Real World

Considering all of the violence that transpired in Africa, I was wondering why we do nnot hear about it more in the United States. When I think of Africa, the first thing that comes into my mind is AIDS. I knew that wars had occured, but I had not idea it was so bad over there. I wonder why reporters, nespapers, television, etc... do not focus on the war in Sierra Lone like they do on the war in the middle east. It saddens me to think that there are so many suffering just like Ishmael, and we know nothing about it. It makes me, personally, feel ignorant to what is going on in our world.

My World History teacher from last year used to tell all of us that we lived in "our own little bubbles, not in the real world." To a certain extent that is true, but the real world seems so dangerous and scary. Ishmael lives in the "real world" and he is running from death all the time, is traveling with different friends constantly, and has a very rough life. Is that what the real world is like? Death and violence repeated over and over again? While reading this book, I am mroe grateful than ever for my "little bubble" because I do not think I would be equipped to handle a life like Ishmael's.

It is said that war changes people. I know that this is true, but I do not think I fully understood the extent of it. When Ishmael joins the army, he changes drastically. Ishmael used to run from the army, and the army shattered his life, because of the war. When Ishmael kills people and takes that lightly, that shocked me. At the very beginning of the book, when Ishmael sees everyone hurt, wounded, and alone he is affected by it. When Ishmael saw the man whose body parts had been torn off by a machete, he throws up. Now, Ishmael can be someone who he used to run from-someone who raids villages, kills people, and now shatters other people's lives.