19-20

19-20
Blog
Luke Beckman



Chapter 19 starts with Ishmael being told that he has been officially repatriated into society. He starts to finally feel guilt for the things he has done, and starts to ask himself, “why did I survive the war, why did most of my friends die instead of me?” Ishmael is later officially moved into his uncles house, where he is too live out the rest of his childhood. He says good by to Alhaji, who saluted him and called him his squad leader. Ishmael didn’t hug him, but patted him on the shoulder. They never saw each other again. When Ishmael gets to his uncles house, he has trouble adjusting to his new life. He went to a club and danced, but when a girl came back and wanted to be his girlfriend, he was reluctant. He eventually broke up with her because she asked so many questions about where was he from. Later on in the chapter, he is asked to go for an interview to see if he could represent child soldiers in the area at New York at the U.N. capital. He went to the building and was surprised at how large it was. When he entered, he didn’t know what an elevator was, and didn’t know how it worked. The other boys around him did, and they got up to the interview. All Ishmael said was that he was a child soldier for 2 years and the man smiled. As it turned out Ishmael was chosen to go to New York. At first, his uncle didn’t believe him. But when Ishmael left, he did. When Ishmael came to New York, he was stunned at how cold it was. He said no one could possible live here. Then when they entered the main portion of the city, he was amazed at all of the lights and the extremely tall buildings. He went to the hotel to stay, and didn’t know why it was so hot inside. It turned out he had the heater on full blast and didn’t know it.
Chapter 20 was about him at the U.N. He met many other people from countries around the world, all of which had had a very troubled childhood, much like Ishmael. They had a breakfast together and then went to the U.N. HQ. they gave speeches about what they were going through and why they needed help, and they all felt good that they might just get something done about what was going on. In the evenings, the kids would just go into the city and stand there, looking at all the stuff going on. Ishmael would call his uncle, and he told him he had never seen so many white people in one place. He also met his future foster mother, who was one of the U.N. organizers. She was very kind to him, and would eventually take him in as a son. The chapter ends with Ishmael heading home.