Ian's+E-Journal+page

// Ian, what a fabulous job you have done. You seem to really have a good and thorough grasp on this novel. I do hope that you have been inspired. You are a very good writer Ian. Sometimes, your style is somewhat 'conversationl' but it is you! Always remember to keep in mind your audience. Sometimes the 'conversational style' may take away from the content and be distracting. // // Thank you for your sincere efforts. I look forward to seeing the remainder of your work on this wiki project. // // Have a great weekend! // // Ms C :)﻿ // //__E-journal Entree one: Chapters: 1-5 (pages 1-47)__//

In the city of gulu, Uganda in 2002, a young boy living in Africa named Jacob is playing football with his friend Tony. This may not sound very exiting, this is because it's not. So far that's how the whole book has been: not very fast. However, this makes it interesting. It might even make it unique-at least it does to me. To me, one of it's faults is the fact that not only is it slow paced-it's even slow when something really important happens. Example: a person in the book dies and the book doesn't give a hint of emotion or feeling or anything. Other than those things I think that the book is good. I especially think that the Idea of the book or the point of the book is good or at least well thought out. Anyway, enough of my ramblings, time to talk about what happens in the book.

The book follows the life of Jacob, his friends and a boy called Oteka who lives in a displacement camp with a 70 year old woman named Anaa. Both Oteka and Anaa came from a wealthy families and both lost their families to the villain of the book-Kony. Kony claims to be a cristian doing god's work. He has an army of children soldiers which he has abducted from of the streets called the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army). This 'madman' called Kony has abducted a kid named Micheal-the grandson of Jacob's father's friend-. Getting back to Jacob: He is pretty much what Oteka used to be. A very rich boy with a family who loves him and cares for him. He has a very good future ahead of him because his father can afford to send him to a very good high school where he is very good in math and feels protected from Kony with the new guards stationed around his High school. Back to Oteka: He and Anaa live together and help each other with daily life. Oteka has been saving up 100,000 shillings to ask the medicine man a question. the question is if he can talk to his mother-who is dead. when he gets to talk to his mother through the medicine man, he says only one thing: Kony. Confused, Oteka runs back to his hut to find Anaa dead on the floor and takes it as a sign or message from his mother.

//__E-journal Entree two: Chapters 6-____10 (pages 48-91)__//

After these past few chapters, the book has definitely gotten better. Even though it is still a bit like a heart monitor with the pace,(up, down, up, down...) something important happened and the book could actually tell me it was important without having to say right out that it was important. In other words- I could feel the excitement in the scene.However this only lasted a chapter or two and then it was the same old confusion, the roller coaster-if you will-of going to fast to understand and then going to slow to keep interest or to just be a confusing part where you feel that your not getting everything that your supposed to from the book. But again, enough of my ramblings, time to talk about what happens in the book.

Jacob and his friends Tony, and Paul are back at high school and have been assigned to help a new student there who is 12 and very good in math like Jacob. That night, LRA soldiers break into the school and kidnapped the students to unwillingly become members of the LRA.They are broken in by doing a more than 20 km walk on their own steam without stopping. anyone who did would die. Once they get to their destination, they are told what they must do and what would happen if they were to weak. they demonstrated this by forcing 5 students (including Jacob's friend Tony) to beat another student who had fallen to death with logs. After this they are lashed to prove their strength and none of them can make a sound when they are lashed.

__//E-journal Entree three: Chapters 11-15 (pages 92-133)//__

I really like how the writing has picked up to a pace that I am familiar with. It is still hard to understand at times somethings as simple as where the characters are or even who's actually telling the story! This hasn't been anything new with the story-the 'can't tell who's narrating' thing-let me explain. Sometimes the story is being told and it's expressing Jacob's thoughts and then when he talks, the book doesn't say "I said" it says "Jacob says". Every now and then it does this with a different character, but mainly it does this with Jacob. Anyway, Enough of my ramblings, back to what's happening in the story.

When the thrashing is over, the children wake up and after finding some very muddy water, Norman, Jacob and Paul swear to each other to never never leave each other and to stick up for one another no matter what. Soon after they find out that Norman is actually only 10, not twelve like the school had said. once they all wake up, they continue their regular day of walking where the only thing to concentrate on is //Nyuma Geuka,// left right, left right, and their only escape from this world of torture is thinking about a far away land, a strange land called America. They are always on the move to keep out of sight of the government. Soon, they find a village that has more supplies. So like all other villages in their path, they attack it to claim the supplies and potential soldiers, slaves or wives. At the village, their is a radio which picks up a broadcast that says that if one of the students manages to escape, they will not be fired upon unless they are armed and considered dangerous. Jacob there and then concludes that they will not be rescued and that they will have to escape on their own. With this in mind, he tries to befriend a woman called Hannah who knows a lot about the commander's plan and figures that she could really help. He fails to befriend her, but he learns that she came here from a raid on the displacement camp that she was on and lost a friend in the proses somehow. He also learns that she may also want to escape from this place and may still be useful to them.

