Literature

Quarter 1 – Short stories

Cycle 3: Personal Essay
 “Unusual Normality”: A Personal Essay by Ishmael Beah

• BACKGROUND
• Ishmael Beah (b. 1980) began to write about his
experiences as a way of dealing with being forced to be a
child soldier in Sierra Leone in Africa. Aker his family was
killed when he was just 12 years old, Beah was threatened
with death if he didn’t fight with a rebel group that was
trying to overthrow the country. An American working for
UNICEF brought him to the United States. Today, he is a
lawyer, author, and a UN Goodwill Ambassador helping
others like him.
 STARTER
• The title of this personal essay, “Unusual Normality,” is an oxymoron. The words unusual and
normal have opposite meanings. What do you think the author meant by this title? Discuss your
ideas with a small group. Can you think of any other common oxymorons, such as open secret?
Write your answers down below.
 GENRE ELEMENTS: PERSONAL ESSAY
• Similar to memoirs but shorter and more focused
• Explores the writer’s experiences
• Includes the author’s feelings and reactions at the time
• Written after the events in the story
 ANALYZE PURPOSE AND MESSAGE

• The author’s purpose is the reason the writer has for writing a text. Authors may write to express
thoughts or feelings, to persuade, to inform or explain, or to entertain. To determine the author’s
purpose in a personal essay, readers should:
 ANALYZE THE TEXT STRUCTURE

The author of this essay uses a chronological text structure to describe his experiences at one point in his life.
• analyze language, including voice and tone
• make inferences based on the author’s style and message

The message is the central idea of the work, or what the author is trying to communicate to the audience. To determine central ideas and
message in a personal essay, readers should:
• analyze the author’s interpretations of events
• make inferences based on events and people the author describes

The audience is the people for whom the author is writing. To determine audience of a personal essay, readers should:
• analyze evidence in the text, including voice and tone
• make inferences based on details in the text and the author’s message
 ANALYZE VOICE AND TONE
Voice and tone are elements of an author’s style.

• Voice is a writer’s unique use of language that allows a reader to “hear” a human personality in
the writer’s work. Elements of style that contribute to a writer’s voice include sentence structure
(or syntax), word choice (or diction), and tone.
• Tone is the writer’s attitude toward his or her subject. A writer communicates tone through choice
of words and details.
 Section A: Read the story on page
19 of your literature textbook
and answer the questions below
as
read. you
1. Analyze Purpose and Message: Write down the author’s thoughts, shown in italics on page 19. Which
two details in paragraphs 5–6 that caused these thoughts.
2. Analyze: How does the author’s syntax and word choice reveal his attitude and outlook?
3. Notice & Note: What words indicate that the author is finished relating information about his earlier
childhood? (p20). Write down these words. 4. Infer: Why might this information about his earlier
childhood be important to the rest of the essay?
4. Language Conventions: Annotate: Write down a sentence in paragraph 11 that uses passive voice.
5. Respond: What is the effect of this use of passive voice?
1.The author’s thoughts show that he is happy with his new start to life. Kmart and fortune cookie
show a new and fresh future.
2.The author uses positive words to show his upbeat, resilient attitude. He uses sentence fragments to
express excitement.
3. So here I was in New York, with my new mother.
4. Answers may vary
5. You see, the visa that I had been given was a prospective-student visa.
6. Analyze Voice and Tone: Write down the author’s word choices and syntax that create the tone of
paragraphs 21–27.
7. Draw Conclusions: What attitude does the author have toward his teenaged counterparts?
8. Analyze Voice and Tone: In paragraphs 39–42, write down the words Beah uses to show the
differences between himself and the “tough kids” of New York.
9. Notice & Note: Write down a thought about his friends that the author revisits, this time in a paintball
game. (p23) 11. Predict: Based on this thought, make a prediction about what will happen during the
paintball game.
10. Analyze Purpose and Message: Write down the words and phrases in paragraph 67–71 that reveal
Beah’s actions during paintball.
11. Predict: Based on this thought, make a prediction about what will happen during the paintball
game.
6. The subject of the sentence receives the action expressed by the verb.
7. “Hey, you know, I was a child soldier at thirteen. Let’s go back to class now.”
“No, no, no. I’m not weird. Weird has a negative connotation. I prefer the word unusual. It has a certain
sophistication and gravitas1 to it that suits my character.”
8. He doesn’t feel that they could understand him or handle the truth about his past.
9.I knew that the people who lived there didn’t glorify violence. These kids had a sort of idea of violence that
they’d never really lived.
10. They were just saying these things to seem tough.
11. Answers may vary.
12.Analyze Purpose and Message: Write down the words and phrases in paragraph 67–71 that reveal
Beah’s actions during paintball.
13. Interpret: Why does Beah fight the way he does during the paintball game? How does this help reveal
the author’s message?
14. Analyze Voice and Tone: Write down the words in paragraphs 88–90 that show the author’s attitude
towards his classmates and the paintball game.
15. Interpret: Describe the author’s attitude toward his classmates and the paintball game in our own
words.
16. Analyze Purpose and Message: Write down the sentences in paragraphs 92–95 that reveal the author’s
message.
17. Interpret: What is the author’s message, and what does it reveal about the author’s purpose for writing
and who he sees as his audience?
12.I declined putting the face paint on. First rule of warfare, you never belittle your opponent. I had memorized the layout of
the place. I would wait for them. I would climb a tree here. I would hide under certain shrubs. I would just wait for them. I
would come up behind them, and I would shoot the paintball at them.
13. Answers may vary.
14.It was interesting for me to observe how my friends perceived what war is. They never said how I’d won all the games.
And I said nothing at all.
15. Answers may vary.
16.I wanted them to understand how lucky they were to have a mother, a father, grandparents, siblings. I wanted to tell them
that they were so lucky to have this naïve innocence about the world. I wanted them to understand that it was extremely
lucky for them to only play pretend war and never have to do the real thing.
17. He is glad they got to be children, and to grow with a childlike naivety, as he could not do that.
Section B: Check your understanding:

