Ch. 17-20 (striped pajamas)

It's sad that the story ends in the way it does. It makes me sad that Bruno died for such a notion as to spend some time with a friend. It is interesting; it almost seems to me that Bruno's death was the punishment for his dad's actions. And what's worse to think about is that even that may not be ample compensation for the atrocities wreaked upon those people in the concentration camp by Bruno's father.
The part where Bruno sees those people in the concentration camp so depressed and hopeless in probably the only part of the story where Bruno actually is exposed to their plight. Most of the story, it is avoided or Bruno just doesn't understand it.
The last part of the book says that nothing like the Holocaust could ever happen again in this day and age, which is ironic, probably the author's intention, because it is happening all over the world, and it is not given as much attention as it ought to be. It was a good way to end the book.
I read the interview, and it is very cool that he did not use the word Aushwitz so his book could be a type of all-encompassing thing.

Ch. 13-16 (striped pajamas)

This chapters really brought to light the Nazi's and the Jews. Most of the story, Bruno has no idea about the travesty called the Holocaust. But he starts thinking about how mean and condescending Lt. Kotler is to him. Gretel also learns about the Holocaust, and Bruno learns about it from her.
It is so ironic that Bruno's best friend in Auschwitz turns out to be the servant who presumably replaces Pavel after what Kotler did to him. Its such a weird thing to think about, having your best friend being your family's servant.
I don't condone how Bruno says that he never had met Shmuel before, but I sympathize with him. He's just nine, and he's intimidated by Kotler. I think many people in that situation might do what he did. He didn't think about what he said; it just sort of happened. I don't blame him. But it makes me wonder what Kotler did to Shmuel for punishment. He did come back bruised and battered later on.

Ch. 9-12 Blog (Striped Pajamas)

I thought that I would enjoy the point of view of a child. But interestingly enough, Bruno's point of view irks me a bit. Although it is understandable that Bruno does not know what is occurring in Auschwitz, it annoys me that he doesn't realize how bad things are for Shmuel. Bruno asks him naive questions like if he and the other boys play or not or if Bruno could come under the fence and play with him.
Sometimes the timeline of the story confuses me because it jumps around a lot, very much like Things Fall Apart and A Long Way Gone. I didn't realize that chapter 11 occured in the past until the end of the chapter where it said that this where the story began. It is interesting that Bruno finds Hitler to be a rude and mean person. When he comes for dinner, he is quite condescending towards everyone, which I guess, you could expect Hitler to be.
Bruno also does not have a good idea of the world outside of Berlin and what is happening. It is interesting when Bruno says that Germany is the most superior country in the world because that directly shows what was being taught to children in Germany. Children were being raised to become the so-called "Hitler Youth" to continue Hitler's beliefs.

Ch. 5-8 Blog (Striped Pajamas)

It is interesting to me that the author can phrase his thoughts and the way his main character asks and speaks to resemble the way a naive nine year old might. He has done this very skillfully.
We figure out in this section that Bruno's father is an officer for the Fury, or the Fuhrer, I presume. I never realized that there were some people that objected to what was happening to the Jews. Bruno's grandmother was very upset with what her son was doing. I mean, I kind of guessed that there were some people who were not happy with what was happening, but for the most part, I thought most of Germany supported Hitler. I never thought that the Grandmother would be so vocal about what she thought about her son's job.
This section also shows the extent of the hatred for the Jews that Nazi Germany had. When Bruno makes a tire swing and injures himself, Pavel, one of the waiters (who used to be a doctor), patches him up. When Bruno's mother finds out, she takes the credit for what Pavel did so he wouldn't be punished. So even though Pavel did a good thing by taking care of Bruno, he might have gotten punished for it. That doesn't make sense to me.

Ch. 1-4 The Boy in Striped Pajamas Blog

I have liked the story so far. I like the flow of the story, and the language of the story, I guess. It seems like the language is of children younger than me, but the content, I think, is for older kids. I like how it is told from the point of view of a younger kid. It is interesting that something like the Holocaust is told from the point of view of a little kid. This will probably be a lot different from what I usually read.
Bruno's parents seem to be a little strict, but I think they aren't overly strict. I still don't really understand why Greta is called a hopeless case, but I'll probably get it later.