__//E-Journal Entree four: Chapters 16-20 (pages 134-186)//__

The writing has definitely gotten to a place where you can understand it better and sort of keep up where the characters are in the story. Sometimes it's still a little confusing but for the most part it has become a better book in terms of writing. Unfortunately, there is nothing else that I can say about the book's writing styles. So, as always, enough of my ramblings, back to what's happening in the story.

News comes that a government vehicle is coming down the road. The commanders asked for volunteers and knowing that a man can't eat unless he kills in battle, Jacob and Paul volunteer to fight. However, when they get there, the truck is filled with not government soldiers, but children and their mothers. this causes Paul and Jacob to stop and not kill anyone. this means that they cannot eat because they did not kill. Oteka is in charge of the cutting of the food so he smuggles some to Jacob, Paul and Norman. Norman is caught eating by Lizard and is sentenced to be killed the next day.Fortunately, Oteka is supposed to guard one of the paths leading out of their camp so he offers to let Jacob and Paul escape. Jacob says no unless he can get Norman and Oteka to come with them. Norman was to heavily guarded to be set free, but then Hannah offers to help them and she will escape with them. while Hannah turns up the radio that they have, Jacob will cut into the back of the tent and set Norman free. once they are gone, the try their best to leave as little signs as possible as to where they are going. In the night, they hear an old lion and figure that they are in danger and start running. Soon after that, they run into Lizard and his men and and after a long time of non-stop running, they are trapped between the lion and the LRA soldiers. Seeing the lion scares Lizards men away and the escapees clime a nearby tree leaving nothing but a few plants between Lizard and the lion. The lion eats Lizard while the escapees watch from up in the tree. After the lion goes away, Jacob goes back to find Lizard's cellphone. It was dead, but he found his friend Tony and has given his a chance to escape. Tony agrees and gives them his gun. Oncwe the find a place to hide, they are told by Hannah that the LRA has a boat that can help them across a river that is in their way. While Paul, Oteka and Norman look for the boat, Hannah tells Jacob that she knows who Micheal is. They knew him as Lizard.

//__E-Journal Entree five: Chapters 21-25 (pages 187-224)__//

I think that for the last five chapters, the writing style has gotten the best that it has been for the whole book. I just think that they sort of "cleaned up" all their previous mistakes and misconceptions and left the soul of the book alone. I think that the ability to do that is the evidence of a very good writer. So, for the last time, enough of my ramblings, back to what's happening in the story.

They have found he boat and after a little bit more walking through the bush and fighting off the alligators and the hippos, they floated off minutes before the LRA found them. they were not fired at and made their way safely to the other side. once there, they were found by government soldiers.When Jacob got to his home, Micheal's grandfather, and tells him that micheal died because he was a good boy. Tony, Paul and Norman would be transferred to a different school in the country's capital while Jacob would remain at George Jones Seminary for boys. Hannah now lives with Jacob and will become his wife. She is a teacher. Tony would die of AIDS. Paul will go on to study engineering at the Makerere University in the country's capital. Norman is hoping to study physics in University, but for now he is only finishing high school. Oteka went out to help rescue kids that Kony has abducted but not turned yet. he has been missing for two years since he set out on his latest voyage. some say they've seen him wandering along the border of Congo. Others say they saw him heading towards the Sudan. Jacob hopes that he is alive. to their families. ||
 * Protagonist: Jacob || Jacob is the sort of kid who wants to remain in the background and not be the center of attention, sort of shy. ||
 * Antagonist: Kony || Kony is the exact opposite, he loves the attention and is a great speaker to large groups, not shy in any way. ||
 * Setting || Uganda, Africa ||
 * Conflict || LRA has abducted Jacob and his friends under the rule of a madman called Kony. ||
 * Climax || while the boys are trying to escape into the jungle, a soldier from the LRA finds them and is about to kill them when a lion kills the soldier. ||
 * Resolution || Government soldiers find them and take them back
 * Foreshadowing || page 155: Jacob predicted that on the night they would run away, since the moon was full " it was not a good night to run away". ||
 * Simile || page 198: Jacob thought that a gorilla was "more human than kony and his band of soldiers could ever be". ||
 * Metaphor || page 2: Jacob once thought that "if Jacob was Cristiano Renaldo, than Tony was Thierry Henry". ||
 * Alliteration || page 133: one character in the book was often called "lieutenant Lizard" ||
 * "text to self connection || the kid in the book called 'Norman'-when i picture him-reminds me of a kid in the school named 'Dylan' ||