Happy fishbowl day! Some great level 2, text-based, critical thinking questions yesterday, class. Keep up the good work! Good job using the threaded comments option to respond directly to one another's responses. A few things to keep in mind for today's discussion:
1. Aim for 5 thoughtful posts throughout discussion if you're using the blog to capture your thinking.
2. Proofread your responses.
3. Avoiding leading "do" and "does" question constructions that lead to "yes" or "no" responses.
4. Provide the background that inspires your thinking, contextualizing your question in a sentence or two.
@Class
ReplyDeleteDo you think that Ishmael beah even has a little bit of guilt for killing the people that he does? Or is it just pure rage and revenge that makes him kill?
Right at this point in the book Ishmael is doing what he is told and the drugs he has been taking over who he is.
DeleteNo, in the book he says that he sees everyone as another person who killed his family.
DeleteI feel like Ishmael is doing this because he has to. If he doesn't kill people then he will be killed. He is no completely aware of what he is actually doing. Throughout this whole experience in the war, he has lost sight of who he is as a person.
Deletei think that Ishmael is killing people out of pure rage because he has not shown any guilt. Also he is drinking a lot and doing drugs a lot so maybe he does not know what he is doing.
DeleteI think that he is kind of brainwashed by all the violent acts he has seen and doesnt really have any guilt for the people he has killed because he is told to go and kill people and like i said before he is kind of brainwashed
DeleteI think the soldiers have brainwashed him so he doesn't feel bad about kill those people. I think he doesn't realize that he is really killing those people.
DeleteWhy would the soldiers burn the recruits old clothing? Like when Ishmael's pants got thrown into the fire.
ReplyDeleteSo that the friendly soldiers are noticeable.
DeleteMatt- I think they are burning the recruits old clothing so that the recruits don't have any memories of the past and of their loved ones.
Delete@ Matt
DeleteThe burning of the close is so that they don't have anything to hold onto or anything that would bring back memories of their old life.
Matt
DeleteI think it's because the chief doesn't want them to remember that they are young, but that they have to guard the village, as soldiers instead. They can't remember that they are just children or else they wont find killing the rebels right.
It wouldn't make sense to me that they are trying to eliminate the memories that the recruits have of their families, as the army is programming the recruits to believe that the rebels were the direct cause of the injustices to their families. It is more to eliminate the lack of uniform, as well as any possessions in their pockets that may distract from the greater task at hand.
Delete@class
ReplyDeleteEven though Ishmael finds justice in killing the rebels, he says that it only makes him feel worse instead of better. Why do you think this is?
Because he feels bad for killing people. Most normal people would feel bad.
DeleteI think it makes him feel worse because Ishmael is a human and killing someone isn't the best way to find revenge.
DeleteIsabel. I think it makes him feel worse because most of the time he's getting revenge for them killing his family, so doing that he knows that the rebels are dead but he also knows killing them won't bring back his family.
DeleteKilling is killing. Even if they are horrible people, he would still being killing a person. This shows that he is staying true to his real self and he knows that this is wrong. No matter how much rage and anger he has towards the rebels, I don't think he will actually be able to kill any of them.
DeleteDo you think that The violence That ismale commits is justified because their in a war.
ReplyDeleteNo. Killing someone is never justified.
DeleteYes because he has an excuse to do those things. (Them killing his family, ridding the world of bad people etc.)
Delete@KEVIN
DeleteThe only reason why I think that the killing is justified by war because it is either kill or be killed.
I think that the combination of the drugs, violent movies and revenge push Ishmael to became violent. He isn't fighting for his country, he is fighting for his rage.
DeleteI think that in a way it is justified because of the circumstances. Taking someone's life is never justified, but on the other hand this is how he is staying alive. Either he kills or gets killed.
DeleteWar in itself is unjust. Even the 'justified' wars are unjust, as justified is easily a relative term. However, as for Ishmael himself, his violence is not really his own, but it every act of violence that he commits is really an act of the government army that has programmed his brain to do so. In that case, Ishmael's acts are justified because the acts of violence are not his own.
DeleteI think the rebels do this because they don't want people to know that they are taking kids and forcing them to fight in the war.
ReplyDeletethis is to matt's question
DeleteHow much far must the Lieutenant have pushed Ishmael to earnestly believing that every rebel is responsible for his family's death, even if his family may still be alive?
ReplyDelete@Class,
ReplyDeleteDo you think that Ishmeal is taking the drugs simply for the thrill of it, or so he can possibly forget his past?
Andrew- I believe Ishmael is taking drugs to simply drain away the past. He also might take drugs to be able to relate to other soldiers.
DeleteAndrew
DeleteI think he is taking drugs because he wants to be like the others in the village, and also so that he keeps thinking that killing the people is justified.
I think that he is taking the drugs to escape his life/ his thoughts so that he can forget his past
Deletei think that he is doing drugs because he wants to look cool in front of every one.
