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?
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I disagree with "we are not the same" sentence because people are form by one. Rebels are not that different. They kill people for reason which is rebels hate riffraff. All of the people have brain that mean, people are thinking and saying before do it stuff. However, riffraff kill rebel too because they hate it each other. It is same things. Therefore are they the same even though they fight on the opposite side.
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ReplyDeleteThey are absolutely the same!Both the rebels and the army used children for their war because they could control children easily.They gave them food and drugs so that the children who were starving and so tired of running away from war would be dependent.Moreover, they filled these immature minds with the revenge.Through the conversation of the children who were rescured,we knew that both of these groups forced children killed people,burned villages and ill treated people just because those people were so greedy,selfish and heartless.Their reasons-fighting for peace or freedom-were just sophistical,none of them was real.
ReplyDeleteHis statement shows us the war that was happening at that moment is nonsense.People were fighting without reason,they killed whoever didn't wear the same outfit or didn't have the same symbols.Moreover,his statement also tells us that the trust among people was hidden by who had evil intensions.They made people not to believe each other and then hurt each other,or even kill them.
Ngan definetly has a good point. I agree with her completely. Both sides are using children to fight the war and only through their adolescence and naivity are they succeeding. If the children were older and more aware, well first of all they wouldn't be children anymore, but they would know that killing the innocent is bad. Even in wars with against two "professional" factions, killing unarmed civilians or even soldiers was considered terribly wrong; to this day, too. No, they are not different because they fight on opposite sides. Sometimes people can say we are different because we fight for something else, but in the end it all boils down to the end result; the ultimatum. What the lieutenant says about war is very blunt and simple. War is the same for everyone. It does nothing but bring despair and death to others and that man is flawed with this.
ReplyDelete--Victor Ng
This war is strange in its nature. In the case of the Generals, yes the sides matter, yes one is better than the other, and yes one is right one is wrong. But in the case of the soldiers, which is mostly children, they are fighting because they were forced too. This does'nt make it right or wrong for them to kill each other, nor should it be looked at this way. Thats why I disagree with Victor. The children are killing each other for one reason: their own survival. And that is all that matters, no other fact makes a difference, end of story. It is necessary and there should be no regrets.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Ngan is definitely right. They end up becoming those "riffrafs who kill people for no reason." Even though they are fighting off the 'bad guys', they become no better when they began to do the same things to the rebels as the rebels did to them. They start doing things like torturing the rebels and cheering when one of them makes a good kill. So even though they are killing for the right cause, they eliminate their good by doing the bad that the rebels did. The lieutenant's statement, "We kill them for the good and betterment of this country," sums up how the actions of what they are doing are no better than what the rebels are doing. It's funny cause the rebels would say the exact same thing.
ReplyDeleteI diagree with the lieutenant's oppionion that they are different from the rebels. There is no absolute good nor absolute evil. No one cannot judge what is right and what is wrong but the God. Also looking at the literary point, I think that one of the factors that made rebels more cruel is military and people themselves. Because they tried to kill them without question. It is like killing all Arabs because some Arabs terrored. I do not know the exact political situation in their country; however, I think that they are not looking for alternative solution but killing each other.
ReplyDeleteI believe that even though the rebels come into the villages looting and killing people, they are taking part in these horrid actions for the same reason as Ishmael and his friends; for food and shelter. Let's face it, in the environment that Ishmael and his friends are in, it is hard to survive. From dogs eating their food, to the constant threat of being killed, the rebels and the villagers have somewhat of a right to obtain food,water, and shelter by any means necessary.
ReplyDeleteas far as people not being the same, i believe in this situation the two sides of the problem are both the same. one reason is because of the brutal slaughters that they are committing of some innocent people is labeling everybody that has a gun as the same. another reason is because the war has been taken so far to the point as where people dont even know to what cause they are even fighting for any more. its almost as if they went from killing for a purpose to just killing because they have been given a gun, and a guns purpose is to kill.
ReplyDeleteBoth sides are equally as cruel towards the other, and it seems that both sides commit the same crimes against humanity. No one is fighting for a cause anymore, and many people who have been forced to take sides are killing because they are in a kill or be killed situation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jared and Andreas! I think to the Generals and officers there is a difference because they know more about what they are fighting for than the soldiers (children). The soldiers don't know as much because they were forced and chosen to be brought into the war and fight. And, the majority of them are all children so they definitely don't understand the difference; they just want to survive. On Andreas' point, I think that most of the Generals (etc.) lost the main cause and point that they started fighting for in the first place.
ReplyDeleteTechnically the rebels and the army are the same because they are both killing people and have lost sight on what they were fighting about in the first place. i agree with andreas about how they are forcing kids into killing, and both sides are equally in the wrong.
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