Sunday, February 14, 2016

Journal #5- John Hunter Bayer



In chapter 17 of A Long Way Gone, Ishmael begins to make more trips the hospital after a couple months after his last visit. The chapter explains his visit with him getting a gift from Esther. It is rap music in a cassette for him. The next events of the chapter is Beah having a flashback to when he was hospitalized during his time in the government military. He talks about getting shot and feeling numb, to demanding drugs to ease the pain. The chapter then follows Beah and Esther to their trip to the city. After the trip to the city, Beah explains how he begins to enjoy his trips to the hospital to visit Esther.

I think this theme of this chapter is the friend he makes in Esther. This whole chapter shows how Esther is trying to connect to Ishmael by giving him gifts of items he enjoyed in his past, or listening to his war stories. She wants to help him by understanding who he once was and know what he has been through. She is very consistent in this chapter and is almost with Ishmael the whole time. This chapter is trying to explain how Esther is becoming a big part of his life and will help him gain back what he has lost.

The theme of this chapter can connect to alot of moments in my life. but i think the best moment that fits this was when my friend had to come back to normal life after being in a mental hospital for a month. He was isolated for a long time and had to get used to life again where he left off. No one didnt know how to help him except for me. I was Esther to him while he was Beah to me. I greatly understand what its like to see some people get used to there old life.
Image result for cassette and tape players
A cassette Player, like the one given to Beah from Esther.

2 comments:

  1. I like the theme you seen in this chapter. It is like Esther does not want to give on Beah even though he does not want to trust anyone. However, she eventually she gets him to open up to an extent. Good for you not giving up on your friend even though it must have been hard to see him like that. I say we all have our own Esther in our lives.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've also had a few friends struggle adapting to our everyday life after coming out of a hospital. It's so hard to watch them struggle when you just want to take their pain away. I loved how Ishmael said that he had to live with one war but Esther had to live with many. I feel like that's how it is for everyone when they try to help someone else. It's like they're living that life too.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.