Delete@ AndrewD
DeleteI think that Ishmeal is taking the drugs to forget about the bad things that have happened. In the book ishlmeal says the drugs are numbing but the effects where off and he needs more. I think for most of the solders are using the drugs as an escape.
Do you think that Ishmael realizes what he has done/is doing?
ReplyDeleteNo. The drugs have effected him so much that he doesn't know what he is doing.
DeleteNo he doesn't realize it at all. He is so brain washed that he doesn't have any idea what he is really doing.
DeleteI think that he knows what he is doing because he is only trying to fit in. At first when he joined the Army it was only for survival, but now he wants to be part of the group and do what everyone else does. He wants to go with the flow.
DeleteThe only way you could describe how Ishmael is feeling is numb. He is not aware of anything at this point, and it makes sense, imagine how you would feel if everyday you saw corpses of your loved ones. On pg. 95 when he finds out his family was in the house, he says " My entire body went into shock. Only my eyes moved..."
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen is Ishmael going to gain sight again of who he truly is, or will he never again be the same young boy he was?
ReplyDeleteI think the only way for Ishmael to gain sight of who he is will be if he ever meets his family again or if he is in a tough situation like having to save civilians.
DeleteI think only time will tell to see if Ishmael will be able to find out who he truly is. If he does then I think he will find out who he is by remembering is family and being able to stand up for himself. But until he can stand up for himself then he will remain lost.
DeleteHe would not have written this book if he did not recover, but his childhood was stolen from him, and in between his childhood and adulthood, a horrible life of war and violence was placed. While he does recover, he at one point says in his narration that he couldn't remember anything that happened before the war, which says to me that he will never be quite the same.
DeleteDo you think Ishmael is becoming a rebel inside towards the rebels themselves?
ReplyDeleteOn page 123 Ishmael says that after they capture the rebels in a village they round up the civilians and burn the houses. Do you think they are becoming more like the rebels or are their acts justified? Why?
ReplyDeleteThey are attacking the villages for the same reasons that the rebels are. Both armies need supplies and more ground on the other side. By attacking villages, each army obtains both. Also, if the other side occupies a town, the town is destroyed so the enemy cannot regain its advantage. In such a world like this, the two sides become nearly impossible to distinguish, and there is no lesser of two evils.
DeleteWhen Ishmael old clothes are burned what do you think that represents.
ReplyDelete@ Class
ReplyDeleteThe book doesn't mention anything about what happens to those who disobey the orders. Do you think that their are consequences for disobeying?
Yes, because they want to show that if you disobey the rules that are given you will be punished so that others will not disobey. Even though it is not mentioned in the book as you said
DeleteI think if you disobey then they send you off alone to be killed by the rebels with no protection.
DeleteI think that the only consequence that could scare anyone enough to obey the rules would be death, because in war all of those children have seen violence and the only punishment that they would fear would be death.
Deletedo people befriend us with hidden motives
ReplyDelete@Class
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think the guns mean to the child soldiers?
I think the guns show power to the child soldiers, so then become more powerful than others because they are holding something that can choose between life and death of another person
DeleteI agree with Ben, since they can represent power to some of them. My explanation is not that they are more powerful than others, but that they now have power that they never held before. For some, it means protection. For others, the only thing it means is fear, for they know that it will one day bring them to a battlefield.
Deletedo people always have different agendas than the ones that they share?
ReplyDeletedo you do this?
how would you react to being given a gun and being told to kill some one
ReplyDeleteI think I would be scared of actually killing someone. I don't think I would be able to pull the trigger.
DeleteIt depends on the situation. I wouldnt kill someone just because I'm told to. If there is a legitemate reason (such as an enemy soldier putting me/ the people I care about in danger) then yes, I would kill them.
Delete@Angelo
ReplyDeleteYes there is deffinatly consequences for disobeying orders. I feel like if they disobey they are killed or have a different punisments.
Is going to war worse than running away from war?
ReplyDeleteI think that there is no difference between going to war and running away from war because if you run from war, eventually it will catch up to you, and going to war you are basically risking your life for a cause/reason you agree with or disagree with
DeleteIf you run away from war, at least you aren't seeing as many horrific sights. In war, most people never recover.
DeleteMatt- I think there are consequences for both, running away; there is that danger if your caught you are most likely going to be killed. Going into war you are forced to kill others or be killed.
DeleteRunning away from war puts you in more danger I think. You dont have a whole army on your side, plus both the rebels and soldiers will kill you.
DeleteWill Ishmael's emotions help him or hurt him in the war?
ReplyDeleteDo you think movies vidio games and violnce you hear about make us desenthitised to violence and if so what are the effects of that?
ReplyDeletein a way yes but only in a way that when its mention we dont care but we still have moral issues with thing like that
Delete