How To Love Lit Podcast

Romeo & Juliet || William Shakespeare || Episode 1 || Meet The Author And The Play! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Poetry Of John Donne || Episode 3 || The Holy Sonnets Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Poetry Of John Donne || Episode 2 || A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Poetry Of John Donne ll Episode 1 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird - Episode 4 - The World Clarified And The Conclusion Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird - Episode 3 - Real Life History Finds Its Way Into Tom Robinson's Trial Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird - Episode 2 - Innocence, Motifs And The Power Of Language! Hi, I’m Christy Shriver, and we’re here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.  I’m Garry Shriver, and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast.  This is our second episode over that great American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird.  Last week, we introduced our author and both of her published books.  We compared them briefly, looked at the titles of each, and then focused more specifically on the origins and inspirations of Mockingbird.  We looked at Lee’s historical moment and argued that Lee’s novel, although set in the 1930s was far more interested in the world of the 1950s than the 1930s- a world struggling with civil rights.   We will develop the theme of racial injustice in the second part of the book, of course, but today as we lay the ground work for that part, we will continue our focus on part 1.  Last episode we ended our discussion talking about Maycomb, the tired old town where Lee set her story, a town which could be seen more like a character than an actual place.   Maycomb is a broken place and this brokenness is on display in several ways.  Part one only hints at the racial division that is the focus of the second section but that doesn’t mean it isn’t setting us up for it.  Lee carefully introduces several major themes and motifs then she proceeds to developed throughout and beyond the trial.  These themes should be considered as we read the section part of the book, for one reason because they provide a framework from which we should understand the insanity of the trial and its aftermath.  If you can’t understand Maycomb, you would not believe such a facade of a trial could even be possible.  So, Christy, can we say the primary role of section one is foreshadowing, then?  No.  I would absolutely say not the primary role.  There is forshadowing, for sure, and it surfaces in many different ways, but it’s the the primary role.  Harper Lee is laying the framework for a larger discussion than race.  Race is the context, but she is framing the racial discussion that will come.  Maycomb is the microcosm of society at large- any society, not just the segregated South of her days.  The disease of racism, and she does call it a disease, has several causes, and it’s the cause of this disease that she’s exploring.  The first half is charming and disarming.  It’s less intense and emotionally jarring than the second.  The language gets more offensive the closer we get to part two, but she’s setting us up for how she wants us to understand the racism we will soon be exposed to, and what she thinks we can and should do to address it.   Her argument is nuanced and much of it is delivered through the words of Atticus and Calpurnia, although Uncle Jack and Miss Maudie weigh in as well.  It’s illustrated through the actions of the children as they interact with the different groups in their community: the Cunninghams, the Radleys, The Ewell’s and Mrs. Dubose.  Lee explicitly discusses man’s relationship with power, its use and abuse of it,  She blatantly spells out for us what a mockingbird symbolically represents and the principle protecting the innocent.  Atticus not only tells his children to learn to understanding the lived experience of those around them, but forces this lesson upon them in what comes across as a very cruel way to learn a life lesson.  The setting of part 1 is the playful existence of childhood innocence, but as we walk with Scout, we are to learn these same life-lessons before she forces us to apply them in this adult world of experience which is cruel and ruthless in many ways.    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, I’m Christy Shriver and we’re here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.  And I’m Garry Shriver, and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast.  Today we begin our discussion on a deeply beloved book by many but at the same time one of the most censored books ever written on the American continent.  When it was published in 1960 it was an immediate hit with the public.  Critics called it melodramatic and over-simplistic but that hasn’t stopped people from reading it and loving it.  Harper Collins boasts almost 50 million copies sold, by latest count,  in over 40 languages.  It won the coveted Pulitzer Prize.  In 1962, it was adapted by Horton Foote into an Academy Award-winning film, admittedly diminishing the role of Scout and the story of the children but drawing considerable attention and acclaim for many reasons, one being the memorable and Oscar-winning performance of Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.  