There are multiple stanzas in this song which directly relate to how Jal is living, thinking and feeling throughout the first 8 chapters of this book. "I came the farthest Among the hardest survival," this quote from the song is one of the many examples that relate to Jal's life now. As the reader notices in chapter 5 Jal escapes from the sinking of the ship. He came the farthest among the hardest of times swimming against the current to save his life when the struggle was to hard for others. Jal overcame the hard times to rescue himself to survive and make it to school in Ethiopia. Specifically it explains the troubles and tough times Jal has escaping from the water onto land again on pg. 45-46.
When thinking about how lucky Jal was to have survived the sinking of the ship it wasn't all that exciting when he took his journey to Ethiopia. Walking forever he said it felt as the journey seemed like it would never end. As the journey took longer and longer Jal became food deprived as well as waterless. He was struggling to survive but the thoughts that one day from this school he was going to be able to fly a plane in the air kept him moving. This reminds me of the quote from the song, "So we strugglin', fighting to eat And we wondering, when we'll be free
So we patiently wait, for that faithful day It's not far away, but for now we say." This quote states exactly the feeling Jal and his classmates are going through. Fighting to eat, it discusses the lack of food and water they have in chapter 7 specifically on pg. 51-53. As it says in the next line they are patiently waiting for that faithful day, this reminds me of when the school boys are waiting to finally get to the school, they can't wait till then after all the way they have traveled sacrificing so much. Of course for Jal though, he can't wait for the day to get to school but on top of that for the war in the villages in his country to come to a end.
Near the beginning of the book in the first couple of chapters Jal realizes that it is all about family during the tough times they are going through, and realizes he can't continue moving villages until with his family he has been travelling with the whole time. He would wait up at nights until his mother would come and cuddle the children to sleep. This reminds me of the quote from the song which says, "I heard them say love is the way Love is the answer that's what they say." This quote is stating exactly what Jal believes in. Love is the answer, love is the answer to stopping the struggling and sores Jal and his family face throughout the war between the Arabs. This is stated in Ch. 3 specifically on pg. 27 where it describes Jal's mother cuddling them and that God will protect them.
This is how the song Wavin' Flag by K'naan relates directly to War Child Ch. 1-8.
Great post! Good use of quotations and specific examples from the novel. Your description of the struggle that Jal faces is clearly linked to the song and shows your understanding of some of the major themes in the novel. It will be interesting to see how Jal's struggle continues, and how that affects his belief in love and companionship. This is a theme that you might want to come back to in another post, as it will change as the novel goes on!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that you could have done to improve your post would be to provide an introduction to the novel at the start. Since this is your first post, you should tell the reader what book you are talking about. Overall, great work!
-LM
Daniel, I think that you did a great job on this blog and that you have identified many key themes that are a huge part of the book and that relate directly to the song. Some of the other themes that I think relate to both the book and the song is when K’naan says, “When I get older, I will be stronger, they’ll call me freedom, just like a waving flag.” In my opinion this is very similar to the beliefs that Jal has reflected throughout the book. It is shown when he looks at the older boys that are child soldiers, but he cannot become one because he is not old and strong enough, and the reason that he wishes to be a child soldier is that he wants to bring freedom to his country, shown by “they’ll call me freedom.” Another aspect that related to the book is when K’naan says, “And then it goes black and then is goes black.” This is shown in the book because the war is always making things “turn black” this can either be from people dying or from people being forced to flee the country because of the war. One other aspect that the song shares with the book is when K’naan says, “But it’s my home, all I have known, where I got grown, streets we would roam.” In my opinion this shows how much home means to the people in the poorest areas of the world. Jal was forced to flee from his home along with thousands of others, this is what has forced Jal to be a child soldier, I also think that this is where they got the name “The Lost Boys” from, because when you loose you home you loose part of yourself. Overall I think that you did a great job.
ReplyDelete