"Sacrifice"

This memoir ends with a striking image, as Ishmael sees a mother telling her two children a story that he had also heard as a child. It's a memorable fable that touches on several key themes of the book, including violence, family, storytelling, childhood, and African village life. But it also carries a message of sacrifice. Discuss how this last message reverberates throughout the entire memoir.

Further: What kind of sacrifices have you made in your life?
Now please take time to critique one of your classmate's comments. Remember that good comments justify, specify, argue, extend, question, explain or elaborate!

"We are not the same."

During the time that Ishmael spends with the RUF, his lieutenant makes the following statement: "We are not like the rebels, those riffraffs who kill for no reason" (p. 123). Is this true? Why or why not? Are they different because they believe differently? Or are they the same even though they fight on the opposite side?

Further: What does the lieutenant's statement reveal/indicate about war?

Choice

At the village of Yele, a pivotal shift in this memoir begins when Ishmael goes from being an observer and victim of savage, war-triggered violence to being both of these things as well as a perpetrator of such violence. On page 107, Ishmael indicates that they "had no choice." Do you agree? Did Ishmael and his companions have any choice at all? Or were they condemned to become brutal killers?

Further, how powerful do you think the value of choice is in your life?

"Violence is Cool"

Prior to the first chapter, Ishmael describes a brief conversation he had with his high school friends in New York City. How do you feel about his friends' response that seeing people running around and shooting each other is cool? Do you think that response is an expected one for students here in the United States? If so, what do you think has attributed to thinking things like that are cool?

Now please take time to critique one of your classmate's comments. Remember that good comments justify, specify, argue, extend, question, explain or elaborate!