VIRGINIA BEACH CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

PERSONA
L
RESPONS
E
By Cate Sidwell

Unravel
Tosite Sigure

TK from Ling

Personal Response to A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

oshiete oshiete yo sono shikumi wo

boku no naka ni dare ga iru no?
kowareta kowareta yo kono sekai de
kimi ga warau nanimo miezu ni
kowareta boku nante sa iki wo
tomete
hodokenai mou hodokenai yo
shinjitsu sae freeze
kowaseru kowasenai kurueru
kuruenai
anata wo mitsukete yureta..!
yuganda sekai ni dan dan boku wa
sukitootte mienaku natte
mitsukenaide boku no koto wo
mitsumenaide
dareka ga egaita sekai no naka de
anata wo kizutsuketaku wa nai yo
oboeteite boku no koto wo azayaka
na mama
mugen ni hirogaru kodoku ga
karamaru mujaki ni waratta kioku ga
sasatte
ugokenai ugokenai ugokenai
ugokenai ugokenai ugokenai yo
kawatte shimatta kaerarenakatta
futatsu ga karamaru futari ga
horobiru
kowaseru kowasenai kurueru
kuruenai
anata wo kegasenai yo yureta
yuganda sekai ni dan dan boku wa
sukitootte mienaku natte

mitsukenaide boku no koto wo

mitsumenaide

dareka ga shikunda kodoku na wana

ni mirai ga hodokete shimau mae ni
omoidashite boku no koto wo
azayaka na mama
wasurenaide wasurenaide
wasurenaide wasurenaide
kawatte shimatta koto ni paralyze
kaerarenai koto darake no paradise
oboeteite boku no koto wo
oshiete oshiete boku no naka ni dare
ga iru no?

Unravel
Tosite Sigure

TK from Ling

Personal Response to A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

Tell me, please tell me, what this

plot is all about... Exactly, who
resides within me?
I'm broken, so broken - amidst this
world. Yet you laugh, blind to
everything.
Being as broken as I am, I hold my
breath,
And it can't be unraveled, it can no
longer be unraveled... Not even the
truth. (Freeze)
Breakable; unbreakable - psychotic;
unable to go insane
I'll find you, and..!
In this shaken, twisted world, I
gradually become transparent,
unable to be seen.
Please don't bother looking for me;
don't stare at me...
I merely don't want to hurt you,
inside a world that came out of
someone's imagination.
So please remember me; as vivid as
I was.
Unravelling the world
Infinitely spreading, solitude wraps
around me. Memories of times I
laughed innocently comes to mind,
And I can't move, can't move, can't
move, can't move, can't move, I
cannot move!
Unravelling the world
I've changed; I couldn't go back to
the way I was.

As the two twines around one

another, the both of us will perish
away...
Breakable; unbreakable - psychotic;
unable to go insane

I can't afford to let you be defiled!

In this shaken, twisted world, I
gradually become transparent,
unable to be seen.
Please don't bother looking for me;
don't stare at me...
In a trap of solitude someone had
set, before the future unravels,
Remember me; as vivid as I was.
Please don't forget me, don't forget
me, don't forget me, don't forget
me!
Paralyzed by the fact that I've
changed,
In a paradise filled with nothing but
unrecoverable things,
Please remember me.
Tell me, please tell me... Exactly,
who resides within me?

Unravel
Tosite Sigure

TK from Ling

Personal Response to A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

The song I chose isnt exactly
One thing that I almost
what youd think of when comparing
overlooked is the language. I personally
something to A Long Way Gone, and to
speak Japanese, not fluently but enough
be honest, the connection didnt come
to understand most, but I remember
to me until a few hours ago. I decided
when I was younger I struggled learning
that this song would be better than the
it and understanding my grandmothers
one I was planning previously. So, lets
side of the family. Beah lives in Africa,
see how this works out.
and they speak differently than us, yet
he learns the lyrics to American rap
Unravel. The title doesnt seem
music. And surprisingly, him breaking
to have much of a link to Beahs story,
through the language barrier helps save
but if you look closely, it makes sense.
his and his friends lives.
Beah was just a normal kid, until his
world literally collapsed at his feet.
The singer of Unravel is scared.
Throughout the book, hes slowly falling
You can hear it in his voice when you
deeper and deeper into this war thats
listen to the song, even if you cant
being fought. Not only the literal Sierra
understand the words, the message of
Leone civil war, but the war being
fear and confusion comes across
fought in his head. Hes being tossed in
strongly. Beahs world was turned
all different directions, his heart and his
upside down, and hes thrown into this
head being torn apart as his journey
gruesome world full of pain and terror
continues. Hes coming undone,
and monsters that had once only been
witnessing all this horror and death and
a figment of imaginations, hiding under
hatred taking place in his home.
beds and in closets. Both Beah and the
singer of Unravel are trying to figure out
The song is mainly about how the
who exactly they are, Beah especially.
singer is trying to figure out who this
After he is moved to America, Beah
person, this thing, inside him, is. He no
makes friends and they ask him about
longer recognizes himself and is
war. Hes told its cool and they ask him
wondering who exactly he is. Its saying
to tell about it, and he laughs on the
how the singer wants the audience to
outside, but inside his conflictions and
remember how he used to be, vibrant
inner demons are screaming in his
and bright and alive, instead of how he
head. .. And I think the writer of Unravel
is now. In the broken twisted world, his
understands that feeling.
story is easily comparable to Beahs.