Starting a calm day in Sierra Leone to surviving, and being trafficked into the army is what Ishmael Beah experiences as a child. A Long Way Gone is a memoir of a child soldier, Ishmael Beah, and the memoir shows the experiences he has throughout his childhood. Beah experiences trauma of the war just like all of the other child soldiers. Ishmael is one of the very little amount that survive the war. The three main themes in A Long Way Gone are the themes of survival, healing, and memory. 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 …show more content…
The author states “These days I live in three worlds: my dreams, and the experiences of my new life, which trigger memories from the past” (Beah 20). While in the war, Ishmael’s memories don’t relate to his family, because the traumatic events mask his memories of his good childhood, and it is until he recovers that he starts to remember his family. Also while in the safety of New York, it is new to Ishmael, and it makes him compare things to Sierra Leone, and this triggers memories from the past. Ishmael’s memories of the war seem irrelevant, but in New York the memories are still relevant because the environment he’s around focuses on his memories, and this gives Ishmael a place to vent off his stories. In A Long Way Gone the theme of memory is shown to be a big part of the memoir when Ishmael’s occurrences in the safe life trigger memories of his horrid past, and this causes him to reflect on his
A long way gone by Ishmael Beah, attempts to evoke a powerful response from the leader, by using vivid descriptions to show how he has become emotionally traumatized by the acts of violence in the war. The reader then sympathizes with Ishmael and begins to understand the lasting and deep, emotional pain that Ishmael deals with on a daily basis.
In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah, a former boy soldier with the Sierra Leone army during its civil war(1991- 2002) with the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), provides an extraordinary and heartbreaking account of the war, his experience as a child soldier and his days at a rehabilitation center. At the age of twelve, when the RUF rebels attack his village named Mogbwemo in Sierro Leone, while he is away with his brother and some friends, his life takes a major twist. While seeking news of his family, Beah and his friends find themselves constantly running and hiding as they desperately strive to survive in a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. During this time, he loses his dear ones and left alone in the
Unfortunately, it brings about a needless cycle of cruelty. Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone is his autobiography, it takes us on a heart-wrenching journey through his childhood in Sierra Leone. Once living in a peaceful and happy country, the idealism was shattered by a brutal civil war.
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.
In "A Long Way Gone," Ishmael Beah recounts his arduous journey through the civil war in Sierra Leone, a journey fraught with the burdens of poverty. Born into destitution, Ishmael confronted hardships from an early age. The scarcity of food and the constant struggle to survive were daily realities in his impoverished village. When the war erupted, exacerbating their already dire circumstances, Ishmael and his family were thrust into an even deeper abyss of suffering. Growing up amidst poverty, Ishmael was intimately familiar with deprivation.
The novel A Long Way Gone was written by Ishmael Beah, a now thirty-six year old from Sierra Leone. This novel dives into the complicated childhood of the author, as well as many of his childhood friends. Published by Sarah Crichton Books, it was released in 2007 in New York City. The story takes place in the early nineteen nineties, when Ishmael is entering adolescence. This book predominantly takes place in Sierra Leone, a small country in Western Africa. As the book advances, it tells the story of Ishmael and his traumatic years as a boy soldier, as well as his rehabilitation years. A Long Way Gone also addresses the hardships families face during war including famine and poverty, in conjunction with the destruction of families. This book clearly demonstrates the oppression young men at this time faced, as they were forced to commit mass murder, as well as how their lives after were affected by their burdensome pre adulthood. This book aims to educate its readers about the struggles facing enslaved children that are forced to become soldiers. I think the novel vividly informs the reader of the issues covered and connects to its readers We were all at one time the same age as Ishmael; and in my case, I am the same age as he is in the book. It greatly shows how my life differs from his, and how I could potentially want to do more for this cause or rethink how I appreciate my own life more.
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
“He never said anything back then and didn’t get upset by what they said.” (Beah, 2007, p. 91) Living freely, this man is a spirited human, not suffering but taking the pain. Pleasant people in ‘A Long Way Gone” are the selfless, secure souls. Next, on page 119, Ishmael remarks “I was not afraid of the lifeless bodies. I despised them and kicked them to flip them.” At the front lines of his first battle as a soldier, trained to fight and through with living fearfully. The water rises and Ishmael builds his wall. Also, on page 187 Ishmael utilizes brutal honesty with his interviewer, never questioning himself, “I meant what I said and it was not a funny matter.” Embodying the confidence of someone choosing to stay when everyone else runs, surviving the war. In conclusion “I Lived” by OneRepublic (2013) the pinnacle of connections between the real world and literary devices in A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah (2007), reflecting the significance of courage and all it can get you
In A Long Way Gone, it highlights, “These days I live in three worlds: my dreams, and the experiences of my new life, which trigger memories from the past” (Beah 20). Ishmael Beah is haunted by old memories of the war and can’t recognize himself more and more each time he has to make a bad decision. Ishmael states, “My eyes widened, a smile forming on my face. Even in the middle of the madness there remained that true and natural beauty, and it took my mind away from my current situation as I marveled at this sight” (Beah 59). The text explains that Ishmael even after all the violence he has been put through, he still has a pure heart and knows that that pure heart is there to help him through these times that he can’t
Since Ishmael participated in war, and committed a variety of brutalities, many would argue that he was not a victim at all. In reality, he did experience personal suffering and anguish. He suffered through the death of many family members, and was required to cause harm to the people of Sierra Leone. Throughout his journey as a child soldier, Ishmael was the perpetrator. “The war memories had formed a barrier that I had to break in order to think about any moment in my life before the war” (Beah 149). Due to his loss of humanity during the war, Ishmael struggled to access the person he was before he committed those heinous crimes. This experience not only affected him physically but mentally as well. A Long Way Gone shows how difficult it was for Ishmael to come to terms with what he did while being a soldier and how those actions affected the person that he is today.
beginning of A Long Way Gone Ishmael was terrified of guns. He didn't want anything to do with them. But once he started in
Hope enables people to move on by providing the thought that maybe tomorrow’s events will be better than today’s. Hope is a theme that remains constant in every part of A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. Ishmael begins the novel optimistic, believing he will find his family again. This optimism is later lost when Ishmael is recruited by the army to fight against the rebels, causing him to become addicted to drugs and the thrill of killing. Three years after his recruitment, Ishmael is rescued by UNICEF-a group dedicated to rehabilitating child soldiers. During his rehabilitation, Ishmael discovers hope once more by relearning how to trust, love, and have the will to survive. The presence of hope throughout A Long Way Gone enables Ishmael to
A Long Way Gone touches on the remarkable true story of Ishmael Beah. In 1993 Sierra Leone was experiencing its own Civil War. Ishmael was only 12 years old when he survived the attack on his village as a result to his country’s crisis. In the process of losing his home Ishmael lost his family, and childhood. He was expected to fend for himself and hold on to the little he had as he wandered from village to village. The life of a boy who once played with sand changed within a blink of an eye. Ishmael began to witness an endless amount of blood and violence as he was recruited to be a boy soldier fighting his country’s war. Life for Ishmael was never the same and he lives today to recount the events.
Another way the theme, “Always have hope” is shown in A Long Way Gone is through Ishmael`s hope to find his family by keeping his will to live and the memories at the forefront. In Ishmael`s first account of war, his village was overturned by the rebels and his family was split up. Therefore, Ishmael and his friends were left to survive