Katherine Grossman Chestnut Honors English IV 8 March 2024 A Long Way Gone vs Born to Run What kind of music did you listen to as a kid? Were you stuck listening to your parents' music, or did you find the music you like on your own? The music we listen to as children has a major impact on our future lives; that impact can just be nostalgia for your childhood, comfort when you need it, or a fundamental influence on a child's mind that they carry with them for the rest of their life. Two people who have had a musical impact that has been large on their lives are Ishmael Beah and Bruce Springsteen. Ishmael Beah is an author and former child soldier in the Sierra Leone civil war, and Bruce Springsteen is a singer-songwriter who grew up in …show more content…
He found the music through the televisions in Mobimbi when he and his brothers went swimming. One day in Mobimbi, a video of the Sugarhill Gang singing “Rappers Delight” came out. Ishmael and his brothers were mesmerized by the fact that the young black men could speak English so well. Beah recounts, “After that, we came to the quarters every other weekend to study that kind of music on television. We didn’t know what it was called then, but I was impressed with the fact that the black fellows knew how to speak English really fast, and to the beat” (Beah, 6). Ishmael's first introduction to rap music was so impactful that he started memorizing all the songs he could get in his ears. The music helped him with his English fluency and with expressing himself through his words, his clothing, and his movements. Ishmael's favorite music shaped his childhood, but the few mentions we get of his adult life in A Long Way Gone have rap references throughout. When Ishmael describes his PTSD, he explains how he grounds himself in his new life in New York City: “I studied the red exposed brick wall of the room and tried to identify the rap music coming from a car passing by” (Beah, 19). He uses tangible and audible things around him to try to get out of his vivid memories, one of those being rap music. Ishmael tries to latch on to the music, but it’s from a passing car, so …show more content…
Born to Run is Springsteen’s third album and was his last chance for success in the music industry before he ran out of money. The titular song was the first single off the album and got his foot back into the door and eventually reached 23 on Billboard's Hot 200 list. Now with the backing of his record label, he was able to craft an album inspired by the rock n roll greats of his childhood. One of those rock n roll legends, Roy Orbison, is explicitly mentioned in the opening seconds of the album on the song “Thunder Road”: “Like a vision, she dances across the porch as the radio plays. Roy Orbison singing for the lonely. ‘hey, that’s me’ and it wants you only” (Springsteen, 0:27). The Boss was also heavily inspired by Bob Dylan’s songwriting and Phil Spector’s ‘wall of sound’ technique. Bob Dylan was a singer-songwriter and the voice of his generation; he was an amazing storyteller and guitar player and influenced Springsteen’s words more than anyone. Phil Spector was a music producer in the 60s who pioneered a new technique called the Wall of Sound, it was a technique that used yards and yards of music tape spliced on top of each other to create a loud, full “wall of sound” and it is prevalent throughout the Boss’ discography. Bruce Springsteen himself said, “The vision for the album was something that sounded like Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan produced by
In the novel Ishmael, written by Daniel Quinn, the narrator has spent most of his life looking for a teacher so he can learn to save the world. When the narrator was reading the paper he found an ad searching for a student interested in saving the world. After arriving at the address he finds a gorilla named Ishmael, who communicates telepathically. (Quinn, 1995)
In his personal memoir titled “A long way Gone” Ishmael Beah incorporated the concept of family into his personal story. Traveling in a world of his own Beah encountered different events where his approach to family evolved. From losing his important primary family, and establishing close relationships with individuals he met along his journey. Hope, revenge, trust & love were three important key stages discovered as his definition and approach to family changed.
Life is made up of decisions and choices. Every single day, people make numerous decisions, some big and some small. Many choices can impact your entire life while others, like what you eat for breakfast, aren’t as important. However, all of your choices build the track for your life and make you who you are. The choices you make can be greatly impacted by your surroundings and environment. They are also made based on your values and beliefs. In the memoir A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael is a young fourteen year old boy thrown in the middle of Sierra Leone's civil war. During the war, Ishmael is given a series of obstacles where he is required to make important life choices that would impact his life greatly. At one part of Ishmael's
The war in Sierra Leone lasted eleven years and resulted in mass murder, destruction, and mainly, loss of innocence. This war impacted nearly everyone in the country, however its specific damage on the children of Sierra Leone is a tragedy that haunts the victims to this day. The Rebels killed and tortured thousands of innocent people and destroyed villages throughout the country. Boys as young as twelve were forced to form an army and fight against the rebels. Ishmael Beah, a young boy living amongst this war, tells his story in the book A Long Way Gone. He explains the gory and disturbing details of his life as a boy soldier. As the young boys were brainwashed into killing, the women and young girls of the country were being raped,
Music can be traced back into human history to prehistoric eras. To this day archeologists uncover fragments of ancient instruments as well as tablets with carved lyrics buried alongside prominent leaders and highly influential people. This serves as a testament to the importance and power of music, as well as its influence in society. Over its many years of existence, music’s powerful invocation of feelings has allowed it to evolve and serve many purposes, one being inspiring change. American journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson once said, “Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of fuel. Sentimental people call it inspiration, but what they really mean is fuel.” This fuel is the very things that powers the influence of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society, that author Glenn C. Altschuler writes about in his book, “All Shook Up – How Rock ‘n’ Roll Changed America.” Between 1945 and 1965 Rock ‘n’ Roll transformed American society and culture by helping to ease racial integration and launch a sexual revolution while most importantly developing an intergenerational identity.