The focus of the  movie is, of course, the trial of a wrongly convicted and clearly innocent African-American gentleman by the name of Tom Robinson.   The film is considered one of the greatest American films of all time and even Harper Lee liked it. After viewing she had this to say, “"I can only say that I am a happy author. They have made my story into a beautiful and moving motion picture.”   Of course, it’s the racial element of the book that has always kept this book at the center of controversy- from both sides of the political aisle. It has been held in contempt for its language which is extremely raw, and obviously, and for that reason alone, it’s been censored in many circles.  But that’s not the only problematic issue.  Many have drawn attention to the idealized characterization of Atticus Finch as a paragon of respectability and champion of for the oppressed.  Toni Morrison labeled him a “white savior”.  More recently, social advocates have challenged Lee’s characterization of the Ewells as feral animals depicting them basically as sub-human.  There is no doubt the setting is the segregated South of the 1930s; there is no doubt; Maycomb is a broken town; there is no doubt that the child Scout looks at her father in that way we hope all 9 year old daughters are afforded the opportunity to look at their fathers.  So, is this a dated sociological study or timeless classic?  Lee’s ability to stir so many emotions and raise so many questions is freakishly genius.   Through the eyes of a child, she questions our ability as humans to even understand of the role of time in our world, the place of human judgement, our ability to give and receive social acceptance, the causes of human cruelty and human kindness.  She goes a lot of directins- but what do all these things mean when presented as a whole?  How do they connect us to each other?  What did these things mean to the most provincial of people possible in 1935, what did they mean to a cosmopolitan American in 1960 and what do they mean to a world-wide interconnected globe today?  I know you like to talk about timeless themes and universal truths and so do I, don’t get me wrong, but historically speaking there’s a lot here I think is important to discuss as well.  This book is not just regarded as sensitive because of its language and racial issues; it’s also considered one of the most revealing portraits of the American South to come out of that generation- and beyond issues of race there is a lot more to see.  The book is important historically.  Lee was born an insider to a very specific and closed cultural group, but she pulled out of her culture and tried to examine it critically in some ways as an outsider, but an outsider who understood the inside.    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Easter Story Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To Build A Fire || Jack London || Episode 2 || The Iron Law Of Naturalism Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To Build A Fire - Jack London - Episode 1 - Naturalism Meets The Klondike! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer - Episode 3 - The Battle To Kill The False Being Within! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer - Episode 2 - London And Thoreau, The Influencers! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer - Episode 1 - The Creation Of A "Story World"! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - Letter From Birmingham Jail - Episode 3 - The Radiant Stars Of Love And Brotherhood I’m Christy Shriver and we’re here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.  And I am Garry Shriver, and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast. This is our third episode in this series discussing Dr. King’s leadership in the Civil Rights Movement most specifically in his iconic and historically important Letter From Birmingham Jail. Next episode, we will extend our discussion of King to the origins of his story. In Dr. King’s speech to American from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial he said this,   In a sense we have come to our Nation’s Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This promissory note was again revisited during the days of Abraham Lincoln with the Emancipation Proclamation and then the Gettysburg address in 1863. Next week, we will discuss this great address which Dr. King recalls occurred 100 years before his days in that Birmingham jail.      Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Martin Luther King Jr. - Letter From Birmingham Jail - Episode 2 - There Are Just And There Are Unjust Laws Hi, I’m Christy Shriver and we’re here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.  I’m Garry Shriver and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast. This is our second week discussing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the letter that some consider today to be one of the most significant political documents to emerge from the American continent in the last 300 years, ranking with the founding documents, the Gettysburg Address and the Emancipation Proclamation. Last week, we spoke a little, although very briefly, about Dr. King’s growing up years. We focused on his rise to political prominence through his political activism in Montgomery with the MIA and Rosa Parks as they led a community to boycott public bussing system for 381 days protesting the unfair bussing practices in Montgomery.  