A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider (Chapters 17 & 18)

Lily Tikijian
October 28, 2008
Literature Period 6
Mrs. Pfanschmidt

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider
Chapters 17 & 18

I loved these two chapters. They were so upbeat and happy, the total opposite of the rest in the book. Ishmael is starting to make connections again. He makes a big connect with a nurse named Esther. She buys him gifts and put music back into his life. She buys him a rap cassette that he listens to everything he goes to visit her. He develops a very strong bond with her and lets her into his life which I have to imagine would be very hard. He tells her about the dreams he has and she tells him what she thinks they mean. Ishmael is also reunited with Mohamed, a childhood friend. Even later in the book, Ishmael even finds out her has an uncle. Everything is turning for the better. Ishmael now has people who care about him in his life, he is happier, and he is not longer drugged. These chapters made me feel a lot better about reading the book knowing that not everything in Ishmael’s like was terrible.