Ishmael: A Narrative Analysis

Ishmael acts like all the older soldiers by doing drugs, watching war movies and never sleeping just like they do. He acts this new way only because of who he’s surrounded and influenced by. Now in the novel, Ishmael’s character is changing completely. From a considerate, playful, young child; he’s now a ruthless, animal-like killing machine for the government

Although war took away most of Ishmael and his friends’ childhoods, turning them into savage murderers with no regard for anything but their own survival, they were provided with a rare chance to regain their humanity. Once out of the war, the young children were transported to a rehabilitation center run by UNICEF. There, they were surrounded with complete strangers who for some reason unapparent to them, cared deeply for the children, presenting them with an endless supply of love and understanding of their situation. They were constantly reminded of their innocence, being told “This isn’t your fault, you know. It really isn’t. You’ll get through this” (Beah 151). Even through all the hardships Ishmael and his friends caused at the center, they were not blamed for any of their actions, and each time were cared for with more compassion than the last. The workers at the facility understood their losses and tried to fill in for them. They tried to be the children’s new family. “Think of me as your family, your sister” (Beah 167) as said by a nurse to Ishmael. Ishmael was provided with a support system to help him get through his hard times, and be reshaped into

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.

The book is based on actual events and is expressed through a personal point of view. Ishmael wrote a memoir that tells the story of a young boy who is torn from his peaceful life, and then forced into a frightening world of drugs and slavery. In writing about his experiences, he has made the decision to present his experiences in a particular way by missing out details and recounting others. This

In the first half of this book, Dr. Frankl explains his theory of logotherapy through his concentration camp experiences. He explains how his worldly possessions were striped from him literally in the sense that his

Ishmael Beah was a boy from Sierra Leone who became a soldier in the country`s tragic civil war. He spent nearly all his childhood running away from the war and eventually ended up joining the army. During difficult times, Ishmael always held on to hope to continue his life’s journey. In A Long Way Gone, the theme is “Always have hope”, and is shown through Ishmael Beah’s hope for a better life, to find his family, and through the rehab staff`s hope for the boy soldiers.

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.

“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

After Ishmael was taken from the front lines of the civil war he was takin to UNICEF’s Benin Home where he was to be rehabilitated. The Benin Home was a place specifically designed to rehabilitate former child soldiers like Ishmael. The home and its counselors used many techniques for rehabilitating the kids. In an article about rehabilitation programs in Africa the author states, “The trauma-counseling training workshop, which can range from a few days to several weeks, typically offers participants a combination of lectures, discussions, role-plays… game sports and expressive therapy techniques, and other forms of active methods of treating war trauma can be introduced” (Dridi). One of the counselors at the Benin Home, Esther, used expressive therapy to treat Ishmael’s war trauma. Esther gave Ishmael a rap cassette as a gift and Ishmael said, “When I unwrapped it, I jumped and hugged her” (Beah 154). Esther gave this gift because before the war Ishmael and his friend used to perform rap songs together, Esther knew that giving this gift to Ishmael would help him reconnect with his past as a normal child. Esther was constantly caring about Ishmael and he was starting to do the same, “I had become very fond of Esther, but I refused to show it… Whenever she left, though, I would watch he go” (Beah 168). Ishmael now cares about people, which is a big step for a person who used to viciously kill people to start caring about someone. All in all, Esther has helped turn a vicious child soldier into a normal kid that is capable living life with happiness and caring about

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

Don’t Call me Ishmael by, Michael Gerard Bauer is about a 14 year old boy called Ishmael. Ishmael has various traits some of which include, being shy and sheepish. In the novel, Ishmael has problems with his name, his intimidator Barry and overcoming his fears with James Scobie.

The book is based on actual events and is expressed through a personal point of view. Ishmael wrote a memoir that tells the story of a young boy who is torn from his peaceful life, and then forced into a frightening world of drugs and slavery. In writing about his experiences, he has made the decision to present his experiences in a particular way by missing out

In chapter four and five, when the boys stole food from others that did not have much, I believe it must have been a very difficult decision for the boys. Especially, because they knew what it was like not to have food. I also believe that the boys were hesitant when stealing the food but they knew that if they did not, they may not survive. Because of the situation that the boys were in, I do not see stealing the food was unavoidable. On page 27, when Ishmael said, “We got hungrier day after day, to the point that our stomachs were hurting and our visions blurred at times.” shows that the boys lack of nutrition was beginning to impair their visions and beginning to bring pain to their stomachs. The conditions were very tough for everyone

After his home was attacked, he fled away to the only escape route out of town. In fact, “Everyone headed for it” (24). He was no longer living like a normal boy, instead, he now is a wanderer without a home. Instead of gaining friends now, he began losing them. His friend once ate an animal and then “Saidu’s body was washed and prepared for burial the next day” (85). Ishmael lost his closest friends to him because of the war. Never in his life had he lost someone close to him like that, and especially not because of war. Not only that, Ishmael joined the army. He was forced to do so in order to live. He used to be innocent and not have to join any war but now, “With trembling hands I took the gun, saluted him, and ran to the back of the line, still holding the gun but afraid to look at it" (111). Ishmael is now carrying a gun and has joined the military to kill the enemy. An army is a place where you are trained to kill, and now Ishmael, only a boy, is joining that group. Not only that, Ishmael also took various drugs. Some days the only things he ate was “...sardines and corned beef with gar, sniff cocaine, brown brown, and take some white capsules” (122). He could not get off of them and would do anything to get more. He had never taken drugs before, but now he was addicted to them and would not get off of them. But, by far, the largest transformation is that Ishmael began to kill people. He once played a “game” where

Trauma affects Ishmael’s life in a physical, mental, and emotional aspect throughout the novel. The most significant physical trauma Ishamel experienced during World War II was the loss of his arm. Losing his arm has a physical and mental effect on him as described in the text, “Ishmael had not been fully anesthetized and awoke to see his arm where it had been dropped in a coroner on top of a pile of blood-soaked dressings. Ten years later he would still dream of that, the way his own fingers curled against the wall, how white and distant his arm looked, though nevertheless he recognized it there, a piece of trash on the floor” (Gutterson 251). As described in the quote not only did he witness the medical procedure of his arm being amputated, but ten years later, he still re-lives this traumatic event in his dreams.