I Am Malala And A Long Way Gone - 1651 Words

The first people we truly know are our families. At the beginning of our lives, we are completely reliant on them for the most basic needs. As one gets older, they gain independence and families provide less for physical needs; however, mental needs, such as support and encouragement, Families also have the biggest influence over their children’s political opinions and how politically involved they are. Families also determine what types of culture their children are exposed to. Looking at the books I am Malala and A Long Way Gone, we are able to see that Malala and Ishmael experience much different experiences in making social change. Malala, from I am Malala, had the support of her family and made enormous strides in fighting for education for women; whereas, Ishmael, from A Long Way Gone, did not have a family to support him, but still managed to give child soldiers a voice. With this being said, Malala and Ishmael are similar in that they were both exposed to Western cultu re. The extent a family supports their child and the child’s exposure to Western culture greatly affects the magnitude of social change the child could achieve. We will start by looking at Western culture and then we will further examine family encouragement. One of the first things we learn about Ishmael in A Long Way Gone is that he, his brother, and his friends all enjoyed dancing and rapping. They were first introduced to rap by Americans who worked for the same company as Ishmael’s father (Beah;Show MoreRelatedDefinition Of Perseverance982 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"We can do anything we want as long as we stick to it long enough† -Helen Keller. Keller is explaining to people to have determination when going through difficult hardships in one’s life. Have people ever had to push through difficult times in their lives to get what they wanted? Has anyone ever tried to stop them along the way? If so, then they have persevered. According to the dictionary, perseverance is, â€Å"steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spiteRead MoreThe Importance Of Heroism1043 Words   |  5 Pagesindependence from British rule, once said, â€Å"The best way to find yourself is to lose y ourself in the service of others.† Hence it proclaims, heroes that give back to others without any intention of receiving anything are true heroes because their cause is to better the situation for the society. Likewise in the video, The Man in the Red Bandana, Welles Crowther was at the 9/11 twin tower collapsing when he saved a group of workers and then said â€Å" I am going back up there, there are a lot of people stillRead MoreShes Dating the Gangster149221 Words   |  597 PagesHe s not my first love and I m NOT his first love. Definitely not.   So what is it that made me love and cling to him this much?   Well, he s irritating, loud, and he s not sweet! He s weird, he smokes, he drinks, he goes clubbing on a weekday, and he fights and bullies a lot. Take note, A LOT. He is very moody and a bit blunt. Oh yeah, he even threatened to kill me. -- for short, HE IS A GANGSTER. NO he s not a criminal, a mobster, a hoodlum or a thug. I have my own definition of a