Journal 6- Jake Goedde

The character who has meant the most to me thus far is defiantly Esther. She really shows that she wants to help these child soldiers and wants to make a difference in their life. Like she does with Beah she takes him in as one of hers for the short time she's with him and treats him like a son. "Esther put her arms around me and pulled me closer to her. She shook me to full attention before she started. "Think of me as your family, your sister"(Beah pg.167). This passage really shows that difference Esther is trying to making in Beah's life after all of the hardships he's been through.

Ishmael's rehabilitation has been working for sure. The place has changed him into a hardworking kid and is trying to get his mind off the war. He visited New York to present to people about the effect on child soldiers and how dangerous it could be. He went from having no family at all because they died in war to the rehabilitation center finding his uncle so he can start a new life with a new family. I would accept Beah to move into my neighborhood because I believe in change. This book just shows you how much he changes throughout it. He went from doing drugs and killing a lot of rebels for payback, to actually being a nice kid and trying to change other kids lives. He went through a lot in war to get him where he is now but he is a hardworking and brave kid with all he has been through.

One thing I liked was when Mohamed and Esther lifted Beah up and carried him back to the hospital and at the hospital Esther put the Bob Marley cassette on the tape player, and they all began to sing "Three Little Birds" together. "don't worry about a thing, because everything is going to be alright"(pg. 173). This passage shows how much music means to their ears and how much just listening to music changes their mood and helps them a lot. I can relate to this because music is my happiness and whenever I put music on it changes my mood dramatically for the good, it helps me get through my day and am just like Beah, extremely passionate for music.

"When we entered the city, it seemed as if someone had lit the many tall buildings that shot into the sky. From afar, someone of the buildings looked as if they were made of colorful lights"(pg. 194). I really like this passage because it really brings out NYC in the novel and how Beah is trying tom portray it. From my own experience of being to NYC it is exactly like this quote from what Beah says, the huge buildings and the lights that bring out the city. This quote impacted me because when Ishmael goes to the city to speak about his experiences of a child soldier he connects to the city and loved his time there, just like when I went New York I became extremely connected to the place and enjoyed every second I had there.