Innocence In A Long Way Gone

In the article, “In a war, children without a childhood,” by Los Angeles Times, the central idea was that children lose their innocence because they lost their childhood. For example, many children lost their childhood because they’ve watched their parents become victims of murder. According to the article, “Children have seen their parents killed and watched as boys and girls just like them were hurt.” Well, when children see their parents get killed, they tend to grow up with brutal, aggressive tendencies, which causes them to lose their innocence. In addition to being orphaned, children will grow up making mature, adult decisions, also causing them to lose their youth. In conclusion, when children lose their childhood, they lose their

Young adults are losing their childhood innocence; replacing it with the world of adulthood. The most reoccurring theme throughout the book, Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill is the loss of innocence. The protagonist named Baby, lives with her father, Jules who is a heroin addict. Jules and Baby are constantly moving to different apartments in Montreal, where Baby is exposed to drugs, juvenile detention and forced into prostitution by her pimp. Baby experiences many obstacles in her life at the age of thirteen because she doesn’t have a father that loves her enough to guide her into the right path of life. Therefore it did not take long for Baby to lose her innocence.

While being face to face with war, Ishmael illustrates what he, as well as his life, has become, “My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector and my rule was to kill or be killed…” (Beah, p.126). With these declarations, the reader can clearly comprehend his lack of innocence and empathy. He has become a unfeeling, cold-blooded soldier trained to kill or be killed and survival is his ultimate goal. Later on in the book, the reader is informed of the barbaric scene that takes place in Benin Home, a rehabilitation center. When Ishmael arrives at this site, he ruthlessly interrogates a couple of his housemates “I took out my grenade and put my fingers inside the pin. 'Do you boys want this to be your last meal, or do you want to answer his question?”(Beah, p.133). Undoubtedly, this is not normal behavior for a 15-year old and when he displays this conduct, it can be unquestionably said that Ishmael has lost all sense of innocence and emotion. In this section of his story, Ishmael is threatening to kill boys his own age, which shows how deviated he has become from his original character and sense. Both of these examples verify that Ishmael Beah in nowhere near the innocent, rap-enthusiast and family loving boy he once was. The child that was Ishmael Beah is now dead, and in his place stands a cold-hearted

”At first she just listened to me, and then gradually started asking questions to make me talk about the lives I had lived….‘None of these things are your fault,’ she would always say…I heard that phrase from every staff member--and frankly I had always hated it--I began that day to believe it.(164)” Ishmael Beah was a 12-year-old boy living in Sierra Leone at the beginning of the book. Sierra Leone was having a war which concluded too many people dying, and running trying to survive. Ishmael Beah joined the war from being 13 years old to 15 years old, he was drugged to have more energy and brainwashed to have the mindset to kill. Ishmael Beah uses characterization in order to show how Ishmael struggles to change from a child trying to survive, to a drugged ruthless soldier who must recover in rehabilitation.

There may be as many as 300,000 child soldiers, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s, in more than fifty conflicts around the world. Ishmael Beah used to be one of these child soldiers  , Ishmael Beah is a child who lived most of his childhood in the war   . He is one of the first to tell his story in his own words according to  http://www.alongwaygone.com/index.html and his memoir “A Long Way Gone”. The war had made ishmael have perseverance  in the long run , inference that he was brainwashed by the war and that ishmael was a very hopeful child always wishing for better days.

Ishmael Beah is described as a pre-teen, with a love of rap and hip-hop music. He finishes as a drug-addicted killing machine, out avenging the death of his entire family. Before being rescued by a United Nations Program, and eventually fleeing to New York for rehabilitation, it is a tragic and harrowing tale that gives substance to the term ‘Boy Soldier’, that isn’t really understood in most cases. Ishmael gives a gentle portrayal of his life, before the war reached his small village and forever changed his life. Abruptly he becomes fugitive fleeing for his life and eventually into a corrupted teen.

In the novels The Book Thief and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, childhood innocence in times of war is very evident in Rudy from The Book Thief, and Bruno from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Though childhood innocence can be endearing, in these books it leads to their death. With both Rudy and Bruno their innocence keeps them from understanding the war. Rudy risks his life, without knowing, to save Liesel and Bruno hails Hitler, with the understanding it is just a way to say goodbye. Not only do they not understand the war, they both maintain their innocence despite the war. Rudy idolizes somebody that during that time was unacceptable. Bruno befriends somebody, but doesn’t understand who he is and what his situation is. These books also

Ishmael Beah was at the age of thirteen when his childhood and innocence was taken from him. For example, Beah says “My childhood had gone without my knowing, and it seemed as if my heart had frozen”(30). It happened so quickly. He was frantic with worry. Beah was forced to join the Sierra Leone military. It was not until later he himself started to believe he has lost his innocence. At this young age he was killing the rebels that traumatized him purely to seek revenge and to survive. His hate for the rebels was very strong, “Whenever I looked at the rebels during raids, I got angrier, because they looked like the rebels who played cards in the ruins of the village where I had lost my family. So when the lieutenant gave orders, I shot as many

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

One of my daddy's favorite songs is "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" by Waylon Jennings

Loss of innocence is a constant theme throughout both A Long Way Gone and The Bite of the Mango. Both Beah and Kamara have to leave everything behind in their old lives and start a new journey. They both learn to adapt to live in a war for a short period, even if it means leaving behind their childhood memories and life. “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.”( Beah 29) Beah shows the amount of inexperience and innocence still within him as the war begins. No clue as to what war could possibly be like, he expresses vulnerability and innocence as if he were a puppy in a world of wolfs. War quickly destroyed Beah’s and Kamara’s innocence. Both of them saw people with their own eyes get brutally killed. They both saw innocent people including their own relatives and kids fall

All babies on Earth are born innocent as they have not yet been exposed to impure, sinful, or immoral events in life; they are likely to lose their innocence during some time in their life, and once innocence is lost it can not be regained. Elie Wiesel lost his innocence when he was fifteen years old during the Holocaust. He describes his journey in his memoir, Night. Although Elie survives the Holocaust, he never truly escapes it as his memories stay with him forever; his most vivid memories are to come from the events where Elie lost his innocence. Throughout the memoir, Elie mentions experiences that caused him to have a loss of innocence within his faith, dignity, and family loyalty.

Innocence is usually associated with youth and ignorance. The loss of one's innocence is associated with the evils of the world. However, the term "innocence" can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Similarly, the loss of one's innocence can be interpreted in more than one way, and, depending on the interpretation, it may happen numerous times. The loss of innocence is culture specific and involves something that society holds sacrosanct. It is also bounded by different religious beliefs. Still, no matter which culture or religion is at hand, there is always more than one way to lose one's innocence, and every member of that particular culture or religion experiences a loss of innocence at least once in their lives. In addition,

Have you ever wondered what the life of a child soldier is like? Well, if you have, then the story of Ishmael Beah may be of interest to you. Ishmael Beah’s story is one of hope and of humanity and how if given a chance any child who has experienced being a child soldier can eventually regain their humanity and live a normal life again. In this essay I will be telling you how Ishmael is able to regain his humanity after being a child soldier. Now, I will be talking to you today about what happened when Ishmael became a child soldier.

Ishmael lost his innocence when he became a kid soldier and killed the rebels during their combat. The same with his friends from Mattru Jong when he found them in the jungle. The rebels also lost their innocence because the ones that they recruited were once harmless. The twelve year olds that were recruited lost their innocence of being a child. “I was glad to see other faces and at the same time disappointed that the war had destroyed the enjoyment of the very experience of meeting people.