Compare/Contrast: A Long Way Gone

In the book A Long Way Gone the author Ishmael Beah chooses to start his novel off in the first chapter by using the method of comparing and contrasting.  This method is used to demonstrate Ishmael's concept of war before his village is attacked to his confusion and fear when he has to deal with the reality of the civil war taking place once it invades his home. There were many refugees that came to his village that were hungry and exhausted. However it was their tormented minds that he noticed appeared the most damaged part of them. It all seemed to be a foreign language that he was not the least bit familiar with. On page 6 the book states, "My imagination at ten years old didn't have the capacity to grasp what had taken away the happiness of the refugees." Ishmael said this because even if he and his friends had been told the truth of how the war would affect them once it hit their home, they would've refused to believe it because they couldn't wrap their heads around the thought of it being real. At their age they simply didn't have the knowledge to imagine the horrors. This comparison and contrast is important because it establishes the child Ishmael was before he was kidnappped to the soldier he is going to become later. Ishmael's village used to be an isolated and peaceful place. He recalled his childhood before the war fondly. His loss of his innocence is obvious. He remember's how kind his grandmother was and advice she gave before the war. He's comforted by her words still.

Synthesis: Saint Anything

I need something new to happen that I can base my life upon.

Something never ending that stays with me on and on.

Months pass by and everything is the same.

All of my good days drift into hard ones filled with dismay.

I tell myself tomorrow is the day.

But tomorrow comes then before I can change it goes away.

My desire to become myself grows more and more.

So close but so far, I wonder what I have in store.

The life I crave is getting closer each day.

All I've ever wanted is to be seen.

Not as a shadow but as me.

I need to find something to live for.

I can't keep being this small invisible person anymore.

I've been basing my life off of what other people think.

I wish I could redo my brother's trouble and make the problems shrink.

I'm fighting to become who I am and who I want to be.

Soon enough the fight will be worth it when I am free.

Free from the strict plain life I began to live as a young child.

Before the trouble started everything was just a game and life was very mild.

Times kept on changing and now nothing seems fair.

Sometimes it really seems like nobody cares.

It feels like nobody pays attention to what is best for me.

No one cares about what I think about the way some things should be.

I'm becoming my own person with the help of new friends.

But in my house with my family, I am on my own.

In my home it's as if my potential will never be known.

I think about so many things that I cannot say, things I have to keep in.

The guilty feeling eats away at me which makes my thoughts deepen.

I know soon I will push through.

To become who I am and what I'm meant to be as long as I stay true.

Truw to myself because I am not my brother.

I am making everybody look at me for me.

Now everyone can finally see.

My name is not Peyton, I am just Sydney.

Evaluation: Saint Anything

The most important character to this story is Layla Chatham. Sydney meets Layla and her life instantly becomes better. Layla is the first person who really sees Sydney for herself, not just her brother's shadow. The first time Sydney ever saw Layla was when he brother was in court. Sydney had come out of the bathroom upset about what was going on and when she looked up a stranger was staring back into her eyes silently asking her if she was okay. It was a small gesture but it was filled with meaning to her because she had always been invisible to the rest of the world including her own family. A stranger had noticed her and even if it was only for a split second, she didn't feel invisible for the first time since she was a kid. Sydney transfers schools to a public school because she wants a new start to her life where nobody knows anything about her and her past. Almost as if by some strange miracle she sees the stranger she had seen a while ago at court that day and ends up becoming best friends with her. Layla was dropped into her life like a present. Layla brings Sydney out of her comfort zone. When they talk for some reason whenever Sydney looks into Layla’s eyes she is completely honest with what is on her mind. Only the truth is told when they are talking about something serious. Sydney doesn't give Layla the usual short automatic responses that she gives everybody else to avoid getting close with anybody. She talks to Layla about everything that's been eating away at her. She tells Layla about her family history and how she takes on the guilt of what Peyton did to her family and to another family. She talks about how her parents only focus on her brother. Layla never judges Sydney no matter what she is being told; she just gives her honest real advice. She's a true friend which is exactly what Sydney needs when she and Layla meet. Sydney starts spending more and more time at the Chatham household. Layla is the reason why Sydney eventually stands up to her parents, because she feels like for the first time she has people in her life who really care about her wellbeing. Layla opens up Sydney’s eyes to look at things a little differently. They also have more things in common than Sydney would have guessed so it makes it easier for Layla to relate to Sydney. All of Sydney’s friends from her old school had perfect lives and although they tried to understand Sydney always felt as if they never truly got it. If Layla didn't exist as a character the whole story would be different. Sydney never would've become her own person which she had been trying so hard to do for such a long time. She would still be walking around as the ghost of Peyton allowing her parents to make her own needs seem unimportant in the greater scheme of everything going on. Layla is the reason why Sydney stops being a wallflower. She's is by far the most important character to the overall plot of this novel because she made the biggest impact.