Change

I think that Ishmael has changed a lot through out his journey. Before the war he was very close to his older brother and his group of friends, but once he lost all of the people he cared about he was forced to rely on only himself. During a visit with the nurse Ishmael thinks to himself “I didn’t know what to say and also didn’t trust anyone at this point in my life. I had learned to survive and take care of myself” (pg. 153 ALWG). This is one of the reasons why Ishmael and all of the other boys had such a hard time having to follow all of the rules during their rehabilitation at the center. When all of the boys got there they were all rebellious towards the staff for being “civilians”, and they all felt that they shouldn’t have to do anything the staff would ask of them, except eat. Ishmael explains that “ A few days earlier, we could have decided whether they would live or die” (pg. 138 ALWG). Because of the way he felt about the staff Ishmael became cold and more angry then when he was in the front lines. He felt betrayed by the comander for sending him away. I think that, that had a lot to do with why he was so angry because he felt close to his squad, and without them he lost another family.
I think another one of the reasons Ishmael’s attitude changed so much is because he thinks a lot more then the other boys do. He knows that he has killed people, but if he was to feel bad about it he would be showing weakness. Ishmael doesn’t really show much emotion when he finds out that they had found his Uncle in the city “I was happy, but I had become accustomed to not showing it” (pg. 178 ALWG). Once he actually gets to meet his “new” family the old Ishmael starts to come back out. I think after staying at the center everyone there made him realize that everything he had done was not his fault, and it was going to take a while for him to get used to his new life.