There is not a finite number of times you need to contribute; rather, I will check to see that you are thoughtfully and consistently contributing. If you wait to post until 20 minutes into our fishbowl or you post once and are dormant for 15 minutes, that indicates that you're not using your time thoughtfully. If this is because you're a slow typist or perhaps you struggle with the multi-tasking nature of this activity, choose another way to show your understanding . If lack of focus continues to be a problem, you will be asked to hand-write a response to our next fishbowl or to verbally participate only.
A couple of things to keep in mind :
- This is an academic assignment. It should be properly written and proofread rather than assuming the appearance of a text message.
- If addressing one person's post, respond to that discussion thread.
- Support your thinking with evidence from the text
- Contextualize question in specific passages or plot points
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ReplyDeleteI don't think that I could ever take the life of another, even if the person that might be taken from me would be family.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that Ishmael will become desensitized if he isn't already?
ReplyDeleteIshmael most likely won't be desensitized. He will probably always feel bad about the deaths that have to come, but it has to happen in order for him to survive.
DeleteI think that Ishmael will become more desensitized after seeing more deaths. I think he will reach a certain point that it won't put him in as much shock as it did in the first couple of chapters.
DeleteI think that Ishmael will be desensitized. Murder is probably going to become part of the routine, and he is going to try to accept his actions by desensitizing himself from them. After a few months of being away from the war, I predict that he is going to start to experience a PTSD sort of thing, and remember the brutality of the war, and negatively react to these memories.
DeleteBut do life/death situations change your morals?
ReplyDeleteIf the moral has to do with family I don't think the morals would change because family will almost always be there for you no matter what. But if you go against those morals and you go against your family all you'll have is yourself.
DeleteIf I had the choice to either to kill someone to save my family, I would do it because I would do anything to save them and keep them safe
ReplyDeleteWhy did Beah decide to go on by himself?
ReplyDeleteWhy wouldn't you save your family member Trent?
ReplyDeleteIt goes against my moral beliefs. I could never take the life of another living person, or animal. Even if my family was going to get hurt as a cause of not killing another.
DeleteI would kill someone because its survival of the fittest and if my family was sure to be safe i would sadly kill someone
ReplyDeleteI would definitely kill someone in order to keep my family safe no matter what. Even though it will haunt me for the rest of my life, I will sleep at night knowing that it isn't my fault one of m family members is dead.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea. I agree with Trent because although I would love to save my family from death in a situation like that It would just be too difficult mentally for me to actually kill a person.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely try everything I could to get out of having to kill people but when it really came down to the choice of someone else's life or my family I'm not sure what I would do... I like to think I wouldn't be able to take another life but I'm not sure if iI would or not
ReplyDeleteI think that know one truly know what they would do in that situation unless you are in it. For us we say that we never could but we dont know what they are going through.
ReplyDeleteYeah I definitely agree, you cant know what you would do in this situation because you've never been in it.
Deletethat survival of the fittest is in all of us, it takes place in almost every book that has violence. Predestined in our DNA
ReplyDeleteA interesting topic that I would like to write about is a point that Dom brought up. If the rebels make you kill as a form of initiation, it comes down to your morals and how closely you follow them. There is no guarantee that they wont kill you after you have killed somebody else. Do you value your own life more than somebody elses? Could you live with yourself with the memory of killing an innocent person?
ReplyDeleteI don't value my life more than any others. I believe that everyone has self importance, but from some odd reason I think that if it came down to even my life being in danger, I still wouldn't take the life of another living being.
DeleteI would have to value my own life and kill someone to protect my family from harm. Knowing that if I killed someone the guilt would get to me sooner or later and will eat me up knowing I had killed someone. The phrase "The strong will survival" it's similar to kill or get kill if I don't kill them they would kill me.
Deletea mindset he needs is to do the things he hates A.K.A stealing food, supplies and even if he was desperate enough join the rebals
ReplyDeleteI think that what is driving ismeal to keep going is to find his brother
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ReplyDeleteHow far would you go to save your friends and family?
