Summer+Reading

=English 2 Summer Reading Assignment=


 * Read //A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier// by Ishmael Beah**

AND


 * Respond to EACH of the following prompts in short essay form (150 words):**

1. Define dehumanization and discuss the process of dehumanization Beah underwent throughout his time in the war. Does he ever gain back his humanity? How and at what point in the memoir?

2. Discuss the transformation of Beah over time. Address how he morphed physically, emotionally, spiritually, and socially as a result of his experiences in the civil war.

3. What do you consider to be the turning point(s) of the memoir? Explain what happened at this juncture and why it was so significant to Beah’s journey.

4. Discuss the role of nature in //A Long Way Gone//. How was the natural world both a friend and foe to Beah on his journey? Choose a scene from the book to support your answer.

5. Beah said he operated in three worlds: his past, his present and his dreams. Why do you think Beah chose to structure his story in this manner as opposed to chronologically? What was the purpose of including his dreams in his storytelling?

6. Several people told Beah and other boy soldiers, “It’s not your fault.” Do you believe Beah was innocent or not? What defines innocence?

7. To what do you attribute Beah’s survival: faith, self-reliance, or something else?

8. Can we trust or believe Beah’s description of his experience as a boy soldier? How does writing a memoir complicate the notion of a reliable narrator?