Long Way Gone Essay : A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

Throughout the novel, Ishmael and his friends begin to those their humanity and become completely different individuals because of their exposure to the war. The

I find the fact that they were able to even smile during this morbid time was extremely uplifting. To still have such spirit when so much had been taken away from them is astonishing. This shows so much character in Ishmael, how he does not let the war get to his head. He still preserves whatever happiness he has left. It is so important not to take life for granted, as shown in this memoir. In one instant Ishmael was a boy, in another he was a boy soldier. He manages to find joy in a terrible time.

Ishmael showed perseverance during his time in the war when in his memoir  “ A Long Way Gone” it stated on page 179 “ Leslie had told me that I was to be “repatriated” and reinstated into normal society. I was to live with my uncle. Those two weeks felt longer than the eight months I had spent at the Benin Home” showing that he had only spent eight months getting over everything he went through in the war in two years , therefore it showed how much he could overcome in such little time and how he went through very difficult things in a matter time and still had perseverance through it all. Another example of how he had perseverance was stated in the book on page 88 “ We were leaving our friend, or as my grandmother would put it, “ His temporary journey in the world had ended.” We on the other hand had to continue.”Showing how hard it was for Ishmael to have to keep going on but still continued

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

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

Survival is also one of the themes that appear in the novel because of Ishmael’s past being in the war. He quickly learned that in order for him to survive, he had to hide 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.

To start off, all of Ishmael’s problems stem from his original conflict when he has to run away from the war, his family, and his friends. The origin of the situation was when the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) attacking his home city of Mogbwemo (where his parents were). Later on in the month the rebels attack Mattru Jong (where

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

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.

Ishmael Beah had a really tough life throughout his childhood and teenage years. In his literary work, A Long Way

In the attempt to comprehend the meaning of being human, it’s important to first understand what it must mean to be pure evil. If we can know what pure evil is, we can understand the conditions that brought Ishmael to do such horrid things himself. In several chapters of the book, Ishmael goes through the torture of the militia known as the

For a boy who often has a great deal of misfortune in his life, he also seems to have an endless amount of luck. Though fate may have played a big role in starting Ishmael’s war life, his luck always helps him overcome the obstacles the war throws at him. Before the war, Ishmael spends more than a month in the forest alone before he finally runs into people again. Ishmael consciously joins the new group of six boys. With over miles and miles of empty forest and rebel territory, Ishmael was lucky to find a group of boys who have the same motives as him. As the boys continue on their journey, they’ve been captured and are brought to a nearby village; they wait

In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah, a former boy soldier with the Sierra Leone army during its civil war(1991- 2002) with the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), provides an extraordinary and heartbreaking account of the war, his experience as a child soldier and his days at a rehabilitation center. At the age of twelve, when the RUF rebels attack his village named Mogbwemo in Sierro Leone, while he is away with his brother and some friends, his life takes a major twist. While seeking news of his family, Beah and his friends find themselves constantly running and hiding as they desperately strive to survive in a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. During this time, he loses his dear ones and left alone in the