A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

Ishmael Beah is described as a pre-teen, with a love of rap and hip-hop music. He finishes as a drug-addicted killing machine, out avenging the death of his entire family. Before being rescued by a United Nations Program, and eventually fleeing to New York for rehabilitation, it is a tragic and harrowing tale that gives substance to the term ‘Boy Soldier’, that isn’t really understood in most cases. Ishmael gives a gentle portrayal of his life, before the war reached his small village and forever changed his life. Abruptly he becomes fugitive fleeing for his life and eventually into a corrupted teen.

“Twelve Year Olds Take Over Sierra Leone Villages by Gunpoint” “When you kill for the first time, automatically, you change,” says Norman. “Out of being innocent, you’ve now become guilty. You feel like you’re becoming part of them, part of the rebels.” -Former

Stories have been passed down for generations worldwide. Some make it to become well-known and some stay between families. There are many types of stories such as, non-fiction, historical fiction, etc.. A lot of stories, called myths, starts off with a protagonist who has an Achilles Heel or some flaw. The story continues until finally the protagonist ends with a lesson learnt or a cruel downfall. In “A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah, the author incorporates many stories, legends, or myths that are told within the villages in Africa. These stories tell us a lot about the village’s culture and beliefs.

Set in 1980, in Sierra Leone, Ishmael described his life in first person. Sierra Leona, a peaceful village was soon invaded by the Revolutionary United Front(RUF), a group of rebels. Families,friends, and loved ones were torn apart as Sierra Leone was not their only target, villages from all over the country were impacted. Girls and boys such as Ishmael were forced to live on their own, going from villages to the next, not knowing what kind of fate will await them. As more and more soldiers died, the government needed people to fight for them,

In the memoir of Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Beah states that his life’s journey has been a huge obstacle, but has learned to overcome that struggle by venting while the two contradictory sides continue their battling. Beah accomplishes his goal of explaining to the reader his point of view through the use of rhetorical questions, scenic narration, and parallelism. Ishmael Beah’s apparent purpose is to share personal accounts of his life with his fellow country men, in a country where war affects people to a level beyond the imagination. He is able to apply his purpose using a grotesque and bitter tone. Beah approaches his audience of ordinary people in this manner in order to vent his feelings about war by

This story takes places in Sierra Leone, Africa, where young Ishmael Beah is victimized into being a young child solider. At a young age Beah hometown was attached by a Revolutionary United Front better knowns as (RUF). He spent most of his time running away with his friends, as well as find his family he lost during the attack. Eventaully, young Beah was caught and forcued to be apart of (RUF). Luckily, Beah was saved when UNICEF Stepped in promised him safety. He was sent to American with his uncle. Beah then takes his past and knowleged and turns it into something postitive while trying to obtain a job with the United Nations.

A little ten year old boy was taken as a prisoner of war. He was snatched out of his life and destined to die while others lived. His death actually happened in history, but also in the novel, My Brother Sam Is Dead. It is the year 1775, the Revolutionary War is just stirring among the people. The narrator is Tim Meeker, the youngest son in a family that runs their tavern in the town of Redding. The Meeker family goes through many sufferings at the cost of war. His older brother, Sam is a Yale student who goes to war to fight the British against his father’s wishes. Through the course of the book, many sufferings arise in Redding. Life gets tougher and the Meekers experience the hard reality of war. The authors are against war because they

In the introduction of A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, he writes, “There were all kinds of stories told about the war that made it sound as if it was happening in a faraway and different land. It wasn’t until refugees started passing through our town that we began to see that it was actually taking place in our country” (Beah 1). During this statement Beah says that he is completely oblivious to the war around him. These people living in Sierra Leone had adapted to the war to the point where their perception had been altered. With this memoir he shares his experiences and obstacles he faces throughout the war to become a beckon of hope in this despairing country. Ishmael uses his social skills, timely luck, and emotional strength, to find the courage to overcome these adversities and survive in and out of the war.

