...The book “A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah is a book that has many themes and lessons. It is a true story about a boy soldier. One of the themes in this book is survival. When war hit Ishmael Beah, it was all about survival until the end. From the moment Ishmael fled the violence at Mattru Jong, the focus of his life became surviving. For months, Beah had to survive by overcoming hunger and violence. Survival was the most important theme in the book. Ishmael had to survive the war and in the forest all alone. He lost his family and friends. To stay alive during war, he had to join the army. He had to overcome his hunger, the violation, and the isolation. The book states “Things changed rapidly in a matter of seconds and no one had any control...
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...Child Soldiers in Africa Starting around the 1980s, a horrible new source of warfare was introduced to Africa. This method is using children for warfare, or in other words, children soldiers. A child soldier is any boy or girl, under the age of 18, who is forced to join and operate within an armed force or armed group in any capacity. It does not only refer to a child who is carrying, or has carried, weapons. The method of using children in combat was first introduced in Africa in the lowlands of Mozambique, where rebel commanders used children for war. Almost half of the numbers of child soldiers in the world come from Africa. They thought that this was a great method because they were easily manipulated, very loyal, and there was an abundance of them. Also the rebel forces found it difficult to convince adults to join them, which initially drove them to the idea of using children instead. Do not be mistaken though, for Africa did not create the child soldier. In fact it was the Nazis who drafted children after they got desperate. Other countries also used children soldiers such as Iran, Iraq, and countries in religion-driven or nationalistic wars such as in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and the Palestinian territories. But in Africa the situation is at the lowest level. The children were used for the sole reason of greed and power and with no recognition of them whatsoever. The children were fooled by using many different schemes. The way they will try to keep the children was...
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...Ishmael Beah filled his book, A Long Way Gone, with horrific imagery of a violent war, but he somehow also added in the art of music. In his book, Ishmael explains the tragic events of the civil war that occurred in Sierra Leone. Thousands of innocent people were brutally killed and thousands of young boys and men were forced to become rebel soldiers. Ishmael eventually became one of those rebel soldiers and was forced to participate in violent acts. Throughout his life, Ishmael relied on music to survive and recover from the mental injuries caused by the war. Before the civil war broke out, Ishmael, his older brother Junior, and couple friends discovered rap and hip-hop music (Page 6-7). Listening to rap lyrics on cassette tapes and dancing...
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...They are forced to kill and mutilate people, sometimes their own families. In the memoir A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah recalls his experiences as a boy soldier, and the impact it had on his life. Ishmael met many people along the way that helped him in his race to find safety. These people were very brave and took many risks for his safety. The people Ishmael show along the way show bravery many times. Early in the memoir, Ishmael and his friends showed bravery when they decided to sneak back to Mattru Jong in order to get the money that had left behind. At this point in the memoir, Mattru Jong had been overtaken by rebels, so returning to this particular village meant that ishmael and friends risked being shot, mutilated, or forced to become boy soldiers. However, without that money they would not be able to buy food and would face starvation. Fortunately, Ishmael and friends were able to secure the money, but faced life-threatening at every turn of the journey. Recalling the danger of crawling through an open clearing to avoid rebel gunfire, Ishmael states, “We started to crawl across the clearing at the signal of the first group that had it across...There were dead bodies everywhere and flies were feasting on the congealed blood on them” (Beah 28). Ishmael had the inner strength to remain calm and make it through this horrifying situation. Throughout the memoir, Ishmael demonstrates bravery countless more times. The imam showed courage when he refused to tell the rebels...
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...The piece of literature that grabbed my attention and had a great effect on me is A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, which was written by Ishmael Beah. The book is about Ishmael and his older brother and how they survived during the war in Sierra Leone. The boys live in horrific conditions and under a constant risk for their lives. The only thing that keeps them going is their hope, faith, love and memories about their family since they were told that there family was alive. However, due to the heartbreaking circumstances, the boys do not meet their family. As a consequence of such a cruel surviving, Ishmael and his friends are forced to become fearless child soldiers. However, Ishmael is eventually rescued by the United nations where he undergoes complete rehabilitation in the United States. Ishmael’s book inspires me to fight against injustice and crimes. I was born in Nepal, where we moved from, to the current residence in the US. Nepal is also under great political instability and social differences. Hence this book inspired me to fight against injustice and crimes. As a consequence, I am trying to make people aware by encouraging my friends and family to educate the Nepalese citizens. The book also provides a unique perspective of the dark sides of civil wars. I have learnt not to judge people instantly because their upbringing may have been completely different. Here, at the community college, I have met friends from different cultures and backgrounds. I have...