Choice Book

Well, I'm a bit disappointed that the top four books came out to be what they were. I've read To Kill A Mockingbird two times. Go Ask Alice is not anything I'm interested in. Black Hawk Down seems ok to me, and so does the boy in striped pajamas. So the order is:
1. The Boy in Striped Pajamas
2. Black Hawk Down
3. To Kill a Mockingbird
4. Go ask Alice

I was wondering, does To Kill A Mockingbird have to be on the list? Most of the people I've talked to said they've read it already. Can we put the next book on the list from which we can choose from? Maybe it'll be something that more people haven't read yet.

LWG Ch. 21

This seemed to me to be a weird way to end a good book. My doubts about Ishmael's foster family was confirmed in this part. The government takeover destroyed such a happy family. Ishmael's uncle was such a great person who really reached out to Ishmael. I can't imagine losing one family, and Ishmael has lost two.
As Ishmael says, the government takeover seemed too much like deja vu. He was going through those child soldier experiences all over again. But luckily, Ishmael did escape afterall, though I wonder why he didn't take anyone else with him. Maybe he thought that the only way he would be able to get away from Sierra Leone is to go by himself. I'm not sure; maybe Mohammed could've gone with him.
It was so weird that Ishmael ended the story without a definitive, resounding ending. He ended with a story he remembered. I bet there is a lot of symbolism in the short story he tells, but I can't entirely grasp it. He might be saying that if he were in charge of the situation in Sierra Leone, he would eliminate the root of it if he got the chance. I'm not sure. But if it's along the lines of what I'm saying, meaning that it has to do what the political situation in Sierra Leone, that kind of breaks away from what the story has been overall. It has been a personal story about Ishmael's experiences in the war, not a book dealing with what should be done in the war. I think Ishmael is trying to make a point with the anecdote, but I can't quite grasp it.

LWG Ch. 19-20

This part seemed a lot more light-hearted to me than the rest of the book. It almost seemed like he was trying to tone it down for everyone so the book ends less strongly. There's a bit more humor, like the part where he says he thought that Christmas must be everyday in New York. You get to see the child in him, marveling at the sights and sounds of New York City.
It made me very happy for Ishmael that his new family is so great. They are always happy and very welcoming of him, knowing his past. But there again was the foreshadowing. I don't know what is going to happen, but it seems like something with him and his foster family is going to happen. This would then cause him to move to New York with Laura. It would really make me sad if Ishmael lost another family, and such a great one at that.
It strikes me that Ishmael is so calm about going to the UN and addressing so many people about such an important issue. If it were me, I'd be a nervous wreck! Maybe it's just that he doesn't talk much about being nervous. But he does seem to be a person who is comfortable speaking/performing to a bunch of people; he dances to rap cassettes a lot throughout the book. It's really not that important, but it just struck me.
What also made me think was the way he ended chapter 20. He said,"Because if I was to get killed upon my return, I knew that a memory of my existence was alive somewhere in the world." It was a uncanny way to end a chapter that was pretty light overall. His deep sadness sort of gets through to you because you get a glimpse of the grief and depression he's still going through. Even after being happy and visiting New York City, he still believes in the fragility of happiness and brings a depressing note into the end. That line interested me because of how it just came out of nowhere.

LWG Ch. 17-18

From this section, you get a deeper understanding of how much suffering Ishmael has gone through. You notice that throughout this part, he keeps to himself and is more of an introvert. He doesn't show his emotions and isn't very happy about anything because he believes happiness is too fragile, which is understandable. He basically changes back into innocent child after the rehabilitation from remorseless killer.
What Esther has done for Ishmael and the other child soldiers is very remarkable to me. To deal with the initial hatred that the boys have towards her and to get through to them after a while takes a lot of patience, sincerity, and determination. She really believes in her cause to rehabilitate the kids.
It made me a little happier that Ishmael's uncle turned out to be alive and so glad to see him and be with him. He is so ready to accept him into his family. His family is also very accepting of him. What I wonder, though, is now Ishmael will end up in New York. Hopefully, something bad won't happen with his foster family that makes this happen. I really hope the story gets happier from here on out.

