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A Character Analysis Of 'Ishmael In The Book'

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Coming back into a normal life after leading one of death, pain, and suffering, is much harder than becoming the killer that causes this pain and suffering. Like most people, Ishmael goes through a stage in his life through which he must work to overcome. Ishmael, however, must go through something most people can only imagine, and regaining one’s humanity is almost impossible. This idea, while shown throughout the entire reading, is represented best when Ishmael says “ I became angry and regretted that I had told someone, a civilian, about my experience. I hated the “It’s not your fault” line that all the staff members said every time spoke about the war” (Beah 160). This is showing that he had told someone and was getting better already, however he still thought that they were …show more content…
While on pages 104-111 he is scared by the guns, he is already laughing at the idea of gasoline burning a rebel home. (113) As he progresses through the war, he begins to kill and raid with a passion that he believes to be his own willingness to fight. For example, on page 119 he says “I angrily pointed my gun into the swamp and killed more people, I killed everything that moved”. This is why he, and all the other boys, are upset when the adults say it is not your fault. He is officially in the “killing stage” of his life when he says “We went out two more times that week and I had no problem shooting my gun.” He is in this stage for a while and, when he gets taken from his superiors by UNICEF, on page 128 and 129, he is starting the new phase of his life in which there are no drugs, guns, or suffering to a large extent. It is shown many times that this transition is difficult and his body and mind resists it on multiple occasions. Firstly, his body goes through withdrawal symptoms on a daily basis for weeks. On another occasion, he goes to class and studies math and reading all for the sake of going to the city on the

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