How Does Elie Lose Innocence

On my father’s cot there lay another sick person. They must have taken him away before daybreak and taken him to the crematorium.”.

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

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 tells the story of a boy residing in Sierra Leone who loses his innocence at a young age and manages to overcome his traumatizing events through story telling. In Ishmael Beah’s riveting memoir, A Long Way Gone, Beah explores the idea that reminiscing upon joyful memories and loved ones when undergoing distress, allows children to be able to recover from their loss of innocence through the use of imagery, foreshadowing, and flashbacks. Evidently, Beah is seen throughout the story recalling every childhood memory to aid him through survival.

Many children in the world have encountered or are now encountering internal conflicts within their region that can cause much harm to not only their physical bodies but also to their emotional well-being. In Ishmael memoir, A Long Way Gone, Ishmael explores the idea that the atrocities in the world can affect a child’s life traumatically by causing a loss of innocence within the child, and Beah does this through his use of imagery, flashbacks and characters. The atrocities in the world can affect a child’s life by causing a loss of innocence within the child. Unfortunately, a child from a certain part of the world, like Beah, can struggle with meeting with the conflict that is happening within the child’s country face-to-face, and that conflict

Coming of age is a process in which children gain independence and maturity. However, it also requests to accept and learn from mistakes, and if an individual never achieves this particular mindset, he or she never truly comes of age. In the book Sarah’s Key, the author, Tatiana de Rosnay, follows the story of a young and brave girl, Sarah Starzynski. In 1942, in Paris, the French police took the Jews families in the Vélodrome, in inhumane conditions, before deporting them by trains in concentration camps where men, women and children are separated to therefore be killed. When the police comes to take Sarah’s and her family, Sarah hides and locks her little brother, Michel, in their secret cardboard because she believes they will come back

“One can forgive but one should never forget.” - Marjane Satrapi. A memoir is a collection of unique memories that one may never forget. They tell the story of a person’s life and grasp experiences that may be wonderful or absolutely terrifying. In Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, Marjane Satrapi narrates her childhood in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and illustrates the devastating effects it had on her life. Similarly, Elie Wiesel narrates his horrifying journey as a Jew who endured the unimaginable cruelty of the Holocaust in his novel: Night. Although these memoirs are narrated in different time periods and locations, the authors are both marginalized because of their race and must battle traditional group barriers with their

Elie is dehumanized throughout a variety of events that take place during the holocaust. Early on in the book the guards become aware of Elies gold tooth that he refuses to give up, and keeps pushing off. This leads the guards to the action of beating Elie’s father to maybe get a response they want from Elie. “that presented Franek with the opportunity to torment him and on, on a daily basis, to thrash him savagely” When Elie’s father is beaten Elie describes how he doesn’t even blink. Another way Elie is dehumanized is when the prisoners are running through the snow Elie suggest the idea of wanting to die, but can’t seem to go through with it because he has to take care of his father. Elie begins to lose his faith in God after witnessing young

World War II is an important key point in history that addresses to young adolescents. The novel, T4 is based on a true story, in which the author, Ann Clare LeZotte is portraying a novel that is based on the theme of survival. It appears to be that the author’s argument in writing this novel is to simply maintain awareness of the past. Generally speaking, a story about survival is a difficult genre for young readers, “The majority of war stories for children are about World War II and the Holocaust.” (Huck 482) The reason war stories are mainly about World War II and the Holocaust is because it was the most recent, largest, and horrifying war during the twentieth century in Europe. Our textbook also states that these historical novels help children experience the past. Meaning, that it is important for a child to learn about the past including all the wars, conflicts, sufferings, and great happiness that had occurred so they can apply that to the present and to the future.

War is horrific no matter where it takes place. Mothers, fathers, elders, and children are all affected by war. In fact, there are many memoirs depicting life in war torn countries. Two such memoirs are A Long Way Gone written by Ishmael Beah and The Bite of The Mango written by Mariatu Kamara. A Long Way Gone depicts Ishmael’s life running from the civil war in Sierra Leone and becoming a child soldier. The Bite of The Mango recounts Mariatu’s journey of losing her hands and escaping to different countries is written with the help of Susan McClellan. Both writers go through traumatic events due to Sierra Leone’s Civil War, but Ishmael’s will to live was more tenacious than Mariatu’s.

Has it ever dawned upon you how a twelve year old boy might have experienced the Holocaust? In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, Mr. Wiesel told his story, leaving us with an astonishing and vehement view to what it was like to be sent to a concentration camp at the young age of twelve. To enhance the powerful effect of the book, a multitude of motifs were utilized, although one was undeniably conspicuous: The dehumanization of the Jews. The book was a full chronicle of one young man’s experience of the Holocaust, which included multifarious occurrences of the horrors Jewish prisoners were put through, ultimately removing the essence of their humanity. Symbolism was incorporated into this motif, in which Mr. Wiesel showed how one’s eyes not

War impacts many people. Some of those people are more vulnerable than other. The book A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah, gives the readers insight into war’s horrid crimes. Within Sierra Leone, where the book takes place, a young boy is separated from his family during a civil war. He is then captured and is forced to fight in the war. Ishmael, the young boy, the author, shows traits of not only a victim, but also a victimizer. He falls victim to being forced into fighting within the war, but he also puts innocent people in danger and harm.

Notably, when Elie was younger he always faced the fact that he father believed that he was not old enough to make certain choices and do certain things. Elie’s father made him believe that he wouldn’t understand making him doubt himself. During this time at the Concentration Camp he was beat even in the text he states, “ I tried to protect myself from the blows,”(41). The author has been through a lot through these past couple of days and weeks. He states that the first human words he heard were, “Don’t lose hope,”(41). Those words brought his dignity back up close to his previous personal

What went through my mind as I followed young Elie on his journey? For starters, I liked how he started off in the story saying, “ If in my lifetime I was to write only one book, this would be the one” (1). Being from Transylvania and living through the holocaust was not very often. He was able to live through the tragedy of Nazi Germans killing millions of innocent Jews. I think that it was a good book, even through all the gore-y parts of the book it was very intriguing. At times I was thinking how could any man want to hurt people in ways unimaginable. Making little boys, girls, and women, after getting brutally abused and raped, go into the crematorium to burn and die. Why would anybody wish that upon a group of people just because they

I no longer thought of my father or my mother.” (p.113). This depicts Wiesel’s thoughts after his father died. He no longer felt a need for anything but surviving, which in the quotes is said as eating. The only thing that was on his mind was surviving because his family was no longer a concern for