Themes Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

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.

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.

In the novel A Long Way Gone, there are many examples throughout that emphasize the theme by using symbols. The hip hop cassettes that Ishmael carries around with him are an important symbol as without them he would not have been able to survive. It also provides the image of his lost childhood. The music was able to assist him in many ways of survival. On his journey Ishmael uses them to show his talent and passion, and to prove to other’s that he is just a teenage boy trying to escape from the war. “I ran toward the fire, but the cassettes had already started to melt. Tears formed in my eyes, and my lips shook as I turned away." (Beah 110). Once the cassettes were gone, he lost all hope. Beah created a clear and evident meaning behind the

“He never said anything back then and didn’t get upset by what they said.” (Beah, 2007, p. 91) Living freely, this man is a spirited human, not suffering but taking the pain. Pleasant people in ‘A Long Way Gone” are the selfless, secure souls. Next, on page 119, Ishmael remarks “I was not afraid of the lifeless bodies. I despised them and kicked them to flip them.” At the front lines of his first battle as a soldier, trained to fight and through with living fearfully. The water rises and Ishmael builds his wall. Also, on page 187 Ishmael utilizes brutal honesty with his interviewer, never questioning himself, “I meant what I said and it was not a funny matter.” Embodying the confidence of someone choosing to stay when everyone else runs, surviving the war. In conclusion “I Lived” by OneRepublic (2013) the pinnacle of connections between the real world and literary devices in A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah (2007), reflecting the significance of courage and all it can get you

“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

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.

Ishmael Beah's memoir "a Long Way Gone" is a true story about his early life and his experience in the war in Sierra Leone as a child soldier. There are many symbols, figures of speech and images used in Beah's memoir. Interchangeably, there are relationships between all three of these terms in the book. In "a Long Way Gone" Symbolism, Images and figures of speech convey a very moody message to the reader, based upon what they are reading. These literary building blocks helped shape the memoir and keep the reader engaged throughout it.

Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah uses symbols to underscore his central theme of oppression and/or

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

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 Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone the author reflects on nature and reveals how lonely and lost he truly is. The imagery also mirrors the hellish civil war in Sierra Leone. Initially, as Beah begins to walk down a road in hopes of finding a village he starts to notice all of the dead bodies he is stepping over. “I had passed through burnt villages where dead bodies of men, women, and children of all ages were scattered like leaves on the ground after a storm” (49). Beah illustrates a horrific image and compares it to something that almost anyone today can picture what it looks like after a storm where it is leaf after leaf lying on the road which is now happening in Sierra Leone except the rebels are the storm. Also, the people are the leaves, which creates a terrible image that he allowed other people to perceive by using something that we can connect with since when leaves have fallen from the tree they are dead, dried up, and are now doomed

It provided Ishmael freedom of expression as a young child untouched by war. Ishmael Beah carries a rap cassette with him although he has no tape player, it stays in his pocket. More than once he and his friends are mistaken for rebels, and the cassette

The autobiography written by Ishmael Beah, shows a lot of experience that tells the reader about the human condition and what it means to be a human being. In this story, Ishmael’s experience is displayed for an eye-opener to everyone about the cruel world around them. With that being said, not everyone is at fault, but this book shows a different perspective of a person with an extremely different culture from our own. For anyone that lives freely, this life story would make anyone feel guilty for not having to battle their way to adulthood. Ishmael’s experiences show how quickly a person’s life can change depending on the current circumstances. Ishmael had a very eventful and traumatizing life, one that took surviving, changing as a person, and a process of recovering. After reading this autobiography, Ishmael’s life story tells the public a lot about human condition and what it means to be a human.

There is a civil war taking place in Sierra Leone. But the war hasn’t come to Ishmael’s village yet. Then one day the war reaches his village and he is separated from his mother, father, and brother. And ever since that day, he’s been on the move. On the move to stay alive and find his family. After escaping death a couple times, Ishmael comes across a village someone told him that his family is in. As he’s resting on the hill on the outskirts of the village, rebels come in and kill everyone, including his family. And at that moment, his hatred for the rebels grew even stronger. He was so angry that he beat up the man who told him what village his parents were in. He was so angry at the man for making the other boys wait and take a break before

Ishmael Beah uses many symbols in the novel A Long Way Gone to emphasize the central theme of oppression/freedom. Ishmael uses music cassettes to symbolize freedom as they are carried from a time when he was free and happy. The cassettes also symbolize survival as they save Ishmael’s life on more than one occasion throughout his story. A good example of the cassettes saving Ishmael is when they help a village chief to see Ishmael and his companions as boys, not killers, ‘These boys are no mercenaries, look at them.’ The chief went back to inspecting the cassettes. I was a little glad that he had called us boys and refrained from the word ‘devil’” (85). The cassettes have a direct connection to North American culture which also links them to