A Long Way Gone Theme

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.

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

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

Throughout the memoir A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael faces a plentiful amount of challenges and conflicts. In the book there are four main conflicts that Ishmael faces and overcomes. These conflicts include Ishmael running away from the war, his family, and his friends, Ishmael's entire family dying and him becoming a soldier at the age of 13, Ishmael going through rehabilitation, and Ishmael trying to move to a safer area when war meets Freetown.

In the story, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael’s life experiences while escaping the war show how everything in life should be cherished, because one day those great features are there but they can easily be taken away. Ishmael Beah has experienced the traumatizing effect of war and how it can tear someone apart and morph them into a completely different person. This happened to Ishmael himself. He was brainwashed and his mind was molded into believing that revenge is the answer to the deaths of his family members. This essentially is why he puts his safety and wellbeing at risk. He goes from being a twelve year old boy who heard stories of the war, but never imagined it chasing after him, to running away from this inescapable war only

“If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen...” (pg. 54). Throughout the course of A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, we familiarize ourselves with the exceptional hardships that Ishmael has experienced as a child soldier, in Sierra Leone, and what actions he takes to overcome them. Despite the fact that Ishmael has been through these devastating hardships and that he became the fear that he himself feared, Ishmael is able to instill hope and keep the reader going through the themes of powerful memories, nature and redemption. He does this through the use of powerful memories that contrast the fear and danger of the war with the remembrance of the beauty of life. Furthermore, nature leaves the reader striving

While living in Freetown he had a girlfriend who wanted to know about his past. He would not tell her what has happened to him, so she broke up with him. Nowadays he is more open to sharing his experiences, but only when necessary. He does not tell people what happened to him openly, it brings back bad memories from the war. Writing A Long Way Gone allowed Ishmael to become a bit more willing to recall his time in the war. Sometimes, the smallest things would trigger a bad memory for him. Now he is able to bring back the memories of the war without bringing back all of the pain those memories caused him. Writing allowed him to become a bit more open with his

Ishmael Beah’s memoir, A long Way Gone, is very descriptive and has a very effective way of painting a picture in the reader’s mind of what he went through as a boy soldier. Throughout the memoir, Beah used quite a few statements that impacted me emotionally, on a personal level. His vivid detail, word choice and how personal, yet professional he kept his writing led me to understand how exactly the war affected him, and everyone else who lived, and lives, in Sierra Leone.

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

I really enjoyed A Long Way Gone. Reading this type of book was new to me, because I wouldn’t typically choose a book like this for myself, but that did not make it any less of a great book to me. I cannot relate to the book of A Long Way Gone, because what Ishmael went through in his country is very likely to never happen to me. Though, I find it astonishing in many ways how such a young child went through such trauma so early in his life. I have noticed how the thought of Ishmael’s family was a driving force throughout the entire book. When the war first started and he was separated from his family, Ishmael always thought of them, their whereabouts and hoped to find them. Then, when he became a child soldier and killing became easy to him, his

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 Ishmael Beahs memoir A Long Way Gone the author’s natural images reveals his scramble to stay mentally stable. Understanding Beah is only 12 years old; Beah is confused as he loses all his family and friends and scrambles to stay alive as he runs from the rebels who have brutality kill anyone who stand in there way. To begin, in the stillness of nature Beah struggles to keep his mind from wondering.

A Long Way Gone reflects a child’s ability to survive during harsh times. It’s the story of Ishmael Beah a boy living in Sierra Leone during the time of war. The theme of this story is survival, and how adaptable human beings can be to any situation. Ishmael gets separated from his parents at a very young age. He is left to be with his friends since the rebels have entered their town of Mattru Jong. Ishmael starts to go through a phase in which he starts losing hope in life. He feels as though he has lost himself completely. The story signifies getting back up and putting life back together no matter the damage done. Ishmael is able to recover from his life during the war, and he creates a new life for himself.

“One side of the sky was completely blue and the other was filled with stagnant clouds. The quiet breeze caused a branch to snap in the forest. The echo sounded like a cry, a wailing”(pg.90). While walking through the forest, Ishmael described his surrounding so well, blending in the description of the forest and the sound of his surrounding. A book can have a variety of techniques that makes it stand out from other books, but Ishmael decided to use imagery to see if it would work well with his book. And it did, as this is a book about war, the amount of details in it really have helped the reader. With all the different places, scenes, situations, and deaths, readers were easily able to depict what it looked like or feel like due without getting confused. In addition, if A Long Way Gone did not have all the details that it had now, it would be a very confusing book as the book has too many situations to imagine. All the work that Ishmael has put into doing the details really helped the

“Hope when you take that jump, you don’t fear the fall. Hope when the water rises, you built a wall.” In both A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah and “I Lived” by OneRepublic an important message prevails; take risks without hesitation, but be ready for all that may come of it. I have found that this is song represents living life to the fullest, no matter what your situation, life goes on, and will never come again. This would be an excellent song for someone in Ishmael’s obstructed position. “With every broken bone, I swear I lived.” “I Lived” by OneRepublic is a ray of reassurance and optimism for people that may be struggling to remember to live life to the fullest; reminding us to take chances and be accepting of who we truly are, or a song