A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Analysis

In the book A Long Way Gone written by Ishmael Beah, an experienced soldier was writing about his memories of the war. Ishmael was born in Sierra Leone with his family, but one day it all changed. At the age of 12, Beah was taken by the Rebels to kill. His whole mindset changed during the war. However, when the war ended child soldiers were taken to a rehabilitation group, and it did help Ishmael go back the way he used to be before the war.

The war has destroyed many villages and Sierra Leone isn’t the same anymore. People don’t trust each other anymore, and steal from one another. Ishmael and his friends are soon brainwashed by the older and experienced soldiers.

A Long Way Gone shows the struggles Ishmael Beah faces as a young soldier. A Long Way Gone has many turning points throughout the story. In Chapter 12, Ishmael and his companions are forced to become child warriors. The horror of war is a common theme all through this section as Ishmael and the rest of his friends confront an unimaginable decision, fighting in the army. If they decide to escape the village's protection, they are taking a huge risk of being attacked and killed by the rebels. This demonstrates that in times of war, individuals are compelled to pick among terrible choices that are frequently adverse to another person. Before joining the army, Ishmael was very innocent and could not even stand looking at any dead bodies. Due to

Throughout A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah refers to memories before the war to comfort him during difficult times. Bringing up memories from the past are known as flashbacks. He put his mind at ease by focusing on happier times he had with his family such as his grandfather’s medicine, the blessing of his home in Mogdwemo, and picking up Ibrahim from school.

A Long way Gone, written by Ishmael Beah is a memoir that exposes the reader to a part of the world a majority of people know almost nothing about. An area where life is cut short by conflict and a blatant disregard for the value human life. Where Mothers lose their sons, families lose their homes and people lose their sense of morality. Yet, through these struggles, the resilience of the human spirit and psyche is exposed. Ishmael, through many points in his life was challenged physically, mentally, emotionally and was extremely close to being defeated; changed from the innocent boy he once was into a fiend. Important lessons can be learned from this struggle; Even the worst challenges can be overcome, we should value all that we have because it can all be taken away and also that there is much good and evil in the world we live in.

A Long Way Gone is a novel written by Ishmael Beah. He’s a child who lost everything extremely valuable to him, due to war. Ishmael uses imagery, descriptive writing, and emotions to show the challenges it took to survive the war. As the war goes on, Ishmael describes the changes of how Mogbwemo, the village he was raised in, and his neighborhood, of how it went from peaceful to violence, and how the war had impact him and the people of Sierra Leone.

Even then,“When one of the soldiers came to search me, I pushed him and told him that if he touched me I would kill him”(129). He wanted to stay in the army and keep fighting, showing just how much the army caused him to be scarred. However, UNICEF made Ishmael go with them too, Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. He had never seen a city as big as this one before. He was placed in a rehabilitation center and did not like it at all. He did things like “...refused to do anything that we were asked to do, except eat” (138) and “...fight for hours in between meals, for no reason at all" (139). He wanted to fight, so he found another group of boys to fight there instead. Ishmael was so angry once he “...punched the glass with my fist" (140). He did not trust many people there but slowly began to make new friends. One of the nurses he was being taken care by eventually became his friend, but still “...didn’t completely trust Esther” (166). When Ismael found love and a girlfriend, his relationships would not last long because “They wanted to know about me, and I wasn’t ready to tell them.” (184). He was so scarred that he would end a relationship because he did not want to talk about what happened to him when he fought in the war. Ishmael was so scarred and had been through so much, that the United Nations wanted him to speak at a conference about children fighting in wars. He created