Ch. 15-16 LWG blog

These chapters showed how extensively the damage that the war has had upon Ishmael. To think he's only a year older than I am in this part! He's gone through more than any normal person could imagine in a full life.
Ishmael can hurt and kill remorselessly and is willing to get into fights at the slightest provocation. You see that with his first encounter with Mamba. He fights and maybe kills two or three rebels without blinking an eye. What I thought was interesting was that the way the rebels recruited the children. They say that the army killed their family so they should join the rebels to fight against them. Switch the words rebel with army, and you have the same exact strategy that the army uses to recruit rebels. Everything just goes around full circle.
It bothered me that Ishmael and his friends attacked those people from UNICEF that were trying to help them, like the guy they stabbed in the foot. He just came back after recovering and said simply that it wasn't their fault that they did such things. I think I would be too afraid of the kids and what they are capable of doing to come back and just smile at them; saying that it wasn't their fault even after being beat up and almost killed by them.
They have also become bloodthirsty, too. Ishmael says that the violence calmed them down and made them content. This shows how much the war has impacted them, being child soldiers. This just freaked me out a bit.

recommended books

i have not read in a long time, but i want to read something with substance. not anything like harry potter or something where its just written for no reason. maybe something like quiet strength by tony dungy or maybe the last lecture by randy pausch.

LWG Ch. 13-14

Well, this is where we see the transformation from innocent child to remorseless killer. I guess you could say that the moment he snapped and turned into a killer was when he saw Josiah die. He says that he killed anything that moved from that time until the end of that battle. Just before that, he could barely bring himself to fire his gun to defend himself. I think that many, if not all of us, would probably have become the same thing that Ishmael became, if we went through his experiences. If your whole family died, if your friends died, if you saw so many people killed and mutilated for no apparent reason, I think that you would reach a snapping point. It didn't help that the drugs he took made him even more remorseless. I don't blame Ishmael one bit. I sympathize with him fully. I think that maybe after killing those people and reaching that snapping point, his guilt might have kicked in in a while, if it weren't for those drugs he took all the time.
It strikes me when Ishmael says that the military had become his family. His family used to be a loving, mostly happy family. He then becomes part of a "family" that kills people and recruits children and gives them drugs. In this "family," he is encouraged to kill people and is rewarded for it, like when he slit that person's throat to become promoted.

LWG Ch. 11-12

Wow. This story is the most tragic story I have ever read by far. I felt my hope rise up, even though I knew Ishmael wasn't going to meet his family. And then I felt my hope crash down, as his family was killed in the village by the rebels. That is a very graphic part of the novel. Ishmael's sorrow came clear across to me. He was so close to being reunited with his family, and he is denied that reunion. The way Ishmael describes the amount of bodies just piled up, and the blood oozing from them is very gruesome to me. The part about the woman and child who were on fire was horrible, too.
When Ishmael reaches the village guarded by the soldiers, it kind of strikes me that the soldiers don't treat the villagers very well. Most of the time they make fun of them. The soldiers laugh at Ishmael when he steps into the head of a dead person. One of the soldiers shot some rounds into the air when Ishmael had just started training to scare him. There was also a part where when the soldiers came back from fighting, they just randomly shot some villagers.
When the lieutenant talks about what atrocities the rebels committed upon everyone, I felt extremely disgusted. I never knew they made those people do such things. It is bad enough that they were killing them so gruesomely, but to also pile on the other things is just disgusting. It made me cringe inside when I read these things, which was mostly my reaction to this whole section.