These efforts resulted in legislation that would begin the process of unraveling a 100 years of Jim Crow laws across, not just Birmingham, but the entire South.    We also discussed Project C, C, btw, stands for Confrontation. Project C was the name given to the program that was designed to combine economic pressure with large scale direct action protest in order to undermine the very rigid system of segregation in place in the Southern city of Birmingham, Alabama. The project was multi-faceted and by that I mean, it had various moving parts. It consisted of strategic sit-ins, mass meetings, economic boycotts, and of course “parading” primarily without a permit because no permits would be given.    Yes, and one significant component of this project was planned for Good Friday, April 12 1963. It would be on this auspicious day that two political and spiritual leaders, Reverend Ralph Abernathy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., would step out in faith in front of the Sixth Avenue Zion Hill Church to march down those prohibited streets. And, leading by example, proving that they would never ask anyone to do something they would not do themselves, they walked into what they knew would be a guaranteed confrontation with Bull Connor’s tightly controlled police force. As they marched, they were met by a police barricade, so they changed directions and marched a different way; however, it wasn’t long until they got to a second barricade. At this one, Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Conner’s clear orders could be heard and I quote, “Stop them…Don’t let them go any further!”  They were arrested, and let me add, this was not the first time these two were arrested, nor would it be the last.    Dr. King and Ralph Abernathy, according to Abernathy’s own words were closer than blood brothers.  There was a deep trust between these two men. If you remember, they had been leaning on each other since those early days in Montgomery, Alabama where Abernathy was pastor of Montgomery’s First Baptist Church. This support would continue even after Dr. King’s assassination where Abernathy would follow through with the support of Memphis’ sanitation workers that had brought Dr. King to Memphis on the day he was murdered. Abernathy and King eventually would be jailed together a total of 17 times. Both they and their families would be targets of multiple assassination attempts.     Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Martin Luther King Jr. - Letter From Birmingham Jail - Episode 1 - Dr. King Reaches Out Of His Jail Cell To Touch The Heart Of A Nation! I’m Christy Shriver and we’re here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.  I’m Garry Shriver and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast. Today we are going to start a three part series on a man who changed the landscape of political protesting- demonstrating that positive change can occur without massive loss of life. He won the Nobel Peace Prize when he was 35 years old, at the time he was the youngest to ever receive the award. His life became synonymous with civil disobedience- taking it farther than Thoreau ever dreamed possible. He radically and controversially claimed the role of a Christian political resister was not only the role to resist injustice. This was not enough, to be successful one must accompany resistance with love- loving the persecutor- a claim that would be put to the test over and over and for which he would be martyred. On Jan 20, 1986, the US Federal Government proclaimed a national holiday commemorating his life and message. Today over 955 (that number is likely small), but there are at least 955 major street, boulevards and thoroughfares that carry his name not only across the United States but across the world. If you haven’t figured it out yet, we are talking about the life, literature and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Specifically, the iconic letter that moved a nation from apathy to change, the “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” It was written on April 16, 1963 and famously addressed to “My Dear Fellow Clergyman.”    Indeed, and yet, so many students or really people, who hear that name know so little about the movement itself. Growing up first in our nation’s capital, Washington DC and then Brazil, I’d heard of Dr. King. I knew he stood for non-violence, but I ignorantly thought he literally just walked around preaching and protesting, carrying signs, singing and marching. I had NO idea how calculated the entire Civil Rights moment was. I had no idea the amount of strategy and genius that went into the planning and execution of one of the most effective non-violent movements in the world- or even how many years it was in the making. I just thought, Dr. King got up one day and just started protesting.    