A Long Way Gone Ch. 8-9

Chapter 8 showed how lonely Ishmael was getting. He tried to shut his mind off so that he wouldn't think about all of the horrors that he had seen. He was lost in the jungle and he didn't know what to do with himself. When he finally stumbles upon six other boys that he has talked to before, but was never really close friends with, he realizes that there is still awkwardness between friends or even strangers. He also realized that it was a bad idea that he was traveling in a large group again. These chapters also show that villages of men, women, and children do not trust anyone passing through anymore. One of the villages thought that the seven boys including Ishmael were "devils" and they stripped them completely of their clothes. Once again though, Ishmael and his rap tapes and moves saved him. In the previous village though, the boy's shoes were taken away from them as a punishment for coming to that village. There feet were brutally damaged and were in a horrible condition when they stopped at a fishing hut that was apart of the village where Ishmael's music saved the boys. The man who owned the fishing hut was one of the few people that the boys have so far come into contact with that has been nice to them. Another person that was nice to them, was an old man in a village that was deserted when they heard that seven boys were approaching. This is another example of how war is turning people against others. I think that soon everyone is going to turn against each other and things will start to fall apart.