A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

In the memoir A long Way Gone Ishmael Beah states “When I was young, my father used to say, “If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die” (Beah 54). Throughout the war Ismael Beah survives many difficult situations, that make him think is it worth it to keep running. Ishmael Beah, always remembers what his dad said to motivate him to try and keep surviving the war. Ishmael Beah used adaptability, the kindness of others and bravery to overcome the adversities of the war in Sierra Leone.

"We went from children who were afraid of gunshots to now children who were gunshots… Shooting became just like drinking a glass of water" (Barnett, 2012). Ishmael Beah, the main character and writer of the novel A Long Way Gone is a clear example of the loss of innocence that war causes. During the Sierra Leone’s civil war, Beah is recruited as a child soldier and eventually turned into a cold-blooded killer with no sign of naivety in his body. At a tender age, Beah is trained to kill, mutilate and terrify dozens of people, which causes him to be bared to a flood of disturbing scenes; transform into a murderer; loose all sense of emotion; and in time, lose his innocence. In the novel A Long Way Gone, the reader can view the multiple events

This attack on both people will forever have an impact on their lives. Leaving past scars forever in their thoughts. When Mariatu and Ishmael became victims the rebels had very different roles in their minds for these two. With Mariatu being a female and Ishmael being a male, it was the reason to put these two through what they have been through. Even though they were both young victims, they both came to do different tasks.

In the memoir A Long Way Gone, author Ishmael Beah describes his survival journey as a lost child in his country, because of the civil war in Sierra Leone, then becoming a child soldier facing war daily, afterward the process that Beah went through during rehabilitation and finally in fear escaping the civil war. Ishmael Beah emotional journey has three stages of development in which Beah utilized music. In the first stage, Beah uses music as a survival mechanism to keep sane and safe. In the second stage, begins when he loses his brother and friends, Beah reaches the lowest point with the loss of his entire family again, some friends, music, and being forced to join the war. In the final stage, is the process of rehabilitation where Beah connects with music once again. Ishmael Beah exposure to music at a young age stayed with him throughout his life. (Beah, 2007, p. 5-218)

When Ishmael came to the States, he started raising awareness on the issue of child soldiers. He has spoken all over the world on behalf of UNICEF, the Council on Foreign Relations, and more. He speaks about what child soldiers go through, and why an end needs to be brought to the use of child soldiers. At a marine base in Virginia he spoke with the soldiers on what to do if they encountered a child while in combat. He will continue to inform people on this topic because most people are unaware that it is happening. Ishmael hopes that by raising awareness people can fight

During one of the lessons Ishmael asks the narrator to leave and think about the philosophy of leavers. Then the narrator believes once he finds this out he’ll know what Ishmael’s philosophy is and won’t need a teacher anymore. After a couple of days the narrator comes back to Ishmael to explain the basic laws of life. These laws were, to not exterminate the competition for food, do not destroy your competitors food supply to be able to grow your own, and do not deny access food to others. This then explains how diversity

Personally I believe throughout the memoir Ishmael’s life is impassioned, he experiences trust issues and has difficulty opening up to others. He slowly dividend self-confidence; pushing himself to be empathetic towards others. No matter what you go through, if you keep going and you have supporters you can overcome a harsh past. Ishmael was ten years young before his life path took a bitter turn. He was an innocent young boy traveling a journey from their village, Mogbwemo to Mattru Jong with two of his friend to see his mother and little brother. After two days of visiting his mother, Ishmael continues his journey to Kabati, his grandmother’s village still with his two friends. Though he visits his families during the journey, he hopes to

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.

I do not think that the film is a movie with a message of absolution of the IDF participants in the massacre. I believe that the film simply focuses on the Israelis who served in Lebanon and the guilt that they feel for having participated. However, I do not think that they necessarily feel sorry for what they did. The film is about Ari Folman trying to recover his lost memories of the massacre. Throughout the film, he discovers that he does not remember the event because he feels guilty. The victims in this film are the Israeli soldiers. I think the film mostly criticizes those in the top ranks of the IDF and how they do not care enough about their soldiers to tell them exactly what they are getting themselves into. For instance, many times in the film soldiers will shoot recklessly because that is what they were told to do.

