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Unusual Normalites By Ishmael Beah Sparknotes

617 Words3 Pages

Hunter Davis
Mr.Werley
English lll
9 March 2023
Unusual Normalites
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As a young kid, Ishmael had a terrible life in sierra leone [5]. A war had started in his country, sierra leone, and at 12, he became an orphan because his family had passed away in the war. This led to Ishmael having to get adopted; Ishmael came to new york when he was 17, and he met his new mother; she was “standing there with a beaming smile”[5]
Ishmael had never had nice clothes before; while he and his new adoptive mom were shopping, he always dreamed of escaping the war and being a “normal kid” Ishmael, and his new mom went to a Chinese restaurant. In his fortune cookie, “you will get new clothes” [5] ishmael can now believe that dreams do come true, it just takes time and patience …show more content…

Beah describes the difficulty of readjusting to normal life and the struggle to find a sense of belonging and purpose.

Beah begins his essay by describing the surreal experience of returning to his village after the war. He writes, "Everything seemed so normal, and yet it was all so surreal." Beah had spent years as a child soldier, forced to commit acts of violence and witness unspeakable atrocities. Now, back in his home village, he struggled to reconcile his experiences with the everyday life around him.

One of the biggest challenges Beah faced was reconnecting with his family. He writes about the awkwardness and discomfort of trying to rebuild relationships that had been shattered by the war. He felt like a stranger in his own home and struggled to communicate with his parents and siblings. Beah writes, "I had grown accustomed to living a life without much communication, and now that I was back in a place where communication was necessary, I didn't know how to do

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“I still held my uncle in my arms, tears running down my face. My entire body had gone numb. I couldn’t move from where I sat,” (Beah 208). Beah loved his uncle so much since he was part of his family and was the one person that took him in. At the sight if his death he was deeply saddened unlike the times he was deaths during the war.

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