The Lost Boys And The Lost Boys

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The Sudanese Civil War lasted approximately twenty years and destroyed whole villages along with the lives of entire families. “They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky” tells the true story of the Sudanese civil war and the Lost Boys swallowed up by gunfire and hatred. The Lost Boys was the ‘nickname’ given to the thousands of children that were orphaned or relocated during the bloody Sudanese civil war. The Lost Boys includes Benson Deng, Alepho Deng, and Benjamin Ajak who wrote the novel provides their opinions and understandings of several political concepts. These political concepts have multiple views by the Sudanese people. When brought to comparison by the American culture the perspectives are not that different. On the subject of human nature I believe that the Lost Boys viewed the concept solely as the will to survive mentally and physically in times of war—otherwise known as self-preservation. Throughout the novel nothing remained constant during the continuously changing circumstances except the overwhelming idea of survival. In many instances Sudanese people acted poorly in relation to the Lost Boys, but their physical survival would not have been possible without the kindness and consideration of others. When Alepho had not eaten in three days and was overwhelmed with hunger a man shared his meal with him. The man’s wife believed that the portion of grain was to small to share with Alepho, yet the husband disagreed and shared with him anyway which may have saved his life. After witnessing such kindness Alepho states, “I had become convinced that people were not good; people were bad. Sometimes I try to remember the man who shared this small meal. That incident made me think differently about people” (A. Deng, 180). Bein... ... middle of paper ... ...ty,” and Ron Edmondson does not disagree. Edmondson talks about the ten reasons why he loves America, and many are a common ideal throughout the country and culture. Out of the ten the most important three are freedom, diversity, and patriotism. “We love out country. Period” (Edmondson, 2011). The Lost Boys view freedom as opportunity and the idea of being able to leave all of their problems and misfortunes behind them. At the end of the novel, Benson is on the plane thinking about what America would be like when he got there, whom he would meet, what he would see, and what he would do with the rest of his life as an American. “I heard many things about the USA. I heard that I would be able to lead a better life and whatever it was going to take for me to do that, I was going to do it” (B. Deng, 306). I believe that the ‘typical’ American perspective of freedom is

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