Bang! Bang! “At that instant several gunshots, which sounded like thunder striking the tin-roofed houses, took over town. The sound of guns was so terrifying it confused everyone” (Beah 23). In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah conveys his amazing journey through war and hardship as a child soldier. Sierra Leone--a country on the western coast of Africa--was embroiled in a bloody civil war in the 1990’s. Battles multiplied as bloodshed abounded and as a child in Sierra Leone Ishmael Beah was forced to survive, find food, and face unimaginable dangers. Running from the battle front was also a routine ordeal. At age 13 Beah was captured by the military and brainwashed into using guns and drugs. As a child soldier he perpetrated and witnessed a great deal of violence. At 15 he was rescued and taken to a rehabilitation center. With time and continual treatment, Beah was able to recover, to some extent, and reconnect with his Uncle Tommy who adopted him. He was later chosen to speak to the United Nations in New York City about his experiences as a child soldier. When he returned to Sierra Leone, war broke out throughout in the city where he lived, causing many deaths including his Uncle Tommy. Eventually Beah escaped Sierra Leone and he managed to reach New York City, where he began a new life. Through Ishmael Beah’s book A Long Way Gone, he conveys a central theme of having to survive, at a young age, through the hardships of war with the use of imagery.

Sierra Leone once had a time where child soldiers were forced to fight in a civil war. Children were taken from their peaceful life’s to fight in the civil war. When the war broke out in 1991 Ishmael, a child in Sierra Leone was separated from his family and later brother Junior. After being left alone Ishmael, with friends, was taken to be a child soldier. This started Ishmael’s journey as a child soldier.

Ishmael is a wonderful young man who becomes a victim of a devastating civil war in Sierra Leone. Like most other civilians, he is a victim of a terror campaign on the part of both sides of the war. Millions of civilians die in this conflict and in that way, Ishmael is lucky, because he lives. However, he comes out of the experience as a boy soldier badly damaged. He has lost his family to the rebel atrocities just before he has the chance to be reunited. He sees friends and comrades die the most horrible deaths before his eyes, he lives in horrible conditions day in and day out, and most of the time, he sees little hope that his existence will ever change.

When mad, one may act vengefully without thinking. Others take time to mull things over and think of plans of revenge. In either case, retaliation or vengeance is never positive or fruitful. These negative effects can clearly be seen in Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone through Beah’s experiences as a child soldier, as well as Al Qaeda’s attacks on the Atocha train station in Madrid, Spain. Beah’s representation of the effects and dangers of vengeance helps delineate the terrorists reasons behind their attacks in Spain because both Beah and the terrorists sought retribution for what had been done to them.

From the beginning of the novel to the end of the end novel Ishmael goes through many changes. When, he is first recruited by the army he is afraid of a gun or even the thought of taking someone’s life away. Ishmael began to transition from a regular young boy to a deadly soldier after he was recruited and the lieutenants there kept implanting the notation that they need revenge.

When Ishmael was thirteen a war broke out in his country. He demonstrated great courage, determination, and strength from the beginning of his treacherous journey until the end. One day Ishmael’s village, Mattru Jong, was raided by rebels and everyone had to leave. There was only one way to escape and everyone in town rushed there in a panic. The rebels didn't wanted everyone to abandon the village they "began shooting their guns at people instead of shooting into the sky” (Beah 24). They knew that they had to find a way to escape because it was especially risky boys their age. Aware of what could happen to them they were determined to escape. With great courage “they [We] dodged from bush to bush and made it to the other side...Immediately

There are three things that Takers do that Leavers never do. The first is that Takers exterminate their competitors. They kill more than they need, and also just kill things just for the point of killing. Leavers only kill things that they need for food right at that point in time, and they also only kill in self-defense. The next thing that Takers do is that, not only do they kill outside of their means, but they systematically destroy their competitors food to make room for their own. Lastly, they deny competitors access to said food. According to Quinn, it is okay to not give access to what you are currently eating, but everything else is fair game for everyone. The law of limited competition states that you may compete to the full extent

Throughout reading this book and completing this project I have learned so much about the Sierra Leone civil war and child soldiers. By reading Ishmael’s story and realizing what he had to go throw have given me much more respect for those who have been part of a war before. By doing this project I was able to get even more out of the story than I was from just the book. While doing the project I put a lot of the pieces into Ishmael’s point of view which further deepened my understanding. I hope that those who read my project are able to also get a lot out of it and are able to sympathize with those who had to go through this. The theme that I decided to portray in this project was, “loss of innocence”.