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is a memoir of a young, emotionally distraught child soldier who takes his audience through his mental and physical journey to his eventual escape of the Civil War in Sierra Leone. For the past few days, our World Literature class have been trying to figure out/argue what category A Long Way Gone falls under. In Tim O'Brien's book, The Things They Carried, he distinguishes between two types of stories: (1) stories that need to be real and (2) stories that rely on the emotional truth. To me, A Long Way Gone is a novel that relies on the emotional truth and should be read as such; it relies on the emotions of human beings for the story to be understood as it was written by a boy like one of us. Initially I was not sure what the emotional truth was, so I googled the definition and got that, “an emotional truth is writing in such a way that readers not only learn the facts of an event, but can feel the joy, sorrow, anger, envy, love, hate, poignancy that the participant feels.” And I believe that a story that relies on the emotional truth is not any less significant than stories that strictly state the truth. A story told using emotional truth/validity is a story that, in my opinion, offers more of the real picture than that of a story that doesn’t tug on the emotions of a reader and just blatantly state the true happenings of an event.
Contents INTRODUCTION 2 CHRONOLIGICAL ARRANGEMENT OF EVENTS THAT LEAD TO CONFLICTS 3 CONCLUSION 5 INTRODUCTION An attention-grabbing story of a youngster’s voyage from beginning to end. In “A LONG WAY GONE,” Ishmael Beah, at present twenty six years old, tells a fascinating story he has always kept from everyone. When he was twelve years of age, he escaped attacking the revolutionaries and roamed a land rendered distorted by violence. By thirteen, he’d been chosen by the government, military and Ishmael Beah.
Throughout our history, music has constantly been influenced by trends of its time, reflecting social, economic and political changes. On the other hand, music has defined the culture and social events or leading them to social revolution. For instance, guys like Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder greatly contributed to social events. Such leaders and musical revolutionaries have existed throughout history.
The rap music cassettes Ishmael treasures throughout his journey symbolize the freedom he enjoyed as a child and reclaims after his escape from the war.
Music is a large consumption of my daily life and the artists I listen to have shaped me in some way. Listening to music is one of my most time
In conclusion this report has helped us understand the significance of Music in America. Also, the impact it has on music we listen too. Music is very much like a big chain reaction. Rock ‘N’ Roll, much like music today, stood out and was in a way rebellious. Parents now hate Rap and we love it. People in the 70’s loved Rock ‘N’ Roll and parents hated it. This shows that maybe no matter how much older people deny it, the time gap and generation gap is not too far apart. Without Rock ‘N’ Roll the World would without a doubt be changed. Any guess to that of which way would be a good one.
Part 1: Summary The title of my book is “A Long Way Gone”. The author of the book is Ishmael Beah and this book was published on February 13, 2007. This book is about a civil war in Sierra Leone and the army arming little kids to fight for them in the civil war.
Bruce Springsteen was born on September 23, 1949 to working class parents in New Jersey where he was born and raised. His father, Doug Springsteen, had difficulty maintaining a steady job and his mother, Adele, worked as a secretary. Springsteen attended Catholic school and had a religious upbringing. Bruce and his father had a troublesome relationship that influenced his songwriting greatly. Bruce had stated that if his relationship with his father had been better, then “I would have written happy songs—and I tried it in the early 90’s and it didn’t work… Anyway, I put on his work clothes and went to work.”(Bruce Springsteen Biography 1) Bruce Springsteen’s songs are homage to the working class, are influenced by current events, and are full of symbolism.
Some people are born to become legends, Bruce Springsteen is one of them. From the second he was born and through his younger years everyone knew he was destined for something bigger than a regular nine to five life, they just didn’t realize the magnitude of what was to come. Born into a all around food middle-class family, no on in that house hold even Bruce, didn’t realize that within fifty years he would reach living legend status. Also have a title of one of the best musicians to every live. After working hard at what he loves, Bruce has become known as a musical hero and inspiration to his fans and fellow musicians. With his deep lyrics, amazing stage presence, incredible guitar skills, and his passion, he is an untouchable force in the music industry. Using his lyrics to vent his emotions and past, but to also add awareness to social issues around the world. Bruce and his love for music affected him his whole life, and has shaped into what he is today. His music now affects the world. His music has truly changed the world (musically and socially) forever.
He had been in a rap group in Mogbwemo since he was eight years old. Ishmael had three friends, Junior, Talloi, and Mohamed, that danced and performed in the rap group he was in. So Ishmael and his friends were heading off to the village Mattru Jong to perform their rap music. They stopped by the village of Kabati to visit Ishmael’s grandmother. Then they reached Mattru Jong and met up with three more friends, Gibrilla, Kaloko, and Khalilou.