ReplyDeleteI might kill someone in self-defense, but never an innocent person. I would kill for my family, I think anyone would, but WHO I would kill for them is a different question.
DeleteI think that the reason on why he kept on going without sleeping is because he wants to be as far away from all of the chaos and death. That he will do anything to not have to go back there again
ReplyDeleteDo you think that is inspirational?
Deletei think life and death situations do change your morals, because a lot of people have killed to save themselves
ReplyDeleteIf it came down to it, I'm sure all of us would step in and kill someone to save our family. I think most of say we would not, is because we have never been put in a situation where that is even an available option,
ReplyDeleteI agree with this, but other people deserve to live just as much as the other, especially if they haven't done anything wrong.
DeleteTrent, That is true, but in a case like this I think you lose all of your morals and will do anything for you and your loved ones alive, that is our nature. We are not designed to be caring, thoughtful creatures, but selfish monsters.
DeleteNot in the case win you value other peoples lives more than your own, such as me. When you don't care about yourself like me, everything loses importance, and life is just a game, in which you wait for death to fall upon you.
DeleteI think that having to take care of himself from a young age has made him more mature today. This allows him to rely on himself and not really need help from other people.
ReplyDeletehow does taking care of himself effect him today, he acts like a normal adult; he eats, sleep and has a job but, he might be more independent than most people
ReplyDeleteJust like in The Lord of the Flies, the idea of beasts inside all of us shows in Ishmael's story
ReplyDeleteI think it is very interesting how Zack mentioned how Ishmael noticing and appreciating nature more because i think that now that all of the love and important people in his like are being drawn out of it. Therefore, i believe, that Ishmael is able to see beauty in the world around him and seeing that beauty is encouraging Ishmael to do all he can to stay alive.
ReplyDeleteEven though you may or may not have liked the person you have to kill, you would still would still have to overwhelming feeling that you took another life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kamron I would probably do anything to save my family especially in a situation like this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ally, the extreme of just saying we would kill someone to save a family member would feel way different than being in the situation.
ReplyDeleteI think that my first reaction would to be save my family and kill the person but then I would start thinking about it and then have to make the decision.
ReplyDeleteDo you guys think when Ishmael grows up, he will regret the choices he made during all of this? Like stealing from a younger boy or standing by as rebels killed innocent people?
ReplyDeleteI think he will always feel bad and be scared but at the same time he knows that he did what he had to do to survive.
DeleteI do think that Ishmael will regret the things he did. But at the same time I think he was put in a life or death situation, and in order to survive he had to steal from the little boy.
DeleteI agree 100%. I don't think that he should ever have to feel guilt about these things that if he was in his right mind, he would never do. Why do you think we lose our morals in a life or death situation? Don't you think those are they most important?
DeleteI do think that if a person was not close to you in any way that there would be a different mindset than if there were a person that was like your brother, but it is no different either way because you are still taking a human life.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that your true colors show when you are put into a situation you can't control?
ReplyDeleteI think this is true
DeleteI agree with Eric
DeleteNo. I don't think that spur of the moment decisions define your character. I think Ismael will be faced with many choices that don't reflect his personal morals, just because he is in an uncontrollable situation. I believe that how you react to tough situations shows your true colors, not necessarily what you do in those tough situations, if that makes any sense. For example, Ishmael wrote this book rather than choosing to let his uncontrollable situation run his life. He defeated the odds, displaying his true colors.
DeleteI agree with Addie. I dont think people are really themselves in these types of situations. Something has to happen to you in order to kill someone.
DeleteIs it better in that situation to not exactly be close to your family?
ReplyDeletei think it would easier because it wouldn't be as hard to let them go if they died.
DeleteZach also brings up a good point, I chose nature as my motif because it is the most common motif. Not because I am lazy, but because it occurs often to Ishmael. The way I see it, if a young mind is exposed to great violence and is not sure how to handle it, peace becomes more apparent. Moments that would normally not be of value suddenly are priceless. Any moment not filled with gunfire and blood becomes a moment of grace and peace. Nature represents peace and serenity when described by Ishmael.
