Journal 5 Chase Wedding

In Chapter 17 of, A Long Way Gone, Beah begins reliving his painful memories and the migraines he gets from this are very painful as well. Esther gives him some rap music to listen to and begins asking him to try and make his own raps. As Ishmael begins opening up more, he starts to tell Esther of his war memories. Particularly one very gruesome story of surgery without pain medication. Overall, the part that seems to stick out the most is the rap relating to before the war. As well as him opening up more. Both are strongly enforced things in this book.

For my theme I figured it would revolve around the idea of him reliving his childhood. Good and Bad. The rap cassettes remind him of a more innocent time before the war. it probably reminds him of when he would listen to it with all his friends. But the other significance of his childhood is the memories he shares with Esther. They were painful to tell her but he finally opens up. These are both huge because its a different Ishmael than he was when he was in the war.

This theme is hard to relate to my own life unless I think of me moving to Arizona and then back to Ohio. I lived my teen years in AZ so when I moved back it felt like I was a kid again. All the memories I had were as a little kid. It felt extremely weird but it felt strangely home like. Obviously in contrast to my life I was not in a war as a child.

                                       This is how I imagine Beah's emotions in this chapter.