LWG Ch. 10

This chapter taught us more about the past of the boys. It seemed to me that they all opened up to each other a bit more. You hear all of their stories and are horrified by each and every one of them. I found Saidu's story to be the worst because of what happened to his sisters and how he had to go through such trauma. I guess it makes sense that he would die because of all the emotional hardship, which is really an understatement, that he's been through. Saidu said it very eloquently when he talked about dying a little more each time he accepted death. I can't possibly understand what he's going through, and I don't I ever will be able to. The boys could share their stories with each other, I think, because they became a bit more comfortable with each other. Those other boys are the only ones who can comprehend what their companions are going through.
In this chapter, the villages they go through contrast sharply with the previous villages they went through because these villages didn't try to actually kill them before they even got to understand them. These villages gave them food and shelter for some nights and didn't chase them away. These villages probably haven't been affected by the war yet.
It really depressed me when Ishmael talked about his family and his memories with his families. When he talks about his family, it reminds me of my own, and I don't want to ever be in this kind of situation with my family. I don't think I could stand it. But there was a glimmer of hope offered by the lady in the village where Saidu died. She said that she has met his mother, father, and brother and that they were in the next village. If I were him, I might've left for the next village at that very moment. But I think that he didn't because he had a sense of companionship with his friends.
There seemed to be a lot of foreshadowing in this chapter. The dogs crying, the babies crying, the oppressive darkness, etc., etc. This makes me think that something really bad is going to be happening in the next chapter. I think that this probably means that Ishmael won't be reunited with his family again. I've got to say, every time a good thing happens to Ishmael, a bad thing happens to counter it. They get some smoked meat, it gets eaten by a dog. Ishmael finds companions, they become more likely to be caught by the rebels. This story makes me sadder and sadder for Ishmael every chapter.

LWG Ch. 8-9

It made me a little happier that in this section, Beah finds some companions. They don't share their emotions with each other, but it must be a little comforting that these people can understand his suffering. Kanei seems to be the Junior in this group; the person that is the leader.
It is almost amusing that rap saved Beah and his companions, but not when you realize how dire the situation actually was. I think the villagers should have heard them out and not punish them by taking their crapes away, but it is understandable, considering what has transpired during the war. But also, the way the leader of the village called them devils without understanding them made me a little angry.
It was a great act of kindness that the fisherman took to take care of the kids. He took their responsibility on his shoulders and nursed them back to health. He must have heard the rumors of the "Seven Children," and he risked those being true because he knew what he was doing was right.
There is a part that I had a question about. At the beginning of Chapter 8, Beah says that he could "see the leaves on the tree swaying, but I couldn't feel the wind." Did he actually mean this literally or was this a metaphor? It probably is a metaphor, but I'm not sure. Maybe he meant that he was just going through the motions of life and not actually living it. I'm not sure.

LWG Ch. 6-7

The theme, it seemed to me, over these two chapters was how no one could trust anyone anymore. The war had deprived people the very experience of getting to know people, as Beah so put it. Such young children could not even be talked to, let alone helped. People detained them to question him, and the family at the river did not even want to talk to him.
The simple truth is sort of thrusted at you when Beah says it was the last time he would ever see Junior. Beah lost the only family he might have left in the world; he has no one left anymore. Beah is officially on his own. The war has taken so much away from him already, and it is sad to know that as the story goes on, he is bound to lose even more.
One of the parts that I impacted me was when Beah leaves from where Kaloko was. Beah started crying, "as if I was being wrapped in a blanket of sorrow." I think some of the bottled-up emotions started to come out. I guess you could say this was a step backward from the remorseless killer that Beah becomes because his emotions came through.

LWG Ch. 3-5

These section of reading was very strong for me. Getting caught by the rebels the first time is one of the parts that really jumps out to me. I thought that they were actually going to get recruited this time, but they didn't. It is very heartbreaking that Beah had to stand in front of the only family he probably had left and be faced with the choice to kill or be killed. The emotions going his brother and his head are incomprehensible to me. And to think that they risked their lives and got caught by the rebels for nothing! Afterall, the money they got came to no good use. Frustrating is a severe understatement of what that must have felt like.
Torturing the old man was a very sick thing to do. The rebels seemed so comfortable doing this and they enjoyed it thoroughly. It disgusts me that people can be like that, but I guess these rebels must have been like Beah nine to ten years ago. That transformation from an innocent child to cold-blooded killer is so abrupt and so horrific. I can't imagine Beah turning into this type of killer, but I know its going to happen.
One of the things that I wondered about was were the rebels that captured Beah and his companions on drugs, too. Or were they actually consciously doing what they were? I'm not really sure.

