Preview

Ishmael Beah, a Long Way Gone Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
472 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ishmael Beah, a Long Way Gone Essay Example
Ishmael Beah Carlin.S Conflict can be external or internal creating depth in a character and making a very complex journey. Ishmael Beah the author of A Long Way Gone goes through many trials and conflicts that he has to overcome, creating his identity. Ishmael losses everything that has meaning to him, being made into something he is not. Facing a harsh reality of his own life. The decision whether to forget and move on or except what he is going to become will determine his identity.

Everyone has an identity made and changed by what they have been through and what they have experienced. Ishmael did not have a permanent home. He was always traveling and running to get away from the war. He became very strong at a young age. He lived in the wild having to find his own food and shelter, or else he would die.

Walking 25 miles to somewhere without telling anyone you’re leaving has a huge impact on your life and how others view you. After running day and night they had finally been captured by the rebels. Being forced to become something they are not is a horrifying experience. That’s exactly what happened when Ishmael and his friends were captured. The cassette tape that was in his pocket saved his life many times; Ishmael escaped luckily but had nowhere to run once again. These life-changing experiences will surly have an effect on his life, and how he faced everything alone.

Stealing corn from a innocent child because you are so weak and haven’t eating anything in so long you are willing to throw away your guilt. Risking everything you have left everyday, because you no longer have family to run back to, no food, no water and no innocents to keep yourself motivated. Seeing people die, parents and children being shot to death for no reason, people being buried alive, everyone running in a panic, young boys being kidnapped to become child soldiers. The fear of a loaded gun being pressed against your head is something that strongly shapes your

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    I believe Ishmael’s level of resilience throughout the story was immensely high considering the age he was during the war. One example, was when Ishmael first experiences the war and loses all of his family except his brother, Junior. Ishmael does not complain about walking miles and miles all day long in the scorching sun, when many kids his age would start complaining after fifteen minutes on a nice breezy day. As well as, when Ishmael was all alone in the forest he did not act crazy about the freedom he had, but instead was orderly and still did day to day necessary activities while remaining calm. He always shows that even in the toughest situations he acts just like an adult and is always in control, when kids his age lost their cool and acted crazy leading them to die. Last but not least, when Ishmael was at the rehabilitation center he did act agitated, but recovers from the worst thing a child could be during the war, a child soldier. He acts insane and puts his life at risk when he is a soldier because he did drugs everyday and killed hundreds of people for years, and all it takes for him to recover to be a normal child again is eight months.…

    • 1111 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    They soldiers went into a kitchen where MPs found them and took them to a rehabilitation center in Kissy town. Since they didn't trust anyone and craved for drug, they keep resorting to violence. Especially if they're angry. Ishmael would desperately try to remember his childhood to make him feel better, but memories from the war kept him from doing that.…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A long way gone by Ishmael Beah is a story about his experiences as a child soldier in a civil war in Sierra Leone. He vividly showcases his life during the war by writing about his memories and his emotions in those particular situations. By displaying such scenarios, Beah indirectly explains his audience and purpose of his writing.…

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ishmael Beah grew up in a town known as mattru jong, during the hard times of the civil war beahs village was under attack by a group known as the rebels. The group of friends that beah…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ishmael Quotes

    • 234 Words
    • 1 Page

    Quote 1: “all the students sat apart from us, as if Mohamed and I were going to snap any minute and kill someone.” Reflection: This quote displays the reoccurring theme of effect of war on individuals. Throughout the story I talked of more of the emotional effects of war, this quote represents a different effect. At this point in the story Ishmael is no longer as emotionally affected by the war, but the war has caused his daily life to become more difficult.…

    • 234 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Reflection: This quote displays the theme of the importance of memories and storytelling. This particular memory brought so many great emotion with it happiness, peace, comfort, and overall hope. Thinking of memories like this gives Ishmael his will to survive.…

