A Long Way Gone--Final Chapter (21)

The beginning of this chapter starts with Ishmael Beah talking about his trip to New York City. His family cannot believe how weird the city sounds. We also learn that Mohamad now lives with Ishmael and his uncle's family. This made me so happy because earlier it talked about how Mohamad had to go back to the front lines just because his family wouldn't take him. I was happy to finally see someone take Mohamad in and it must be great for both Ishmael and Mohamad to have someone who understands what they have been through with with them. It would be hard to be in a world where very few really know/understand what they have been through and it is good for anyone who goes through a hard situation to have someone to talk to. Also, we learn that they are both attending secondary school again, which is great! But it made me sad when they notice how most kids sit far away from them because they know about their past and they're scared that one of them is going to snap any second and kill someone. This is how unaware these other children are of the situation going on and ignorant to Ishmael and Mohamad's feelings. Unfortunately, the mood of the book was brought down from happiness and joy to sadness and madness. The rebels and soldiers come to take control of the city. The city is waken up by the noise of gunshots. This just further proves how Ishmael never seems to catch a break, and he even mentions this later on. It seems to me like the violence and destruction are targetting one person, Ishmael, and they will do whatever and follow him wherever to reach their target. Ishmael also says how if he became a child soldier again he didn't think he could make it, and I don't blame him one bit. To go from a normal, young civilian to a mass-destruction soldier, and back to a normal, young civilian was rough and now that Ishmael knows what life can be like I don't think he would be able to handle going through the routine once more. It was hard enough going through it once, going through it two times would be horrific. Throughout all of this madness, Ishmael feels like he has seen this scene a few too many times. He remembers similar situations from before he became a soldier and his life as a soldier where he was the doer in the madness. To even be able to feel a familiarity to all of this destruction is unacceptable. Nobody should be able to say they are familiar with danger. Yes, they may have met it a couple of times but to say you're acquaintances and you're familiar with it is awful. But, sadly, Ishmael really can say he is familiar with this scene because he is acquaintances with danger and has come within a hair slice of facing the ultimate danger, death. Ishmael and Mohamad begin to lose faith because they say that they have come so far to get out of the war and then they are just brough back into it. They must be going through a complete emotional rollarcoaster because they constantly have to change their roles in life and in their thoughts. The death of Ishmael's uncle almost did it to me. I was so sad to see that even this little bit of the war had caused the death of one of Ishmael's family members. Ishmel has gotten almost everything he has taken from him, and I didn't want to see another thing taken from him. But the death of his uncle also proves how strong Ishmael must have been to be able to withstand years of it. Ishmael, in a mad attempt to run away from the war, starts his journey to Guinea. The journey is full of cloe encouters to death, new people, and new experiences for Ishmael. While reading about all of the different checkpoints, I actually felt what Ishmael must have been feeling. I felt all of the tension, nerves, fright, worry, and eerie feel to the event that all members included must have felt. Finally, after a couple nights of traveling, he can say he has made it out of the war. Now, Ishmael's journey is really over. I am glad that in the end things worked out for Ishmael. He deserves all the good he gets, I think, considering what he has been through. Because of what we knew about the author, Ishmael Beah, we knew he was going to live through the war, but I would hace expected the end to be less dramatic. I thought something would change and he would be done with his career as a child soldier, but nope. More horrible things had to happen to Ishmael before his journey was over. Although they were all bad, they all made Ishmael a stronger person and led to a great end of the novel. I really enjoyed reading this book because the author really engaged the reader and his story is truly unique and entertaining, not to mention heart-breaking. I am very, very, very, very, very glad that Ishmael's story ended with a "happy ever after."