ReplyDeleteI definitively agree and think that these hard moments on Ishmael will damage him so much as a person, but also help him to grow as a person and see more beauty in everyday scenarios that many of us overlook. Once Ishmael is older and forgives himself and can look back on this situation he will be able to reflect and see how these situations did benefit him in some ways. For example, seeing beauty in the world.
DeleteI think that in desperate situations peoples morals do change because there comes a point that you could either choose to save your own life or someone else's and I think most people would choose to save their own.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that that is true though, I like to believe that if I were in that situation, I would do everything I could to save someone else. Plus, if you did choose to save yourself, I think you would feel an overwhelming sense of guilt afterward.
DeleteI do not know if deep down I would have the mental and emotional ability to take the life of another. I think that if i did do that for the rest of my life I would just feel surrounded by regret and helplessness. I would not be able to redeem happiness.
DeleteI dont think that we can answer the question "would you kill to save your family" sitting in English class. We could only answer the question if we were actually in that situation
ReplyDeletemany of us would say "if they are safe..." Or "I would save myself." But many of us can say cause of human instincts that we could and we would
DeleteAlly, there is no way he could possibly think back to the horrible things he HAD to do as a kid and feel bad, after all, he was forced to do all of the terrible things.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the children in this book have been forced to act like men and grow up faster then they should in order to survive?
ReplyDeleteyes cause if you acted like a normal 13 year old (around that age) You could be killed or captured very easliy
DeleteI do think that then boys in this book have had to grow up faster in order to survive because if they hadn't they would probably die.
DeleteI think if you didn't grow up like most of the children you would have died for sure instead of having a chance to live.
DeleteYes because kids fare being forced to be soldiers when adults should be the ones recruited as soldiers. Also, they make the child soldiers murder a ton of people and destroy villages and I think that can really mess people up.
DeleteI agree with Haley, our basic instincts tell us to save ourselves first, regardless of your moral beliefs. To do otherwise take far more time to consider and act upon than the time you would have in a life or death situation.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that since these children are forced to grow up so fast, it will take a toll on their future?
ReplyDeleteyes Im sure that later in life they will have physiological problems because they were forced to develop and think like grow people so fast
DeleteI think that since they lost their childhood, they will not be the same person as they would have been. The loss of a childhood can make people shy away from tasks or come across mean to other people.
DeleteI think that they will look at things differently because of growing up to fast, But it can also be a good thing they might become very successful because they will be mature and know what decisions to make.
DeleteI think that since he didn't really have parents, he wanted to prove to his brother that he could act like a grown up because he didnt want to think of his brother as a dad but as a brother. I think that he wants to prove to Junior that he can protect him and be there for him too.
ReplyDeleteI think that at this point of the story it is very important to be close to your family because they are the only people left that you can truly trust. But that might change throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteBut on the other hand, if you get to close to your family at this time and the end up passing, which is very likely. You will go into a state of depression with every member that passes, making your chances of death at a higher risk.
DeleteResponding to Dom's question, I think that Ishmael does not have to redeem himself. He did what he had to do to survive and he knows that.
ReplyDeleteIf you are a child around the age of 6 or 7 and you are forced to grow up very fast and forced to kill, how do you suppose you would recover from that?
ReplyDeletemany organizations have programs to help child soliders and kids tramatized from it all
DeleteI dont really think you would recover. It would chang you as a person probably forever
DeleteI agree with the general, there's a whole different meaning to things when survival is the outcome.
ReplyDeleteDo you think killing innocent people in war is any different than any innocent person you see like on the street?
ReplyDeleteI think that if you killing an innocent person in war is no different from killing an innocent person on the street because if they are innocent that means that they deserve to live and they shouldnt be killed
DeleteBeing accustomed to violence might make it easier for me to kill them for the benefit of my family though, because violence would seem like more of a casualty.
ReplyDelete