Well, I think most people don’t, even people of good faith who try to mimic some of his basic strategies. It’s really difficult to wrap our minds around the complexity involved, not to mention the sheer power of King’s personal rhetorical charisma that carried the movement from a few thousand African-American Christian protesters in Montgomery, Alabama to 250,000 people of all ethnicities and faith and the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The changes in legislation and the implementation of laws that had been allowed to be ignored for a century were a direct result of this movement we are discussing over the next few episodes.   So, let’s get started beginning with some terminology that we hear when it comes to Civil Rights, words that many of us who aren’t originally from the South may not be familiar with- for example what are Jim Crow laws. Who was Jim Crow and what are his laws?   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Sonnets Of The Portuguese - Plus A Great Love Story! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Queen Elizabeth I - Speech To The Troops At Tilbury Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dolly Parton - The Ultimate Local Color Songwriter! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Albert Camus - The Stranger - Episode 3 - The Absurdity Of A Happy Ending??? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Albert Camus - The Stranger - Episode 2 - The Consequences Of Meaninglessness! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Albert Camus - The Stranger - Episode 1 -Introduction To Absurdity! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Edgar Allan Poe - The Raven 2023 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Edgar Allan Poe - The Cask Of Amontillado 2023 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tupac Shakur - Poetry, Prose, Pain And Hope Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anne Bradstreet - The First Female Published Poetess In The America's! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Iroquois Constitution - 2023 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jimmy Baca - Episode 2 - "When I Walk Through That Door, I Am: An Immigrant Mother's Quest". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jimmy Baca - Episode 1 - The Voice Oc Chicano Poetry! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Antigone Episode #2 - Tragedy, Honor, Wisdom And The End Of All Things Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Antigone Episode #1 - Drama, death, higher law, family issues and more death Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oedipus Rex - Episode #3- The Reveal, The Conclusion, Sigmund Freud, and how it all goes together! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oedipus Rex - Episode #2 - Irony, Tragedy, Oracles, Flaws And More! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oedipus Rex - Episode #1 - The philosophy, the predicaments, the purpose in Greek Theater Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Henry David Thoreau - Civil Disobedience - An Inspiration To Gandhi And MLK Jr.! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Henry David Thoreau - Walden Pond - Simplify! Simplify! Simplify! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Emily Dickinson - Episode 3 - The Publishing Drama Surrounding Her Work! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Dickinson - Episode 2 - The Mysterious Life And times! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Dickinson - Episode 1 - The Myth of Amherst! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Raisin In The Sun - Lorraine Hansberry - Episode 3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Raisin In the sun - Lorraine Hansberry Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Raisin In The SUn. Lorraine Hansberry Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I’m Christy Shriver and we’re here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.  I’m Garry Shriver and this is the How to Love lit Podcast. This is our third episode in our four part series on Aldous Huxley’s negative utopia Brave New World.  In episode 1, we met Huxley and toured London’s Central Hatchery, covering chapters 1 and 2.  In episode 2, we discussed chapters 3-5 meeting two characters from the novel.  I want to point out that they are main characters, and when they were introduced, I expected them to be heroes, but these two are definitely not heroic- Bernard Marx and Lenina Crowne.  Through the first five chapters we accompany them on an average evening, an average evening for everyone in the brave new world- not just for them- and average evening in this world consists of two things- soma-taking and sex.   Now in episode 3 we accompany these two as they cross the Atlantic to the American continent and then return in chapters 6-11.   They bring back with them a character who comes closest to being a hero, he comes closest to being us, John Savage from the reservation.  Our plan today is to explore primitive life on the reservation and the contrasts Huxley creates for us as well as watch John the Savage as he interacts with the Brave New World on his return.    Christy, before we get into that I want to revisit a few important ideas from earlier episodes. As we think about how Huxley drew these standardized humans, and their lives, it’s more and more obvious that Huxley, himself, is not advocating for life a comfortable and happy life, at least in the way he defines these terms.  