Analysis Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

War is devastating and tragic. It affects the daily lives of the people that are involved in the war. In the excerpt from, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, it displays a man who is dreaming about war. When the man wakes up, he lays sweating on the ground, remembering the painful memories that the dream has brought. In the end, the man realizes that from now on he will have to live in three worlds; his dreams, the experience of his new life, and memories from the past. Meanwhile, in the image, “In Times of War” by The New York Times, there is an angel on a cloud looking over the dreadful war. Then the angel walks away because the view of people dying makes it sick. The theme of the excerpt A Long Way Gone, and the image, “In Times of War,” is that the war brings death, seriously injured, and psychologically broken people.

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

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.

Beah had never a home, he had never a place where he went and felt safe. Ishmael was never loved, he was just used for the benefit of others. He had to survive all the physical and emotional pain. Beah overcame the psychological problems that the war left him and learned how to regain his humanity that the army had taken from him. Ishmael never lost hope, he always looked forward for a better future. He kept having hope even when he was brainwashed by the army and was forced to do bad things. He was always hoping to survive. Despite what Ishmael lived through, he regained his humanity by the help of others but mostly by his perseverance and personal strength he could vanquish his killing thoughts and become a confident person

“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

“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

Personally I believe throughout the memoir Ishmael’s life is impassioned, he experiences trust issues and has difficulty opening up to others. He slowly dividend self-confidence; pushing himself to be empathetic towards others. No matter what you go through, if you keep going and you have supporters you can overcome a harsh past. Ishmael was ten years young before his life path took a bitter turn. He was an innocent young boy traveling a journey from their village, Mogbwemo to Mattru Jong with two of his friend to see his mother and little brother. After two days of visiting his mother, Ishmael continues his journey to Kabati, his grandmother’s village still with his two friends. Though he visits his families during the journey, he hopes to

Prompt #1 In A Long Way Gone, a book in which Ishmael Beah recounts the horrors he faced in his childhood in Sierra Leone, there are many examples of violence. There are many types of violence, including physical and psychological, but the violence leaves lasting effects on the both the community and on Ishmael. An example of physical violence in the book is when Ishmael’s young friend is killed while they are in their first fight. Ishmael experiences an internal change.

Ishmael was starving insanely. He felt pain from drinking water and his lips were as dry as the desert. His ribs were visible and Ishmael wanted food really badly. However, one evening, he had found a five year old boy holding corn and “rushed on the boy at the same time, and before he knew what was happening, we had taken the corn from him” (Beah 30). Ishmael was desperately hungry. Due to the war and the lack of food, Ishmael needed to keep himself alive. His inherent human instincts forced him to act out and steal the corn. If he was not in a state of hunger, he would not be stealing food from five year old boys. According to Zimbardo, “the guards, some of whom identified themselves as pacifists, fell quickly into the role of hard-bitten disciplinarians” (Zimbardo 2). Out of all the men he is traveling with, he is the kindest of all. However, the starving sensation initiated his actions to steal the corn away from the innocent boy. Without the feel for lacking for food, Ishmael would have done such a cruel

There are many themes in the book, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. One of these themes is how when put with the right people one can survive anything. Ishmael luckily was placed with the right people at the right time in order to survive the war. All of the people he was with helped him through the war. The group of boys relied on each other in order to find enough food and water to survive. Also, the staff members at the rehabilitation center, Ester, helped Ishmael get through life after being a soldier. Without Ester, Ishmael would have struggled big time with getting over the past and moving on with his life. Also, Uncle Tommy helps Ishmael find a normal life after the war. He also helps Ishmael have a goal towards to finish his rehabilitation and helps encourage Ishmael to get past all the things in Ishmael’s life. Lastly, Ishmael meets Laura who saves Ishmaels life by allowing him to come live with her and she helps him get away from the war in Sierra Leone. Without Laura who knows what would have happened to Ishmael. All the people Ishmael encounters throughout the book help him

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.

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

The book A Long Way Gone, was an honest book. It showed the struggles of war and what it does to a person. The story of Ishmael Beah is a valuable one, full of love, struggle, family and violence. One of the things that is great about this book, is that it shows a clear progression of Ishmael’s character, from a sweet young boy, to a hardened young man You can see is innocence being slowly ripped away by the military, who forced him to smoke gunpowder and massacre villages. He is a real role model for kids who are struggling to get through something. If this boy can get through a war and survive, then you can get through this! The thing I didn’t like about it is the violence. They could have gotten away with not showing a baby being cut out

The sacrifices we make today determines what we highly value in our life. Our willingness to sacrifice directly amplifies how desperate we are to achieve the outcome we desire. In the memoir A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah deliberately sacrifices his sole humanity in order to survive from the rebels. In other words, Ishmael suppresses his true emotions in order to remain alive. Thus, this explains why Ishmael joined the army and became a living killing machine.