Connor Yee

Mr. Greene 1
Honors English - 10
6/1/2023
Quote Response
“Little did I know…I was immune to A - Ishmael feels this way because of all the
death”(159). experiences he has gone through, but also
because he is so young. Something that older
people tell younger people quite a lot is that
“young people think they’re invincible”
which is true to an extent. Many times young
people are inexperienced, which is true in
Ishmael’s case. Even though he has gone
through so much trauma, Ishmael is still only
a teenager at this point. He has seen plenty of
people around him die, but he hasn’t been
injured to the point of potential death himself
until this point. For that reason, Ismael felt
like he was brave for surviving the bullet,
when in reality it was most likely a big luck
factor which many young people don’t take
into account.

“At first she just listened to me…judge me for R - I am surprised that Ishmael still doesn’t
what I had been a part of”(165-166).
trust Esther at this point. Multiple times,
Esther has proved herself to be
compassionate, kind, and actually have
interest in Ishmael. Even after Esther
expressed genuine interest, and comforted
Ishmael, he still didn’t feel he could trust her.
Compared to some of the people he trusted in
the past like the lieutenant, at least Esther is
actually trying to help Ismael rather than
seeing him as a tool for war. Ismael typically
only trusted people that he was very close to,
such as people he traveled with and people
that he felt supported him or people that gave
him praise during the war. This makes it even
more surprising because the amount of time
that Ishmael spends with Esther and how
much she has tried to comfort him would
seem like things that would make him trust
her.

“No one had called me son…I don’t even R - I would be conflicted if my uncle that I
know you”(172). had never talked to came up to me and offered
to take me in. After never meeting his uncle
before, and his uncle never making the
journey to visit, I can see how Ishmael would
be hesitant to accept his uncle as a new foster
parent. Even though they are family, it might
be even harder for Ishmael to live with his
uncle than with a foster family he has never
met. Knowing that his uncle was living in the
city while he was dealing with everything in
his home, Ishmael or someone in the same
situation might hold some resentment. It’s
hard to think about the lives that people are
having while in such a harsh situation, and
knowing that his uncle never made the
journey to see him, might be hard for Ishmael.