Comfortable meaning no anxiety; happy meaning full of distractions and entertainment.  No, we have to read this entire book as irony- everything he is defending is the opposite of what he’s describing.  It’s what makes this book confusing to many readers. The farther we get into the chapters, the more bitter the irony- even positive words like hygienic and beautiful and happy are used by Huxley to make us question if even these are really good things at all.    One place to pay attention is when reading how the characters talk to and about each other. What we see is that there is zero sense of what we consider to be meaningful relationship.  They talk about each other and to each other as if they were merchandise, or to use Huxley’s term- meat- dead or alive.  Huxley as a student of biology and psychology really pushes the scientific boundaries and even our imaginations to the limits.  He asks how far will society, or the power structure of our world go when it comes to psychological manipulation through conditioning?  Are there ethical limits or boundaries in the messages we hear from political or commercial leadership- and Huxley does not really see that there is a difference between these two.  And not just through repetition and peer pressure but also through government/cultural sanctioned drug use and sexual behaviors.  All of this, of course always expressed as being for the common good.  Not even the world leaders in a Brave New World have nefarious motives.  There is no obvious villain, no Hitler or Stalin out there murdering innocent people.  The government is doing everything in the name of general good, and yet, we, as readers are made to question if this is really the case.     Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, I’m Christy Shriver, and we’re to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.  I’m Garry Shriver, and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast.  This is episode 2 of our 4 part series discussing Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.  Today we will finish our discussion of part one of this book, chapters 1-5 and begin the transition into the second part.  In other words, we will explore a progressive world of perfect containment and stability before shifting to a primitive one of risk and possibility.  In episode 1, we introduced Huxley, the writer and thinker.  We toured Brave New World’s Hatchery in chapters 1-2- the beginnings.  The Hatchery is where they mass-produce humans- assembly-line style.  We see that the world is genetically and biochemically engineered into fixed classes: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon.  For Huxley the political and economic leadership in our world has an interest in freezing the path for upward mobility, making sure all the political and economic power stays exactly where it is.  Whoever is at the top has an interest in using the power of science and technology to produce a controllable standardized man.  This standardized man would be a “perfect” man—or at least an artificially crafted perfect one, perfectly engineered for his predetermined role on this earth- Huxley uses a theological term- predestined.  The overarching metaphor that pervades the novel is inspired by Henry Ford.   In 1903, the Ford Motor Company was formed. The first product was the Model A, introduced in the same year. In order to produce a standardized car that everyone could afford, Ford introduced to the world the concept of assembly-line production.  Their most successful product ever, the Model T, came out in September 1908. In 1909 a new Model T cost $850, but by 1924 the price had gone down to only $260. The average assembly line worker could purchase one with four months' pay in 1914.  Everyone could drive a Model T.  Eventually 15 million model Ts were manufactured and sold.  It is estimated that 40% of American households owned one.    In Huxley’s world Ford is divine.  The assembly-line model is the template for life. Community, Identity and Stability are globally accepted ideals, and man is standardized- produced in the hatcheries like the one we’re visiting- the Central London Hatcheries and Conditioning Centre.   We observe the process of fertilizing the eggs, bottling them, putting the lower castes through the Bokanovsky’ process then finally decanting them- or preparing them for independent existence.   We might call that birthing, but you can’t really be birthed out of a bottle, so I think the word decanting as a replacement for birthing slightly funny.   The Bokanovksy process in particular involves grotesque biological engineering.  It’s where lower castes are prenatally treated with x-rays then then are basically doused with alcohol and other poisons to be almost subhuman but capable of performing mind-numbing tasks.  It’s fetal alcohol poisoning scientifically administered for the purpose of subjugation.  But they don’t just poison the embryos, they also deprive the brains of oxygen during the assembly line process for and I quote the director here, there is “nothing like osygen-shortage for keeping an embryo below par.”    This is not considered immoral because these epsilons are still perfect.  They are perfectly designed to do what they were designed to do perfectly.  Christy, I used a chiasmus there!