LWG Ch. 1-2 Blog

As I read the first two chapters of this book, many things stood out to me. One thing that stood out to me was the portion before the first chapter. You get a feeling of the naiveté that people in the US have towards issues like child soldiers, which is not at all the peoples' fault; its more of a media thing. Another thing that stood out to me was the innocence that the novel is written in so far. The main character talks about his exposure to rap music and how he tries to imitate the rappers' style of speaking "English really fast, and to the beat." Another part like this is when his brother and him go pick up Ibrahim from school, and Ibrahim comes running to him and challenges him to a soccer match.
This is such a sharp contrast to what happens later on in the first chapter and in chapter two. In chapter one, Beah sees firsthand all the suffering that occurs when the people attacked by the rebels are fleeing to his village. What really hit home for me was the passage about the parents and their children. One man was trying to convince himself that his son was still alive and that he would take him to a hospital. Another part was when the baby had been shot in the head, and her mother was "in too much pain and shock to shed tears." Beah really accentuated parts like these for me with the emotions. He talks about how the child who was shot had an "interrupted innocent smile on her face." He also describes how the mother rocked her child back and forth after she had died.
Another part that stood out to me was how Beah describes how he mindlessly walked through a ravaged village that was attacked by the rebels, carrying a wheelbarrow with a dead body ridden with bullets. He gives you a strong and disturbing image about the plight of child soldiers and the various wars in Africa.
All in all, I think the innocent way he starts out the novel sort of shocks you into the parts where he talks about the war and its victims. It is a very strong beginning for a novel that will probably get even stronger as the plot progresses.

Ibo people and British

Over the time that the white people were in Umuofia, the Ibo people's attitudes have changed significantly. When they first came, the people from Abame were afraid of them because they had never even known that white people existed. So they killed him, and in turn, the white men wiped out all of Abame. So this situation set the groundwork for the Ibo and white men's attitudes towards each other. This situation instilled fear in the Ibo, and some haughtiness in the white men.
The white people then tried to convert the Ibo to Christianity by saying that the Ibo gods were not real. They said there is only one God, and that all the other gods are not real. This offended the Ibo people and later confused them because then the missionaries said that there were three parts of this God. The white men did not care for the Ibo's religious sentiments. Both groups of people did not try to understand each other.
Mr. Brown was the only one who tried to understand, though. He listened to what the Ibo's religion is and saw some similarities between the two religions. His conscientiousness saved the reverend after him, who might have been killed when the egwugwu burned down the church.
The British just viewed the Ibo as uncivilized people who needed to be "pacified." If the British took the time to try to understand the Ibo people, then maybe their relationship would've been a lot better, and they wouldn't have had the problems that they had.

"Mother is Supreme"

Okonkwo does not understand the Ibo proverb "the Mother is Supreme." He refuses to acknowledge the "female" virtues in himself and others because he thinks showing any emotions is a sign of weakness. Showing a sign of weakness could be perceived as laziness, and then Okonkwo would be thought to be like Unoka, his father. Because Okonkwo does not want to be anything like his father, he does not acknowledge emotions and such.
There are many examples of Okonkwo being unemotional and cold. One instance is when there is a meeting going on in Mbanta about what to do about the person who killed a snake, which is revered in the African culture. People were saying that the snake-killer should be ignored, and Okonkwo could not stand this. He wanted to go kill that person. When they decided not to, Okonkwo thought to himself that nothing like this would have ever happened in his village of Umuofia.
Another example was when Ikemefuna was killed. Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna, whom he thought of as a son and Ikemefuna also thought of Okonkwo as his father. The only reason he did this was because he did not want to be perceived as weak by others. And then when Nwoye found out about Ikemefuna's death, he started crying. Since Okonkwo cannot stand emotions, he beat his son for crying about the death of his brother.
Okonkwo hates emotions so much that he loses sight of the people in his family. He does not care for his son's feelings or his wives' feelings. Not only does his one-sidedness create emotional rifts between his family and him, but also between his community and him.