I strongly believe that one of the main purposes of this book is for the author, Ishmael, to educate his audience on one of the negative impacts of war that strongly impact children, the loss of their innocence. He demonstrates this through his personal experiences and his loss. For example at the beginning of the book, Ishmael is living a normal life and is like any other kid, living an innocent life and never having been exposed to violence. This is evidenced on page 23 as Ishmael explains how he felt as the rebel attack took place in his town. He confessed “The sounds of the guns was so terrifying it confused everyone…….My

The rebels attacked the village before they arrived, for Ishmael fell to the bottom of the hopeless abyss with no hope to get up again. While they were hiding from two rebels who were just older than Ishmael, some one in their group moved which made some noise. Although they escaped from the bullets of rebels, Gasemu was killed on the way. At the end of Chapter 11, Ishmael sat with him when he exhaled the last breath before his death. He was wondering what it felt like for Gasemu when he was died. Compared with the previous chapter, Ishmael was getting used with death in war. In stead of being scared during the combat with rebels, they were calmed to protect themselves. It was a good change for him at the time, but it was also an negative change for him and all children who lived in wars. They felt nothing while death happened. It wasn’t their fault to be like that, but it effected their mental towards death. I was surprised by the negative affect by wars; this kind of thing was the most unfamiliar topic in my life, but reading this book made me think about the wars more than before. I was shocked how little the human is during a war. A tiny little bullet can kill a person in minutes and he despair of hopelessness can also break one down. I do not like wars, but I cared about it more than

As Ishmael was on his own wandering through the forest feeling scared, He through “Why was I the last person in my immediate family to be alive” (Beah 179). It show that Ishmael was a victim, because he was the last in his family to survive. He has no real family out their. He is on his owne at a very young age. A victim is a person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action. And Ishmael was harmed by an event. He had his family die before him because of the attacks on the village. He is a victim. After being forced into the war Ishmael traumatically said “It took several months before I was able to realm how to sleep without the aid of medicine. But even when I was finally able to fall asleep, I would

An example of this is when the narrator explains how Takers justify the destruction of the world's natural resources and wildlife, the narrator says that Takers would see this as the price that must be paid to advance human culture. Ishmael uses the narrator's response to build to his next point: that the Takers have it wrong — that they

As Gibreel and Burnat walk alongside the barrier, the scenes of dead bodies and pools of blood leave Gibreel extremely unphased. Any toddler, seeing such devastation and horror would normally be shaken, however, for Gibreel this is nothing new. Being born in this conflict has impacted his life, it has hardened him at such a young age. Burnat wants his audience to see the horrific scenes that Palestinian youth encounter on a daily basis as a result of this conflict, something that I hope few children should ever be exposed to during their

The picture on page 22 shows a toddler in his “home” as a refugee. This is the only thing he has to call a home, but we all know this is not a home. A home is someplace you stay in and you are comfortable in that place. In a home, you laugh and share great moments with your family. A home doesn’t have to be extravagant, expensive, or big and nice, but a home makes you comfortable and it is suitable enough for a person. The tent that the child is in barely even fits him let alone his whole family. This image of the way they live shows how they were treated as nobodies, like they weren’t even there. The Israelis label them as not important. “Who are the Palestinians? Non-Jews. Terrorist. Troublemakers. DPs. Refugees. Names on a card. Numbers on a list.” (Said, P.26). This quote tells us that they were seen as worthless because they are “Non-Jews” and if you are a Non-Jew you are not important. To the Jews, who are the dominant discourse, you are not necessary to the world. They don’t only see a select group of Palestinians as terrorist and Non-Jews, but they see every Palestinian this way. “I heard it said in Lebanon that Palestinian children in particular should be killed because each of them is a potential terrorist. Kill them before they kill you. (Said, P.25).” The Israelis have no pity towards the Palestinians and they have no remorse for their actions. This goes back to the Palestinians being labeled as