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So, let’s get started, first, it’s important to note that this book was published in the UK in 1931.  So, for context, let’s think about what was happening or really what hadn’t happened yet in Europe or the rest of the world.  The book is pre-Hitler, pre-Stalin, pre-internet, pre-mass-media, pre-social engineering, he predates a lot of the things that define what we call the modern world, yet you might not think that just reading it.  It pre-dates Orwell’s 1984, too.  That book wasn’t written until…1948…yes, he just switched the numbers there.  So much of the science in this book had to seem so strange and futuristic at the time.  For example, DNA wouldn’t even be discovered until 1958.  In-vitro fertilization wouldn’t be invented until 1971, yet Huxley’s book opens with test-tube babies, a term all of us have heard of today.  I’m also sure a world where all people are on psychiatric drugs also seemed far-fetched in 1931; today, one in six Americans self-report regularly taking a psychiatric drug, and that number is likely just a fraction of the reality if you consider all the different variations of both legal and illegal and semi-legal forms available today. Huxley’s Brave New World is about achieving happiness.  It’s about total sexual liberation.  It’s about the exaltation of science over faith and religion.   It’s about an entirely efficient and centralized government worldwide that fabricates “peace on earth good will towards men”, to quote the Biblical phrase and the stated purpose of the coming of Jesus Christ as announced by the angels at Christmas.  And yet, even the title Brave New World reeks of irony. Every single person in this Brave New World is undeniably happy; that is never questioned, yet we’re left with the feeling that maybe even happiness really isn’t always good.  Huxley’s Brave New World is a comfortable world.  There is no violence, no rule by fear, like in Orwell’s novels.  There is no illness or aging…in fact, it is a world genetically engineered to preclude unhappiness or anxiety of any kind.  The goal of achieving unending and unlimited pleasure for all has been achieved….and yet, as we read it, it feels wrong.  We get a sense that we wouldn’t like living this reality, but why? We feel something has been lost, and Huxley asks us to ask ourselves- what?   It’s satire.  It mocks us, and the irony wears on us as we go through the story.  Remember, the word irony means opposite, in other words, we feel that things should be the opposite as how they are described as being.  Christy, we talked about satire with Johnathan Swift, with Orwell and with Bradbury, but let’s define what that is.  If you say something is satirical, I immediately expect it to be funny, but there’s nothing funny in this book.     Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, I’m Christy Shriver, and we’re here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.  And I’m Garry Shriver and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast.  This is our third and final episode discussing Ismael Beah’s personal memoir A Long Way Gone, Memoir of a Boy Soldier.  In Week one, we discussed the first ten chapters of the book, introduced a very brief history of Sierra Leone, as a country, as well as a little background as to what started the civil unrest and why it lasted for so long in the country of Sierra Leone.  It came down to corruption on the part of the government, then of course, there were the diamonds, the ones everyone wanted, blood diamonds as the world has come to call them.  Last episode, we only discussed five chapters, but they are five brutal chapters, the chapters where Beah discusses his entrance into the army and just a few of his experiences as a child soldier.  These are brutal, tragic and unfortunately more common than we would like to admit.    I appreciated that he didn’t harp on these.  I assume he could probably have fiilled a volume listing one terrible atrocity after another, but he didn’t.  He carefully chose events that supported specific points that he was trying to make.  One point being how callous he and the other children became to the humanity of others, through the drugs, by watching and modeling the behaviors of the adults.  It was clear that child soldiers are braver and more expendable than adults and widely used by all sides of the conflict.     This episode, we will discuss the rest of the book, chapters 16-21.  Here Beah explores his onw reintegration as a child soldier back into the world of real sentient human beings, the kind that feel empathy for each other and live peacefully with one another.  We only see the beginning of Beah’s journey.  We go with him as he physically escapes the war and Sierra Leone.  But before that happens, we watch his journey out of drug addiction and back into mainstream living, something not even the United Nations was sure was possible for child soldiers to do.  His particular case is an incredible miracle and one that is atypical of most child soldiers.  Not all soldiers end up being adopted by upper-class American parents, but truth be told, thousands have been able to reintegrate into schools and local communities.   The question people want to know is what can we do to create hope for them?    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.