A Long Way Gone

10/27/13

First Things First… Please have out

your journal A new sheet of paper – Theme notes and your copy of ALWG (extra copies on the back table)

Permission slips? Please turn in any late homework from last week

Journal #3 In chapter four, the boys steal food because they are

starving. We usually consider this “acceptable” theft, but the boys stole food from other people who didn’t have much food either. How do you judge what they did?

ALWG Theme List The Damages of War Power Survival Hope Family, Friends, and Community Memory Fear Loss of Innocence

The Damages of War War causes chaos in aspects in life:

The individual

The landscape

Community

Economics

Autobiography vs. Memoir

What is an autobiography? What is a memoir?

A piece of writing where the author writes about their entire life, usually in chronological order.

A piece of writing where the author explores a particular time, place, person, or event.

The narrative (story) is told strictly from memory of the author.

"A memoir is how one remembers one's own life, while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates,

facts double-checked.” – Gore Vidal

Talk with a Partner… Beah moves around in time as he tells his story, flashing

forward and backward. What is the effect of this technique? Do you appreciate it, or would you prefer that he stuck to strict chronology? Why or why not?