Music: The Savior of Life
Jacob Cheslock
Ms. Smith
World Literature, Hour 6 30 November 2012 Music: The Savior of Life One good thing about music, when it hits you, you have no pain—“Bob Marley.” No matter what kind of music you listen to, there seems to be something about it that soothes, calms, or sparks the creative side of the mind. Ishmael Beah, a victim child of war, is very connected to music, using it to lose himself in it, forget about the war, and focus again on life just as many of us, including myself, do when life gets tough. Beah, like many of the children in his generation, is very connected to the rap genre of music but for reasons other than because it is what is popular around him. Beah and his friends are first influenced by rap music when they see it on television at a neighboring village of Mobimbi. They are amazed at how good the black people could speak English so fast and to the beat of the music. This ends up becoming a way of life for the boys as they form their own dance team and end up carrying notebooks and cassettes with the music of their favorite artists to always work on music together. They use this to express themselves and who they really are. After the war Beah ends up in a rehabilitation center called the Benin Home. The rehab process is a very long, hard, and painful process for not only Beah, but as well as all of the boys affected by this war. Beah however ends up finding his true self through the use of his music. It helps him to focus his mind and heal up from the damages of war. Thinking about the lyrics helps him to avoid the flashbacks and bad memories of the war, while opening up to the possibilities of life again. Beah has had a super touch life, especially being a child and music for him seems to be not only a tool to help him, but something that he needs. He explains what it feels like to be one of the victims of war, which is what the music was used to cure, in this quote by him in his book “A Long Way Gone”, “One of the
Ms. Smith
World Literature, Hour 6 30 November 2012 Music: The Savior of Life One good thing about music, when it hits you, you have no pain—“Bob Marley.” No matter what kind of music you listen to, there seems to be something about it that soothes, calms, or sparks the creative side of the mind. Ishmael Beah, a victim child of war, is very connected to music, using it to lose himself in it, forget about the war, and focus again on life just as many of us, including myself, do when life gets tough. Beah, like many of the children in his generation, is very connected to the rap genre of music but for reasons other than because it is what is popular around him. Beah and his friends are first influenced by rap music when they see it on television at a neighboring village of Mobimbi. They are amazed at how good the black people could speak English so fast and to the beat of the music. This ends up becoming a way of life for the boys as they form their own dance team and end up carrying notebooks and cassettes with the music of their favorite artists to always work on music together. They use this to express themselves and who they really are. After the war Beah ends up in a rehabilitation center called the Benin Home. The rehab process is a very long, hard, and painful process for not only Beah, but as well as all of the boys affected by this war. Beah however ends up finding his true self through the use of his music. It helps him to focus his mind and heal up from the damages of war. Thinking about the lyrics helps him to avoid the flashbacks and bad memories of the war, while opening up to the possibilities of life again. Beah has had a super touch life, especially being a child and music for him seems to be not only a tool to help him, but something that he needs. He explains what it feels like to be one of the victims of war, which is what the music was used to cure, in this quote by him in his book “A Long Way Gone”, “One of the