How Does Rap Music Affect Ishmael's Recovery

I think that rap was a major impact on Ishmael's recovery. He began listening to rap when he was eight years old. He also joined a rap band at eight. On his way to Mobile he learned about rap music. Slowly the music began to influence how he acted, spoke, and dressed. Overall he adapted the “rap lifestyle”. Rap was wh he left home to begin with. Rap represents his childhood and everything he had before all the tragic things happened. There are many points where the cassette tapes he carried around saved his life and represented his innocence.(page 6) I believe that music (rap) influenced his recovery by showing him his childhood and showing him how great it used to be and that he could always go back to how things were with himself if he wanted.
I think that his recovery was solely dependent on him “ forgiving” himself for killing his family like the rebels pounded …show more content…
The raiding of rebels camps is also justified because that was his only way to get food, ammunition, and drugs. And the drugs were how he survived the war. His innocence he's been completely destroyed because of the war. So i think that had he not been taken away to war that a lot of things he did wouldn't have happened.
Ester was Ishmael's nurse at Benin house, she helped him through his recovery. She began treating his wounds and taking care of him. She slowly begins to persuade him to talk about what happened to him. As a way for him to recover she brings him a cassette tape and a Walkman. This is where he has a breakthrough in his recovery and begins to talk about what happened to him and working through his pain. Her unconditional love is a major impact on Ishmael because no matter how bad he got, she was always there for him.
Overall knowing it's a memoir didnt really effect how i felt about the story. I still understood it that same