    • 163 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    2. The external conflicts in this story include person vs. person and person vs. society. The reason person vs. person is included, because Ishmael has many problems with the rebels he must join in the cruel war that is of Sierra Leone. Not only did these very soldiers burn down his town and take away and later murder his parents, but they also bring horror and death to everyone who gets in their path, for reasons Ishmael could never discern. He must fight next to those that have destroyed the ones he loves, and the country he has grown to call his own. Person vs. society comes into play throughout the entire book. Ishmael and everyone who grew…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the book Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah struggles between trust and survival in the midst of a gruesome war. He laments how, “the war had destroyed the enjoyment of the very experience of meeting people” throughout the book there are many examples of this upsetting truth. The consequences of this mistrust in people are clear as he travels through Sierra Leon while being incessantly threatened and assumed a member of the RUF. Most of this book is about the ongoing struggle within Ishmael between trying to stay alive and deciding who to trust. The phenomena of war and trust can coexist only if you have an ability to differentiate your friends from enemies. Ishmael struggles throughout the book to stay alive, and thus decides to trust no one, but this could be detrimental to his survival.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ishmael was mentally and physically challenged as a child solider. The RUF constrained the children to do medications, for example, cocaine, pot, and "chestnut cocoa," which give them the guts to fight and the ability to forget their emotions in times of war. Their everyday presence is a battle of survival, Beah wind up submitting acts he would never have done for example, taking nourishment from kids and killing innocent villagers. If Ishmael or any other child soldier didn’t comply with what the RUF soldiers told them to do, their families and anything they love would be threatened. The novel A Long Way Gone makes an incredible showing with regards to delineating the life of a child…

    • 118 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Long Way Gone Theme

    • 298 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In Ishmael Beah's autobiographical narrative "A Long Way Gone", the theme of the story is to never give up, because throughout the book the main character faces numerous difficult situations, and manages to overcome them. First, Beah's responses towards certain problems show the reader his will to survive. For instance, when Ishmael and his friends are all alone after escaping from rebels, he states, "we had no idea where we would go or even how to get to a safe place, but we were determined to find one" (Beah 36). We see how he is driven to find a way to safety even in the midst of a war. Second, we see the theme in action when Beah “feels as if he is always waiting for death to come…

    • 298 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ishmael Essay

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The novel Ishmael written by Daniel Quinn is not like any other novels in the library. The story begins when a nameless narrator reads a newspaper ad that tells about a teacher seeking a pupil to save the world. The story unravels as the mentor and the student discuss “how things came to be this way” in this world and humankind’s inevitable destiny. What makes this story most interesting is that the mentor is not human, but a gorilla named Ishmael, who can transfer thoughts telepathically. Moreover, the gorilla is the more intelligent being in the story, and not the human. Why was a gorilla specifically chosen to be a mentor? The question is answered as Quinn transforms a gorilla into a wise, witty antagonist.…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ishmael Meaning

    • 143 Words
    • 1 Page

    Once Ishmael starts to readapt back to his former life he starts to remorse immensely how and his reasons for killing people. He was turned into a cold-hearted killer. He has nightmares and flashbacks about his killings. He hated who he once was and in addition, what he has done in his former life. The part in the story where Ishmael is being rehabilitated, talk about the same topics of the song.…

    • 143 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Michael Gerard Bauer’s 2006 novel Don’t Call Me Ishmael. Tells us about the world which we live in, through the first person narrative of a fifteen year old boy, Ishmael Leseur. The teenage years are very challenging because throughout this time people are learning more about themselves and their place in the world. This is the case for Ishmael because he is not the most popular kid in school and when he starts higschool it just gets worst. This essay will explore the main theme which is acceptance. This acceptance can be seen by analysing Ishmael Leseur’s growth, James Scobie’s introduction and the creation of a school debating team.…

    • 1189 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Long Way Gone

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the novel, A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah, the author discusses the topic of survival. The book tells a story of a boy whose life is affected by war and forced to survive on his own. Beah is trying to send us a message that people often do crazy things in order to survive. The excerpts I provide prove this statement to be true.…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Long Way Gone Identity

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Additionally, Ishmael identity was shaped by war. Being in the army made him not scared of the rebels because he was part of a larger group going after rebel bases. Ishmael was thinking about his new life in the army and what he was doing. Ishmael said “ My childhood had gone by without my knowing and it seemed as if my heart had frozen” (126). Suffering from the loss of his family at a young age plus living life with the daily fear of being killed by rebels that caused him to suppress his feelings. When he suppressed his feeling he started to go crazy and thinking about how his parents died.…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays