A Long Way Gone-- chapters 6-7

After reading these chapters I feel like we have a better understanding of what Ishmael and others were feeling during this time. Ishmael got more in depth about the emotions the characters were feeling, which I think is helpful because it gives us a better understanding of what people going through similar experiences were feeling. I think the experience with the village gives the reader an understanding of how the rebels worked. They would pop up when they were least expected and then wipe the village completely out. They attacked through little sneak attacks, which I think is why they were so successful in their attacks. In the beginning of chapter six, Ishmael Beah talks about how being in a large group of teenage boys was not to their advantage. This then leads to the end of chapter seven where the family bathing in the pond, even the young children were scared of the teenage boy. He talks about how the war caused everyone to be scared of everyone, even loved ones. This is such a sad reality of the war in my opinion. Even though this is definitely true, I feel like this is awful. How is a community supposed to act as a community if everyone is scared of everybody, including their brother or son. That is not how a community is supposed to act. This section of reading evoked a lot of emotion in me. I felt really mad how this war manipulated everyone's thoughts and feelings towards another. I hate power when it becomes destructive and turns good things like a community into something bad. It's is so sad to me how even though Ishmael was so nice and friendly they still thought he could be bad. It just shows how the rebels were so maniacal and deceiving, which makes their evilness even worse. Also, during chapter six it talks about another way victims of this war had to change their lifestyles as an impact of the rebels. The group of boys were guards in the new village they were staying in called Kamator. And then they had to become farmers, which was hard working and gave them a lot of back pains. It's sad to see how much of an impact evil can have on the world, and I think this showed a lot throughout this section.