During the war, a significant amount of things happen to different groups of families in their homeland. There are soldiers that are fighting for the protection of their families and there are many families that are doing anything in their power to stay safe through the chaos. Yet a number of the individuals involved in the conflict have a tendency to try and escape the madness. In spite of the madness, some children have the advantage to escape yet they are equally impacted with long term trauma by the war as those who did not have the opportunity to depart.

The setting is on the west coast of Africa in Sierra Leone in the 1990’s as well as in New York City during the same time period. 7. The narrator of the novel is Ishmael Beah, the author, and the plot is told in first person point of view. 8. The major conflict is that the main character was robbed of his childhood, separated from his parents, and forced to fight in the war at the age of thirteen and had to live with the guilt for what he did to people.

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, published by Sarah Crichton Books in New York in 2007, tells the haunting story of Ishmael Beah, a child soldier during the Sierra Leone Civil War. The book begins in January of 1993 in Ishmael’s small village called Mogbwemo, located near Mattru Jong, Sierra Leone. A Long Way Gone addresses a plethora of geographical issues such as refugees and population movements, child exploitation, and most of all: war. Each of these issues directly affects Ishmael, the autobiographer. In his book of memoirs, A Long Way Gone, Beah uses his horrendous experiences as a young teenager thrown into the dead heat of civil war to effectively argue that children have a right to their own childhoods, and that children deserve to have their innocence remain in place until they are older, not have it be stolen by the terror of war. His potent encounters and experiences also highlight successfully the undeniable effects that geographical problems are causing not just in Sierra Leone, but across the entire African continent.

In Ishmael Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Beah encourages the opinion that everyone is responsible for his/her own actions in all cases. Beah proves this opinion to be true through death, thievery, and violence.

The sniper's mind whent blank. Staring into his brother's life depraved eyes that he remembers from a childhood, the days where the warm sun cascaded down and the warmth of having his loving family by his side.These days seemed so distant from this bewitched world with bloodshed and strife. The sniper felt like a demon, the world spiraled around him. Thoughts pursued through his mind at the sight that he saw before him. “Who is left to see me when I get home?” The sniper recalls the memories he has tried to suppress his whole life, the brothers have been abandoned almost their whole life and had to grow up in a orphanage. The brothers had been playing outside in their backyard while someone had set fire to their home.The boys had lost their

The people in the village were no longer selling food in fear of the war. “Some of them were saving their food in case things got worse, and others simply didn’t want to sell any more food for unexplained reasons.” (Beah 29). The boy’s urgent need for food led them into stealing food. “That night we were so hungry that we stole people’s food while they slept.” (Beah 29). This helps develop the story by showing the worsening conditions in the town. Chapter 15 was a very important chapter in the book because it marked the start of a new life for Ishmael. “In my head my life was normal. But everything began to change in the last weeks of January 1996. I was fifteen. (Beah 126). Ishmael and some of his friends were rescued by UNICEF and released by their lieutenant. “I am very proud to have served my country with you boys. But your work here is done, and I must send you off. These men will put you in school and find you another life.” (Beah 129). The boys are not finally receiving help and aid to restore their life. This is significant because they now are starting a new life. Chapter 21 is vital to the plot. He returns to Freetown to live with his uncle. He starts school but all the kids are afraid of him. He starts to live a normal life but then his uncle dies. He is left alone with only Mohammed. A new war breaks out and forces him to seek someplace else to live. He decides to leave Mohammed and go to the New York to live with Laura. “I asked her if I could

One of the many terrible things this rebel group does is kidnap children at a young age and force them to work as child soldiers. This takes away their dreams and forces them to live a terrible life, which will probably lead to an early death. .A child soldier who had experienced the wrath of this army goes by the name of Michel Chikwanine. Michel is a man who was kidnapped by these fighters when he was only 5 years old. The rebels took him and his friends from a soccer field they were playing at. Once they arrived at the camp a fighter drugged Michel with a mix of cocaine and gunpowder while he was blindfolded. He was then given a gun and was forced to kill his best friend as initiation to enter the army, this left Michel traumatized. After this incident Michel spent weeks at the camp going through harsh training with weapons and terrible treatment from the rebels. Michel finally escaped the horror and made it back to his family with the help of some