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...In A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, many events change his life and he has to choose to live with them or die. Ishmael has changed because of several major events that he lived through and has adapted and that has helped him survive in his war ravaged country. He has changed from young, innocent boy to mindless child solider to a proper adult but he still survives and that makes him very resilient. Though it was hard he found himself amongst war. One of the first major events was that he lost his parents. He was in Mattru Jong when rebels attacked his home in Mogbwemo. Slowly by surely wounded people started trickling in and he found out that way that he had lost his parents. His parents weren’t dead, just lost in the country. That changed him because it was the first of many wounds on his body and soul. Throughout the book he searches for them but they remain elusive and not inflicting wounds on the mortal body but instead ripping a large hole in his heart. “The sun peacefully sailed through the white clouds, birds sang from tree tops, the trees danced to the quiet wind. I still couldn’t believe the war had actually reached our home. It was impossible, I thought. We had left home the day before, there had been no indication the rebels were near.” (Beah, 10)He couldn’t believe it. It was just not possible. Your home is a fortress until it shatters. The second major event was becoming a boy solider at a young age. “The idea of death didn’t cross...
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...A Long Way Gone Essay Matthew Morgan Prof. Carey “On Democracy” Due: 02/27/08 For the “Everybody Reads” assignment I choose to attend the Central library book group discussion. When I first got there I was really surprised because I thought it was going to be a bigger event than what it was. There was only about 10 people total, and 5 of us were students who were there for this exact assignment. It was a really interesting discussion because half of the people that attended were my age and the other half was about two generations older, so there was a very diverse pool of perspectives and opinions. But because there was a large generation gap it was a bit more difficult for me to share my views, so I mainly listened and observed other people’s thoughts. The discussion itself was very helpful because of the different views people had about the memoir. One of the themes of A Long Way Gone that we discussed was the importance of hope. We mainly talked about how this theme was not constant throughout the memoir and that it changed with time. For example one person brought up how at first Ishmael’s only motivator was the hope of his parents being alive, then when he realized that he would never be reunited with them he had lost his hope. It was only when he remembered what his father had said about a person only lives if they have something to live for which gave him his hope back. As far as themes that’s really the only one that we discussed, but we did discuss a lot...
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...Ishmael Beah All around the world, children have no choice but to fight in war in order to stay alive. Ishmael Beah, once one of these children, now acts for those who think they have no choice but to fight. Being the author of a book titled A Long Way Gone provides a platform that allows Beah to provide a better life for those in combat during their youth. This motivational memoir is about Beah’s time as a child soldier himself. Ishmael Beah has used his firsthand experiences of war and death to gain an education as well as a place in the world of advocates and entrepreneurs. Ishmael Beah had a pretty normal childhood. Well, about as normal as a childhood could be for one living in the midst of a civil war. Born November 23, 1980, Beah grew up in Sierra Leone. When he was 12 years old his country was...
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...WHAT DO THE ARMED CHILDREN DO? It's about 300.000 child soldiers around the world, we can't find a exact number, cause they who kidnapp or tricks the children into being one doesn't really want us to know, so there can be more children that needs help from us than we know about. The definition of a child soldier is "People under 18 who join in any form of legal or illegal armed group. You do not have to wear uniforms or weapons to be a child soldier, cause you can also be given the task to stand for the cooking. So I don't think that people really know what being a child soldier is, cause it's much more than only shooting. 40% of the child soldiers are girls. Girls are a forgotten group among child soldiers. They do many of the same duties as boys, but they also get forced to be sex slaves, maids and can be married against their will. WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM WHO GET SAVED? After the conflict is over earlier child soldiers need help to deal with the cruel actions and their experiences. This is called rehabilitation. Common responses of child soldiers are nightmares, anxiety attacks and guilt. Many child soldiers have also been addicted to alcohol or drugs which they have received from their leaders. They need help to get rid of the addiction. Education is also an important part of rehabilitation. Girls rarely get access to rehabilitation because many of those responsible for rehabilitation not counting them as child soldiers. Girls are also more difficult to remove...
