How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
I was sweating, and they threw water on my face and gave me a few more of the white capsules. I stayed up all night and couldn't sleep for a week. We went out two more times that week and I had no problem shooting my gun. (13.16)
Ishmael's first introduction to drugs makes him stay awake and fight. That's probably why the army finds it in their best interest to keep their soldiers high all the time. Boys who can't think straight can't question what they're doing.
Quote #5
I took turns at the guarding posts around the village, smoking marijuana and sniffing brown brown, cocaine mixed with gunpowder, which was always spread out on the table, and of course taking more of the white capsules, as I had become addicted to them. They gave me a lot of energy. The first time I took all these drugs at the same time, I began to perspire so much that I took off all my clothes. My body shook, my sight became blurred, and I lost my hearing for several minutes. I walked around the village aimlessly, as I felt restless because I simultaneously felt a tremendous rush of energy and numbness. But after several doses of these drugs, all I felt was numbness to everything and so much energy that I couldn't sleep for weeks. We watched movies at night. War movies, Rambo: First Blood, Rambo II, Commando, and so on, with the aid of a generator or sometimes a car battery. We all wanted to be like Rambo; we couldn't wait to implement his techniques. (14.1)
The lieutenant knows exactly how to control these boys so they'll do what he wants. Drugs and war movies numb them to the violence they're about to commit. No one can feel anything, let alone feel bad about what they're doing.
Quote #6
We walked for long hours and stopped only to eat sardines and corned beef with gari, sniff cocaine, brown brown, and take some white capsules. The combination of these drugs gave us a lot of energy and made us fierce. The idea of death didn't cross my mind at all and killing had become as easy as drinking water. My mind had not only snapped during the first killing, it had also stopped making remorseful records, or so it seemed. (14.3)
The first time he kills a man is like an initiation for Ishmael. After that, he doesn't even realize what he's doing. He's not even afraid to die. He barely thinks that's an option. The drugs are giving him a feeling of invincibility. Now the army controls where he goes and what he thinks.