The active reading for me is going really well so far. Personally I wish I would have started doing this a while ago because I think it can make a huge difference. In a book such as "A Long Way Gone" there are many key events as well as characters to remember so highlighting or jotting notes down in the margin helps me a lot. When I have read for books for school in the past I would have a really hard time remembering which character was who or even just the simple plot because I wasn't always very interesting in the book. However, when you can write in the them and really understanding them by highlighting things it makes a huge difference. The thing I struggle with about active reading is finding metaphors and similes. A lot of times I just begin reading and don't stop to think about finding those types of things. Overall, active reading is going really well.
I am really enjoying each book so far. My favorite would have to be "A Long Way Gone". I really like how informative and eventful the book is and how its told from his point of view so we can really tell whats going on in his life. One thing that has been a little weird is how short the stories are. I thought it would be kind of hard to understand the book because I thought there wouldn't be much information but I was wrong. The author does a really good job telling us all about the characters and giving a ton of detail through small passages.
One of the major themes in these chapters that stood out to me was survival. At one point he had walked for five days all by himself at the age of twelve. They also stole corn from a six year old because they were very desperate for food. They were always searching everywhere and had to figure out how to survive one their own. One quote that shows this theme really well would be "that night we stole peoples food as they slept. It was the only way to get through the night.". I think this shows how scared and hungry they really were. It also shows how much they had to fight to survive.
I agree with your theme choice. Survival is a major ongoing theme in Beah's book. Not just physical survival, but mental and emotional as well. Balancing those three things in a war has to be extremely hard, especially for a twelve year old.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the theme that you chose. Survival is a big part, and how a boy so young has to do it on his own at times is just devastating to read.
ReplyDeleteSurvival is an important theme in this book, I agree one hundred percent. This story is about a young boy trying to survive each day because of the war. This theme is important because it is mentioned a lot in the story. Ishmael has to survive hunger, rebels, and from his own thoughts at times.
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