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...“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” (Ishmael Beah, 29). At the age of twelve, Ishmael Beah’s world was turned upside-down, in the shock of the first few months’ experience with the civil war, he was not yet ready to change with the mercurial situations he finds himself in. The civilization he once knew as “home” was being rendered by attacking rebels, the land was unrecognizable by complete and utter violence. Former priorities were set aside in favor of mere survival. This specific quote captivates and sheds light on the multifaceted damage done by civil war and terrorism. As a victim of the violence, he was a young man who had lost his family and his way of life and was in turn considered dangerous by most civilians he encountered. Beah suffered from more than just simple physical pain. The anguish of losing his family and friends was compounded by the uncertainty each day brought. Beah explains, “One of the unsettling things about my journey, mentally, physically, and emotionally, was that I wasn’t sure when or where it was going to end. I didn’t know what I...
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...“I feel as if there is nothing left for me to be alive for” (Beah 167). These were the words Ishmael Beah uttered as he began to give up hope of making it out of the war after the mental, physical, and emotional damage he had been through. Ishmael Beah was a child soldier the Sierra Leone government army recruited to fight against the rebels in the Sierra Leone Civil War. He was forced to fight in the war when he turned thirteen and he fought for almost three years before being rescued by UNICEF. Throughout his time in the war, he had seen extremely horrifying actions that no child should ever see. History has proven that the use of child soldiers should be banned internationally because child soldiers suffer from mental illnesses, are exposed to...
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...Ishmael Beah had wrong “A long way gone”. He was born November 23, 1980. He was born I Mogbwemo, Bonthe District, Sierra Leone. Beah is an author as well as a human rights activist who rose to fame with his acclaimed memoir, “A long way gone” He is 37 and still alive. When Beah was thirteen he was forced to leave and go off to be a child soldier. There’s not much about his earl school life but he did Graduate from Oberlin College with his bachelor’s degree in political science. When he moved to the United States he joined the Human Rights Watch. Beah said that he believed that returning to the civilized society was more difficult than the act of becoming a child solider. He was living in a Freetown with his Uncle.. Beah face getting back to...
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...There are a lot of wars around the world. But the war in Sierra Leone was beyond belief. Hundreds of men, women, and children who witnessed the horror. One of those children was Ishmael Beah, a young boy at the age of twelve. Before horror hit his small village, he enjoyed rapping and dancing with his friends. But everything changed the day the rebels set foot in their town. Ishmael had faced countless scenarios where he almost lost his life, but through it all, he knew he had to be brave. Ishmael survived the impossible and never gave up. In his group of six boys, in which he was the youngest, he was the bravest of them all. In the biography Ishmael said, “...when suddenly, three rebels rose from behind the bushes and pointed a gun at us.”(51)....
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...dead, it hopes and its aspirations, before you lies the future, a future full of golden promises” (Jefferson Davis) “A Long Way Gone” was written by Ishmael Beah and published in 2007. This is a novel about a young boy who was affected by war. Ishmael Beah experienced a lot of horrible things because of the war like losing his family. He later is recruited by the rebel army. The rebel army gives drugs to the recruited child soldiers and make them addicted so they kill without feeling anything. He then gets rehabilitated with the help of the UNICEF. The three most important scenes in this story include going into mattru jong to perform dances, trying to survive day to day troubles,and his life in New York City....
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...“A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah is a book about the loss of Innocence at the hands of war. Unfortunately this happens to many children across the world every day and it has throughout history. When the book begins Ishmael is a normal boy. He hangs out with his friends playing soccer and listening to music. He has not seen much violence yet and the the only form of war he is seen is in movies and in literature. He has not witnessed a murder or seen the terrible things he will later in his life. I included this part of the book to my analysis to give an example of where Ishmael is in his life before he is thrown into war unwillingly. He is childish and lives like any of us would. However this does not last. A group of rebels go from village...
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