1. Which of these best describes the purpose of the selection?

A. To explain how the author became a great paintball player
B. To show how people who think they are tough are really weak
C. To explain how the past made the author appreciate his new life
D. To describe how it was impossible for the author to escape his past

2. At the conclusion of the essay —

A. the author’s friends invite him to play paintball again
B. the author tells his friends about his past
C. the author finally gets into a good school
D. J. the author explains what he wanted to tell his friends

3. Which of the following is not true about the author, Ishmael Beah?
A. The author fought as a soldier in a war when he was a child.
B. The author did not know how to play paintball before this story.
C. The author is from a royal African family.
D. The author took school very seriously.
Section B: Check your understanding:

1. Which of these best describes the purpose of the selection?

A. To explain how the author became a great paintball player
B. To show how people who think they are tough are really weak
C. To explain how the past made the author appreciate his new life
D. To describe how it was impossible for the author to escape his past

2. At the conclusion of the essay —

A. the author’s friends invite him to play paintball again
B. the author tells his friends about his past
C. the author finally gets into a good school
D. J. the author explains what he wanted to tell his friends

3. Which of the following is not true about the author, Ishmael Beah?
A. The author fought as a soldier in a war when he was a child.
B. The author did not know how to play paintball before this story.
C. The author is from a royal African family.
D. The author took school very seriously.
 Section C: Respond and Analyse the text:

1. Interpret Ishmael Beah’s use of language—his word choice and syntax—establishes an individual voice and tone. Describe the essay’s
voice and tone, citing examples from the selection.

2. Cite Evidence What are some of the ways that the author differs from his classmates? Cite evidence from the text in your answer.

3. Analyze Review the last sentence of paragraph 31. Use details in this sentence to help you infer a reason or purpose Beah might have had
for writing this essay.

4. Synthesize How does the text structure—a personal essay—enable the author to deliver his message effectively? Explain your answer
using examples from the text.

5. Notice & Note Think about the Memory Moments you noticed during this story. What skills and habits did the author learn as a child
soldier that helped him both in New York and in the paintball game? Support your response with evidence from the text.
 Section C: Respond and Analyse the text:

1. Beah’s voice may be described as observant and sophisticated, reflecting someone who is a careful observer of the world (which is reflected in his word choice and
syntax in paragraph 41) and also sarcastic at times (“I’m going to have fun with this,” paragraph 67). His tone may be described as detached (“I needed to be
silent,” paragraph 31) and wishful; he feels set apart from his peers based on his past experiences and wishes he had their innocence (paragraph 95).

2.Beah speaks differently than his classmates; is very guarded and cautious; and had first-hand experience with violence while most classmates did not. They have an
innocence about the world that Beah has lost.

3.In this sentence, Beah notes that his behavior would determine how people viewed other children who had been child soldiers. He might have written this essay to
help a wider audience understand and be more empathetic to former child soldiers like him.

4.A personal essay enabled Beah to use word choices, syntax, and other elements in ways that best reflected his personality. For example, his word choice shows
humor and irony (paragraph 74). It also allowed him to share his true thoughts and feelings about his experiences as a child soldier and a high school student.

5.Beah is always aware of his surroundings, including the people and the terrain, based on skills learned as a child soldier (paragraphs 54–55 and 68–71). These skills
and what he learned from his war experiences enabled him to win at paintball.