A Long Way Gone : Memoirs Of A Boy Solider

A prominent theme in A Long Way Gone is about the loss of innocence from the involvement in the war. A Long Way Gone is the memoir of a young boy, Ishmael Beah, wanders in Sierra Leone who struggles for survival. Hoping to survive, he ended up raiding villages from the rebels and killing everyone. One theme in A long Way Gone is that war give innocent people the lust for revenge, destroys childhood and war became part of their daily life.

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.

Children exposed to violence within their communities are left with emotions of hopelessness, insecurity, and doubt. Historical events such as the war on terrorism, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the tragic events of September 11th have had a detrimental effect on the entire nation, including the children. Although every child is not directly affected by the aspects of war, it somehow has an emotional effect on all. The involvement of a nation with war affects every individual differently, whether it is out of fear, anger, doubt, hope, or love. In the short novel A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, he narrates the story by telling his own involvement in the Civil War in Sierra Leone as young boy and the many issues he faces while living in

In A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah, a soldier with the Sierra Leone army during its civil war, has many life changing events that he has to live with forever. Ishmael is taken far away from his childhood dreams when an unexpected civil war breaks out in his hometown. Ishmael had a loss of innocence when he was younger which caused him to become what he became. Ishmael was a young boy who was introduced to war at 12 years old. He lost friends and experienced the horrific results from the rebels attacks.

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.

A long way gone, memoirs of a boy soldier, by Ishmael Beah is a story of about a boy named Ishmael and how his ordinary life was suddenly changed by a civil war in his home country (Sierra Leone). He is separated for his family when the war starts and he is determined to find them. Ishmael is resorted to moving from place to place with different groups of boys/friends along the way. He faces challenges and life threatening situations everyday and does everything he can to stay alive. He has many close calls that almost result in death, but he is saved many times, usually due to the music tape that he carries in his jacket. Eventually ishmael is recruited to the army. The army changed Ishmael is a negative way. He is like a killing machine and uses drugs and eventually gets to a point where is addicted to them...From this point on Ishmael learns many lessons and goes through

Many and many child are forced to become soldiers and is becoming a major issue in the global level. A long way gone is a real life story that was faced by Ishmael Beah who became soldier even if he didn’t want to be. He wrote this book to show people around the world, the suffering that child goes through in the war country. He didn’t have any other choices. Ishmael Beah uses imagery, flashback, and narrative techniques to show the condition of the child soldiers is a major issue going on the world through the memoirs “A long way gone”.

At 12 years old imagine knowing that everyone you know is gone and your home is torn up. Imagine wandering in the wilderness and being alone. Imagine becoming recruited as a child solider, and being brain washed and drugged to kill people of the same culture. Imagine the innocence being corrupted and the pain being brought on. This is no life for anyone to live, but in the story A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier written by Ishamael Beah that has became his life. The story take places in Sierra Leone when his life is take over by soldiers who have killed his family and destroyed his home. Ishmael is forced to flee his home and finds himself becoming a child a solider. Sierra Leone has been filled with war and poverty, but within this story it shows Ishmaels strength, but it also shows the pain of his innocence being robbed from him at such a young age.

A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah.This book is nothing more then about a destiny, a journey that we don’t see everyday, readers could call Ishmael's life a miracle.this book was published in 2007, New York by Sarah Crichton Books.

Ishmael Beah's 2007 memoir, A Long Way Gone, tells the story of a boy who's not so lucky. The book records his real-life experiences as a 12-year-old caught up in a bloody civil war in his home country of Sierra Leone. When his village is attacked by rebel fighters, Ishmael loses his home and family. He's forced to wander around looking for food, hiding in the woods and trying to avoid getting gunned down by soldiers.

A Long Way Gone, expresses many emotions; happiness, anger, and sadness, all at once. Ishmael Beah, an innocent civilian who became a child soldier, learned to live life the hard way, facing many challenges, struggling for survival, and suffering from nightmares but have helpful memories.

A Long Way Gone begins in Ishmael Beah’s early youth in 1993. A twist in a childhood that is unexpected. It all started from an attack by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in his village of Mogbwemo. At this time, he along with his older brother and two friends lost connection with their family. His first few chapters, he spend time looking back to home to get money for to purchase foods. When Ishmael and his groups run to the rebels, they were separated from one another. Then, he now noticed that his family has already been hit by the RUF, he started to

“‘It was not easy being a soldier, but we just had to do it. I have been rehabilitated now, so don’t be afraid of me. I am not a soldier anymore; I am a child.’” (Beah 199). In Ishmael Beah’s a long way gone, he retells the story of his childhood as a child soldier fighting for the government in the Sierra Leonean civil war, and his journey to rehab after UNICEF places him in a rehabilitation camp. The book starts with Beah in his hometown village, Mattru Jong. As a twelve-year-old boy, his life is simple, yet fun and he enjoys spending time with his mom, his dad, his older brother—Junior, and his friends, as well as listening to and singing the lyrics of rap and hip-hop western music with his friends, Mohamed and Talloi, and his brother. One day, one of Ishmael’s friends in a faraway village wants Ishmael and his friends to come perform at the talent show that their village is hosting. Ishmael and his friends depart from Mattru Jong, and while they are traveling, the civil war that is happening in Sierra Leone reaches Mattru Jong, and it is attacked by rebels. Ishmael spends weeks traveling with his friends and his brother, until one day they are captured by rebels. After escaping Ishmael is separated from his friends and brother, but he continues to travel Sierra Leone, just barely surviving, until he reaches a village where people have said his parents are; however when Ishmael reaches the

A Long Way Gone written by Ishmael Beah and published by Sarah Crichton Books in 2007 is a nonfiction account of Ishmael Beah’s experiences as a boy during the Sierra Leone Civil War. Sierra Leone is a under developed country in west Africa neighboring the countries Guinea and Liberia. The year of 1991 saw the rise of the Revolutionary United Front against Sierra Leone’s government. Known as the rebels, the RUF’s goal was to “rid the country of the corrupt APC government” (Beah 222), thus sparking a war. After multiple takeovers of Freetown, the capital Great Britain is forced to send in troops to end the war. In 2002 peace is restored. Ishmael is first affected the by the war at age 12 in 1993. He successfully escapes the war on October 31, 1997. Ishmael argues that the lifestyle of a boy soldier is the most degrading and depriving experience a boy could ever have. A Long Way Gone perfectly describes the plight of boy soldiers being lured and taken captive mentally by war. The style of the book effectively portrays the atrocities of Ishmael’s actions and other boy soldier’s actions for the sake of self preservation. The book does get complex with the amount of characters which hinders the reader’s ability to follow the storyline. Also, the lack of a distinct time table leaves the reader not knowing where each memoir falls in relation to the whole story. In all, A Long Way Gone effectively portrays the issue of boy soldiers but comes up a little short in structure and some

In 1991, a gruesome and terrible war broke out in Sierra Leone that ended up killing 50,000 harmless people (Shah). Ishmael Beah, a ten-year-old Sierra Leonean, found himself running from the horrific war while watching everything around him fall apart. While he was trying to seek protection, he was forced to fight in the government army as a child. Beah was exposed to hard drugs, murderous actions, and a new way of life. This is where Ishmael Beah lost the gift of childhood innocence and fell into the grisly ways of a murderer at a very early age. After years of violently fighting against the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) came to the army camp and brought Ishmael back to safety at the Benin Home. In the memoir, A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah transitions from a child soldier to a civilized person because of the nurse, Esther, and moving in with Uncle Tommy.