In A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

A Long Way Gone is a novel written by Ishmael Beah. He’s a child who lost everything extremely valuable to him, due to war. Ishmael uses imagery, descriptive writing, and emotions to show the challenges it took to survive the war. As the war goes on, Ishmael describes the changes of how Mogbwemo, the village he was raised in, and his neighborhood, of how it went from peaceful to violence, and how the war had impact him and the people of Sierra Leone.

In the memoir A long Way Gone Ishmael Beah states “When I was young, my father used to say, “If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die” (Beah 54). Throughout the war Ismael Beah survives many difficult situations, that make him think is it worth it to keep running. Ishmael Beah, always remembers what his dad said to motivate him to try and keep surviving the war. Ishmael Beah used adaptability, the kindness of others and bravery to overcome the adversities of the war in Sierra Leone.

There are many theories why people could do evil things. Is it because they were abused or had a rough childhood? What if the society isn’t to blame at all for their behavior? (Olivia Goldhill “Are Some Humans born evil?”) People say people are born evil or people who are born good turn evil. This topic has been studied for many years and many people have different opinions about it. A person may say they don’t believe that people are born evil. Another person may think that people are born evil or good people turn evil. An example is babies aren’t born evil. Their minds are wonderful. Their minds are innocent and they don’t know much. A person can’t possibly be born evil. It really depends sometimes how a person is raised or what that person experiences in life.

Evil in this context is regarding to all suffering, pain and horror. Evil can be categorized as natural evil and moral evil. Natural evil is that which occurs by natural means e.g. earthquakes, tsunamis etc. Moral evil is that which is imposed on humans by humans e.g.

It is a very arguable subject on whether or not people are born with good intentions, and therefore taught by others the ‘evil’ side of their personality. Whether it is the absence of ethical conduct in human nature, or just the way one perceives a situation, evil seems to be prominent in our everyday lives. Humans seem to have a moral code that follows them with every decision they make, yet despite the laws of morality and society, people of this world still seem to behave inhumanely because of the act of self-preservation, human interest, and who exactly the authority figure is at the time.

In the memoir A Long Way Gone, author Ishmael Beah describes his survival journey as a lost child in his country, because of the civil war in Sierra Leone, then becoming a child soldier facing war daily, afterward the process that Beah went through during rehabilitation and finally in fear escaping the civil war. Ishmael Beah emotional journey has three stages of development in which Beah utilized music. In the first stage, Beah uses music as a survival mechanism to keep sane and safe. In the second stage, begins when he loses his brother and friends, Beah reaches the lowest point with the loss of his entire family again, some friends, music, and being forced to join the war. In the final stage, is the process of rehabilitation where Beah connects with music once again. Ishmael Beah exposure to music at a young age stayed with him throughout his life. (Beah, 2007, p. 5-218)

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.

In the memoir, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, and the film The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete, there is a lot to do with poverty, loss of family and independence. Only in different ways. Ishmael is on his own and has to find his own food, water and shelter along with a few friends. The boys are all young but were thrown into the real world very quickly and unexpectedly. Mister and Pete have their mothers, but it does not matter as of the mothers do not seem to care for their children as much as they should. Mister and Pete come home to rarely any food at all, no money and are scared of one day, no shelter. Mister has to take charge in his home as a result of his mother being a drug addict and does not try to help, just like Ishmael had to be his own person by reason of the believed loss of his family.

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.

Many people have their own views on humanity. They can either be that humans are essentially good but can become corrupt or that people are just essentially evil. They have their own opinions, some people can tell their perspective on humans in other fashions. If people are essentially good, they how do they become corrupt? Or if are truly evil, then why do some people seem like they are kind people and they can never do such things? To take both of these into account, a person may saw that people are good but deep down have evil within them. People may ask how does the evil within a person come out, the answer to that is that it is thanks to their environment. The environment around a person can undoubtedly draw out the evil within them

Evil people are found throughout the entire world. Young or old, small or large, evil people exist all around the world. Rather hurting other people or animals, these acts are inhumane and abnormal. Any act of violence is wrong, but actually harming or killing other people or animals is over the line. Evil has been studied for thousands of years, and the root question is always, is evil born or made? Children can be completely normal and be a great child, and as they reach middle adulthood they could fall off the deep end.

Imagine if you had a younger sibling or relatives between the ages nine through eighteen. What if they were forced to be sent to fight in the war at such a young age. But in Sierra Leone, that is not the case. Many children within that area were taken from their own homes and were threatened to become adult soldiers. As for the book, "A Long Way Gone” wrote by Ishmael Beah and the movie "Blood Diamond", shows a briefly description of how young innocent children were obligated to be committed to be a soldier. Most of the children were restrained from leaving the different rankings that they were sent to.

Furthermore, while Beah begins to setup shop in a forest he encounters a pack of wild pigs that begin to hunt him down and after he escapes he recalls something his grandmother had told him; “ … Since that day, the wild pigs have distrusted all humans, and whenever they see a person in the forest, they think he or she is there to avenge the hunter” (54). Studying what Beah has stated here and why he is remembering this he indicates how lost he is feeling since no one will trust him so we are able to see him or other teenage boys as the hunters since the rebels use them as soldiers which makes civilians

Beah, at age twelve, was in constant fear after losing his parents and everything that made him feel safe. In Boyd's’ book review on Ishmael Beah's’ memoir, A Long Way Gone, he wrote: “A 12-year-old is conscious only of immediate circumstances, and in Beah’s case the arrival of the rebels in his small town meant sudden separation from his parents and months of indeterminate flight from danger with a handful of other boys” (Boyd 302). From this quote alone you can tell Beah went through a lot more hardships that any aged person can fathom. Everything was thrown at him at once at such a young age. At time where kids are just starting to gain a sense of responsibility, a time where people are most vulnerable. Losing your parents as an adult, let alone a twelve year old child, can destroy someone's mentality.

 Evil doesn 't necessarily have to be an action by a human; it can also be a result of a natural disaster such as: hurricanes, earthquakes, illness, etc. A hurricane can take away everything from thousands of humans. This causes the people to have no home, clothes, or food. This is also a form of evil, due to the suffering it causes. This is called natural evil. People can bring about moral evil upon themselves, although, they rarely can bring natural evil upon themselves. There is a distinct difference between the two, and one evil does not cause the other. The reason I point the