A Long Way Gone

While writing a memoir, the author does not always have to be truthful. As long as the author gets their point across, then that’s fine. Most authors, in every genre, have either some kind of information that they add in to try and make the book more appealing, or have information that they take out because it's either not worth telling, or it doesn’t add to the point of the story.

Ishmael Beah was an innocent boy who enjoyed playing football, swimming in the streams, and even started a rap and dance group with his friends and older brother. The group discovered their love for rap music from old cassette tapes of O.P.P, Run D.M.C, and the Sugarhill Gang. Ishmael and Junior, along with their other friends cherished these few hip hop and rap cassette tapes. Ishmael constantly carried these couple tapes on him at all times. They choreographed dance routines and memorized all of the lyrics. The boys also entered a talent show in a close town. Ishmael, Junior, Talloi, and Mohamed have been singing and dancing to rap music since they first formed the group when Ishmael was only eight years old. They

Some nights the sky wept stars that quickly floated and disappeared into the darkness before our wishes could meet them. Under these stars and sky I used to hear stories, but now it seemed as if it was the sky that was telling us a story as its stars fell, violently colliding with each other. The moon hid behind clouds to avoid seeing what was happening” (Beah 80).

In “The Luck of Roaring Camp” by Bret Harte, nature is seemingly created into its own character. Nature has the haunting role of being the giver and taker of life in this story. The forces of nature bring the men of the camp the blessing of a small child. Through this child the men are given life and see the beauty of nature around them. However, nature will ultimately strip the men of both of these things. Harte shows us that nature is the culprit that brings both beauty and pain.

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.

Ishmael Beah had a really tough life throughout his childhood and teenage years. In his literary work, A Long Way

Many of our life lessons were often given by our elders in the form of stories, jokes, and the spirituals which serve often song in the fields, as well as, on Sunday mornings. Yet, as a people, we thought it necessary to hold on these priceless teachings because it has served as the only link to our African ancestry. African American culture is both part of and distinct from American culture. African Americans have contributed literature, agricultural skills, foods, clothing, dance, and language to American culture.

War is and can be defined as both a state of emergency and the liberator to a world so corrupt and unjust. The war in Sierra Leone separated families and ruined lives. How can a fight for a cause so right be so wrong. The Books “The Bite of the Mango” and “A Long Way Gone” compare and contrast Ishmael Beah’s experience to Mariatu Kamaras’. Both books are very different yet very similar. In The Bite of the Mango and A Long Way Gone both characters lose their childhood because of the war, but go through different journeys based solely on their gender.

We all have a story, we all go through tough things in life. We can relate to a lot of things and we find out that were not so different from other people. The memoir A Long Way Gone and the film The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete have a lot of similarities and differences. Even though they live in two different places, they are very similar. One similarity would be that they are both struggling alone. They both have their parents but the boys are going to learn how to survive alone without them. They are two young black boys ages 12 and 13 that live in poverty. They become independent throughout their stories. Another thing that both Ishmael and Mister can relate to is drugs. When Ishmael was brought into the army, he started adapting to the other

“Compelled to become instruments of war, to kill or to killed child soldiers are forced to give violent expressions to the hatreds of adults” (Olara otunnu). “A Long Way Gone” was written by Ishmael Beah and published 2007.A boy who runs away from Sierra Leone after losing his family. He is captured by the army. He was forced to do drugs, kill innocent people etc. He was sent to rehab to get him away from war.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah, tells of the experiences in his intense journey through Sierra Leone during the outbreak of war. Beah had to learn to survive the harsh outcome of the war, resulting in the loss of those whom were close to him, family and friends, and trust in people. The book has a recurring theme of nature and the natural world. In the book, the world at night, as well as the moon, serves as both a safeguard and a bringer of bereavement.

Firstly in the Holocaust nature was a great strength for people's spirits. In the diary entry, Document D, Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl, it says, “The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.” This means that nature is a great remedy for people. This also tells that Anne Frank, the author of this entry, is explaining the beauty and power and resilience of nature.

Through thorough analysis of McKay, Cullen, Bennett, and Hughes the authors of these poems, it explains the significance of Africa and concept of heritage. McKay’s significance of Africa and concept of heritage is depicted in four lines that stood out to the author. The first is line 1 on pg. 1007, it says, “The sun sought thy dim bed and brought forth light.” This to the author and the audience that McKay intends this for might look at this line as being not significant, but McKay uses this line to create imagery of the sun rising but also gives the writer help at elaborating it to whoever reads this paper. The author looks at this piece as McKay describing God as the sun because he/she is an omnipotent being which means all powerful, this

Ishmael says that white is nothingness. White is blank and indefinite. The whiteness of the whale makes Ishmael uncomfortable. He believes that the whale is some kind of ghost. White also represents a supernatural color.

     Africa has more than 800 languages native to its continent. African cultures are so diverse that they are different from any other culture of the world. African cultures contain many different languages. African languages range from common French to languages unheard of to most people such as Swahili. African arts are much different than American arts. Their art involves much more creative pottery, masks, and paintings. Africa has a very interesting culture. Reasons being the people are very creative and like to express their individuality. The most diverse cultures in the world belong to Africa.