Monday, November 30, 2015

A Long Way Gone Chapter 6-11


CHAPTER 6-11


From where I last left off from chapter five Ishamel, Junior and Tallio were being chased by rebels, that was trying to kill them and make them join their group. During their travels, the boys meet a woman who tells them that Gabriella’s aunt is in a village called Kamator, and they decide to seek shelter there. They arrive in time to be part of the planting season and are given the job of clearing the land. They farm with the villagers for three months before the rebels arrive and they are forced to abandon the land without ever seeing the fruits of their labor. During the attack, the group is separated, and Ishmael never sees Junior again. From reading what I read, this chapter reveals a breakdown in trust among the villagers that had been a strong bond before the war. Ishmael, Junior, and their friends agree to stay together, but they realize that their grouping as six young men frightens the villagers that they encounter. There were rumors of bands of boys sent by the rebels to kill and terrorize the villages. Before the war, their group would have been taken in by any village, fed, and cared for, but due to the fear of attacks, Ishmael, Junior, and their friends are shunned.


As nights and nights went by Ishamel struggles to sleep because the thought of him losing his brother never left his mind. After multiple nights of starvations and hiding Ishamel finds Kalako in a nearby village that he was passing through and stayed for a little until it was time to embark on his own journey, because the silence and fear within the village was unbearable for him. The treatment of the imam, a highly religious and revered spiritual leader, shows the rebel's disregard for the village structure and morality. They burn his body publicly as a threatening symbol to the villagers and leave his remains to be eaten by dogs. This shows that they respect no authority but their own and will go to any length to terrorize the people. The lesson that I took from the behavior of the rebels was that you either get down with what they are doing or be put down in gruesome way so that they can earn their respect. 

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