Ethyl is a fairly new character we
have recently come across, however her humane sense of kindness and loving
support makes her my favorite thus far in the book. Her demeanor is one of
sympathy and generosity, something that inevitably shows Ishmael she is a
person he can trust, and vice versa. She isn’t just a nurse checking up
routinely on her patients, quite the contrary. She takes an immediate interest
in Ishmael because she can sense he has deep oppressing demons that he shouldn’t
have to face alone. We see her generosity and caring nature when she gives
Ishmael a gift, a Walkman and rap cassettes on page 154. She knew that by only
enforcing her authority over him that it would get them nowhere, and as Ishmael
listened to the music it brought back good memories that allowed him to open up
to her. She embraced his tantrums because she knew the horrifying things that
had happened to him and that he had done himself were not his fault. She allowed
him to tell every story he wished to tell, as she would just sit quietly and
listen as shown on page 160.
I think that Ishmael’s rehabilitation
is definitely a work in progress. I think for what he has been through that he
is recovering at a very rapid pace. I think that although it is a gradual process
that he is realizing that the world and the place he is in now is a good thing
that people are trying to help and take care of him. This world is completely
different from the one he is used to with his “military family”, however he is
noticing that that is not the kind of family he neither needs nor wants. These people
in his rehabilitation center are genuinely concerned for this health and
safety, and it’s only a matter of time before he can fully trust them and
people around him in the future.
One part
of the narrative in which I thought Beah used a good convention was on page 166
in the last paragraph. I liked it because it correlates the past and the
present very well. Ishmael and Esther are on a walk in the city and he is
describing his past and the shapes he used to see in the moon. They both stared
at the moon and connected with each other in a deep and understanding way. He then
remembers his grandmother and the words she used to describe the moon to him
when he was a young boy. She would say, “In the sky there are always answers
and explanations for everything: every pain, every suffering, joy, and
confusion.” I think this also serves as a good foreshadowing for his life and
his troubles during the war, and to now with Esther looking up at the moon and
remembering these words of his grandmother.
One
passage that really stood out to me was on page 149 with the middle passage. It
explains how he has to relearn how to sleep because of his night tremors. “I
would dream that a faceless gunman had tied me up and begun to slit my throat
with the zigzag edge of his bayonet. I would feel the pain that the knife
inflicted as the man sawed my neck.” This passage is a vital part in realizing
just how bad the danger Ishmael was put in. It is also a heart wrenching part to
read because Ishmael is just a boy and the fact that he has already gone
through these traumatic affairs is extremely devastating and honestly hard to
wrap my mind around.
Oh my goodness, the passage that you chose to share was a scary one indeed! I thought it was really well written and would scare anyone if they had dreams such as those. I like how you related his dreams into real life and that his dreams are a product of what he has suffered through.
ReplyDeleteI really like your character that you chose and how you admired her sense of kindness. It reminds me of the nurse that I chose to write about. These characters are the ones that always seem to have the most impact.
ReplyDelete