A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

Imagine your parents being killed when you are at a young age, then having to be forced to carry a weapon and kill or be killed. This was a story of Ishmael Beah, as told in the A Long Way Gone.

Rotting corpses and a river of blood is something that we wish no person would have to see and hope that children would be far from included in these bloody wars. There is no hiding from the fact that children not only in Africa but in the Middle-East as well will experience this sight everyday. Written by Ishmael Beah, “A Long Way Gone” shows whether they are child soldiers or fleeing refugees every passing corpse will continue to scar their minds. The dead oppress these kids more and more to the sight of massacred villages until they’re surprised to see what used to be an average village to them. A village that is breathing life not breeding

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 civil war in Sierra Leone great numbers of people died and if they survived, traumatic images keep them company for the rest of their lives. Ishmael Beah, who was a child at the time, had to face the horrors of war. Beah’s innocence was stolen and replaced with the mentality of a soldier. Fortunately, he survived long enough to be rescued by UNICEF agents. He is rehabilitated but those memories cannot be forgotten and it is impossible for him to have another childhood.

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.

If I could, I would give Ishmael a dozen of other awards after his story as a boy soldier, but I think this award suits him best. A Long Way Gone tells the story of a young boy who experiences war for years without any family and only the hope of living to find them one day.

“I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality” (Frida Kahlo). Is it true that when war or crime takes place, it is only the fear of reality that causes minds to create nightmares instead of dreams? Ishmael Beah is a historical figure that went through this feeling of deprivation and fear, where he could not tell apart a dream from reality. This appears frequently in his memoir, A Long Way Gone, which is about the civil war near his home, Sierra, Leone. In this war, the rebels were the killers, the ones much like the Nazi’s with no reason to kill. Beah loses his family, and gets brainwashed and loses everything all to become the little boy soldier that he once feared. Throughout, A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah conveys the message that sometimes the fear of reality makes it hard to tell apart a nightmare from a real situation.

The theme of this story can be expressed as a story of suffering and racism. Though the theme may be thought of as just about a young boy who gets himself in trouble with drugs and tries to redeem himself by his passion of music; it

All over the world, there are huge battles, wars, and genocide. Many people lose their families and everything they have. They are forced to be a slave, and to do things they do not want to do. It is possible that people who have been exposed to all this circumstances tell the world their experience, and how to heal their wounds. According to the articles, “Killing Fields Survivor Documents Cambodian Genocide” by Jennifer Hyde and “Why the Arts Are as Important as Hospitals in Cambodia” by Emely Wight, they both talk about a person who has been through a huge trauma such a genocide. Individuals and societies who suffered a trauma such a genocide can heal by looking for justice and music.

In a Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah demonstrates Innocence within his adolescence to illustrate the importance of music and how it ties in with the common desire of freedom. The loss of innocence determines the perceptions of the world and the decisions made, ultimately resulting in happiness.

The average person is exposed to about 5 hours of music a day, but have you ever thought about how music exposure has the ability to bring people back together? During the civil war, nearly everyone’s life was impacted by music, whether they heard it constantly or had family members who played instruments. Music had an effect on everyone living in the era and has a lasting effect on how we live today. Music was an important aspect that affected how people lived during the civil war era.

For Beah music was a key factor in not giving up and closing himself off from the world around him. Music provided and encouragement to the relationship between Beah and Nurser Esther, which helped Beah confined in the nurse about the nightmare he been having. In the dream, Beah family disappear leaving him by himself, trap in the darkness; the nurse response was the same that Beah had heard thousand of time, it wasn't his fault, but for the first time Beah started to believe it. At this stage, Beah started showing a transformation because music gave Beah a connection to people and life. Since Beah was a child soldier and carried burdens, music lightens that weight. Music provided courage to remember the pass even if it was painful, which leads

Music is a very important part of many people’s lives today. Music has the power to make or break any situation. Many of the uses of music can lead to different responses. Music can put one in a good mood for a party, it can comfort one in hard times and struggles, and it can bond two or more people together who would not otherwise become close. Music can and has changed many lives through the years. The art form dates back to as far as mankind has been around. Since the beginning man has made music and it has evolved with man throughout the years. Music has gone through many stages ranging from plucking strings strung across two boards to pressing keys on a piano to make electronic sounds. Each and every form of music has touched many lives

In When Blood and Bones Cry Out: Journeys through the soundscape of healing and reconciliation (2010), John Paul Lederach, together with his daughter Angela Jill, study the use of metaphors from sound to foster new pathways of conflict transformation and healing. They ask the question “how do people express and then heal from violations that so destroy the essence of innocence, decency and life itself that the very experience penetrates beyond comprehension and words?” (2010, p. 17). In the Lederach’s perspective, aural properties found in music, poetry, story-telling and creative dance, with their regard for repetition and capacity to resonate diverse sounds, offer alternative facets for conflict transformation and broadminded dialogue. These ideas, linked with aural and sonic metaphors, give voice and sound to societies needing to express the atrocities incurred at the hand of violence. Together, the Lederach’s propel the reader to envision another approach to social healing in settings of protracted violence.

Everyone listens to music for different reasons, whether it be for comfort, serenity, or to brood. But regardless of what reason one has to listen to music, the main reason people enjoy it is because it allows them to connect to the world around them. In A Long Way Gone, a memoir by Ishmael Beah, music reoccurs throughout the novel as a unique mode of storytelling. Everyone’s story can be told in the form of a song. Everyone can relate to the ever-present threat of life and death and as such this creates universal themes that binds the world together. Through the themes of hope, nature, and companionship, Beah’s struggle through the Sierra-Leone civil war in A Long Way Gone connects him to “If We Hold On Together,” an R&B song by Diana Ross.