A Long Way Gone Character Analysis

The book is based on actual events and is expressed through a personal point of view. Ishmael wrote a memoir that tells the story of a young boy who is torn from his peaceful life, and then forced into a frightening world of drugs and slavery. In writing about his experiences, he has made the decision to present his experiences in a particular way by missing out details and recounting others. This

Does Ishmael Beah justify his actions with the story he tells in the novel A Long Way Gone? Ishmael Beah does not attempt to show that the stories he tells us in the novel are either the right thing or wrong thing to do. Instead, he shows us both side of his life. He doesn't tell us a single story, he shows all aspects of his life. One example of this is how he tells us about being brainwashed by the rebels and believing that his actions were the right thing to do during that time. A second example is about how Ishmael Beah tells us about his time when he was in rehab. One last example is that he shows us that he now has a safe life living with his uncle and cousins in sierra leone

War impacts the lives of many people by taking away their families, homes, and old lifestyle in general. People suffer through loss of many valuable things that force them to live a new way that may be hard to adapt to. In the autobiography called A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, he writes about his struggles to live through the civil war in Sierra Leone. The author, Ishmael, was very young when the war started. His village was attacked by the Rebels causing his family to run searching for safety and along the way they were split up. Ishmael had to find a way to survive on his own. Along his journey he was found by Africa’s military and forced to join the soldiers. Ishmael had to do many things he regrets while fighting for the military. Ishmael

Ishmael is from a small village in Sierra Lione, but has had some Western influence in the form of cassettes with English rap music on them. Ishmael was a confident child who had a healthy social life with many friends who share his love of music and dance. At the age of 12 Ishmael experienced a great loss, as his village was attacked by rebels and he lost his home and family. Ishmael was left to fend for himself, wandering through the forests and villages of Sierra Leone in search of food, shelter and safety.

He didn't have any other option but to learn how to survive with what he had. Was he mature enough to be on his own? How would he escape from the rebels? Later in the memoir, after having to continuously run from village to village, Ishmael is captured by the army to help. Finally, he’s able to have a shelter to stay in and isn’t worried about when his next meal is going to be.

During the war “[surviving] each passing day was [Ishmael’s] goal in life” (Beah 89). Ishmael always continued to persist and made it his goal to continue to survive each day, even when there was little hope for the future. He would persevere in his journey even though he did not know “when or where” it was going to end. He didn’t know what [he] was going to do with [his] life (Beah 89). There was no proper future awaiting Ishmael during this time, the only dim hope he held was that his family was still alive and that they could reunite, and that hope was soon squashed, but he continued.

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.

During the book, while Ishmael and his friends are walking on the beach, they were captured by a village( villagers). The village chief was cautious of groups of boys, because of the war, and Ishmael was almost drowned. But before he was killed, he showed the village chief his Walkman and danced for him. The village Chief was impressed, and one of the boys in the village recognized Ishmael, and he was set free. Because of music, Ishmael was able to avoid a life-threatening

Survival is also one of the themes that appear in the novel because of Ishmael’s past being in the war. He quickly learned that in order for him to survive, he had to hide his

Ishmael showed perseverance during his time in the war when in his memoir  “ A Long Way Gone” it stated on page 179 “ Leslie had told me that I was to be “repatriated” and reinstated into normal society. I was to live with my uncle. Those two weeks felt longer than the eight months I had spent at the Benin Home” showing that he had only spent eight months getting over everything he went through in the war in two years , therefore it showed how much he could overcome in such little time and how he went through very difficult things in a matter time and still had perseverance through it all. Another example of how he had perseverance was stated in the book on page 88 “ We were leaving our friend, or as my grandmother would put it, “ His temporary journey in the world had ended.” We on the other hand had to continue.”Showing how hard it was for Ishmael to have to keep going on but still continued

Ishmael talks of the violent events that have not only affected him, but also something he helped create throughout A Long Way Gone. Ishmael's new American life is haunted by his

In A Long Way Gone the theme of survival is presented when ishmael is forced to survive. Ishmael states “Things changed rapidly in a matter of seconds and no one had any control over anything. We had yet to learn these things and implement survival tactics, which was what it came down to. That night we were so hungry that we stole people’s food while they slept” (Beah 29). The rapid change of direction forces Ishmael to do stuff that he wouldn’t do normally in order to

Isolation is undeniably one of the greatest pains a person can go through. People can’t live without interaction with one another. After a while, they become barbaric and won’t be able to tolerate people. This is no way for anyone to survive. This shows how much of a stuggle it was for Ishmael to

The final thing that encapsulated Ishmael Beah that was a symbol in A Long Way Gone was drugs, which

Ishmael`s hope for a better life portrays one example of the theme “Always have hope”. The war was very traumatic for everyone in the country. In fact, Ishmael joined the army at only 12 years old. While fighting in the war, Ishmael recalled his family and the wisdom they left with him. For example, Ishmael`s father said, “If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person he or she will die” (Beah54). Ishmael holds on to his father`s words as they comfort him and divert his attention away from the war around him. He could`ve given up many times during the journey. Instead, Ishmael does not lose hope and continues to move on because he knows that life will get better.