing to do to care for his son. Both are so different and very unexpected since they have been together for so long. The man doesn’t care about anything else but his sons’ safety. The man is even willing to sacrifice himself, yet at the end he realizes that it is not the best option. On the other hand the boy seems like he just wants to get out of the crazy world he lives in. There are times when the boy acts so caring and in others so careless. He seems to care a lot about other people that might be around, yet so careless to what happens to him. He is so young and frightened for a boy his age. He seems so open to what is going on and it surprises me that he know so much about death as well as the fact that he wants to die. It makes me wonder how much death he has seen in his life.

Pages 75 to 100