My Opinion of Okonkwo

My opinion of Okonkwo has not changed much throughout this story. I never really admired Okonkwo; he always seemed to be a harsh and ignorant person to me. I don't like Okonkwo at all, truly. He tries to show others how strong and fierce he is, and he dislikes those who aren't. But Okonkwo comes off as a mentally weak person.
Okonkwo tries to be strong by beating his wife and children for little reasons. He beats his children for showing any emotions; he beats his wife for cutting leaves off of a plant he claims she has killed. He thinks that beating people is manly, and sometimes, he beats people just to reinforce the manly image of himself that he has. Whenever he is in doubt of himself being compared to his father, he has to remove the doubt from the perception of himself. The way he does this by beating other weak people.
Okonkwo is mentally weak because he cares too much about how others perceive him. He kills Ikemefuna, who he views as a son, so he wouldn't be perceived as weak. Okonkwo comes off as a bully to me, and I dislike Okonkwo for this.

My Opinion of P.S.'s Treatment

P.S.'s treatment is a very difficult thing for me to analyze. On one side, I feel bad for him and given his spotless track record, he maybe should have been treated with some leniency. On the other hand, P.S. did break the school's honor code, and the only reason the school is "the respected institution it is now" is because of the students honoring the code. As for his father, I think what how he treated P.S. was perfect, and more than what any child could ever expect from their parents when something like what happened with P.S. occurs.
What I think overall is that P.S. was treated a little unfairly. P.S. has had a spotless track record, and this was the first time he had ever disobeyed the honor code, from what I know. Mabrey himself said that P.S. was not the kind of person who would cheat without a good reason. And P.S. did have a good reason. As we discussed though, the people at the meeting with P.S. did not quite understand his reasons. But maybe if they understood what he was trying to say better, they would treated him with more leniency. I understand that this would be undermining the honor code, but P.S. did not deserve what happened to him. A little less of a severe punishment would have served just fine. As the headmaster says to P.S. at the end, P.S. had learned his lesson and would probably never cheat again. If P.S. has learned his lesson, then why punish him even further?
I think that if P.S. had to do it again, he wouldn't have cheated on his exam.

Friday Fill-In

1. The last meal I had at a restaurant was cheese ravioli.

2. Cauliflower is something I intensely dislike.

3. The full moon doesn't matter.

4. "You fail" is one of my favorite local expressions.

5. Sometimes it's best to be quiet.

6. The Dark Knight is the best movie I've seen so far this year!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to the Olympics, tomorrow my plans include sleeping and Sunday, I want to watching TV!

Earlier Impressions Altered

Many times have I been in a situation where I misjudged someone, and I have been proven very wrong about that person. Out of those many times that this has occurred, one instance sticks out to me the most, partly because of how recent it was, and also because of how extremely mistaken I turned out to be.
The time that sticks out to me is when I changed schools in middle school. Previously, I had gone to a public school, Guion Creek Middle School. I was now transferring to Sycamore School, which was a private school, in the middle of the year. I had never gone to a private school before in my whole life. Most of my opinions of private schools were formulated upon the opinions, and misconceptions of others.
Sycamore School has quite a reputation among middle schools. It is very selective for allowing students to go there. Not only that, but it has a hefty fee that comes with attending it. I had been talking to my friends and asking what they knew about Sycamore School. Much of what I heard from friends is that, "Ooohh, Sycamore is a really nerdy school. Only really nerdy people go there. And it's filled with rich snobs. You shouldn't go there because you won't like it there."
I had heard this from so many people that this became my own opinion. Because all of my friends were telling me this, I was very reluctant to go there.
When I became eligible to go to Sycamore and I transferred there, I was a little mean to some of the people who went there. It's embarrassing for me to talk about this because I look back on myself with disgust. I feel bad that I was a little mean to the people there. But I met people and got to know them a little better and I realized how wrong I was. People at Sycamore were not nerdy, rich snobs. They were actually cool, and they were really easy to talk to. Sports were really popular in Sycamore, with basketball being the most popular. One of the people I was mean to has become one of my best friends. I regret treating the people I did rudely, and I have changed for the better in that. I try my best not to have opinions about others without knowing them fully. Now, when anyone says that only rich, nerdy snobs go to Sycamore, I tell them otherwise, and I tell them about how I thought the same thing and how wrong I actually was.

It Works

I can login and post stuff so this works ok.