Long Way Gone Reflection

Throughout high school we have always been tasked with different materials to read; whether it be Shakespearean texts, short stories, poems, or just books in general. No matter what though, I love to read. So any text I take in, I am always eager to absorb the words. The texts I have read at the time may have just felt like assignments, but now as I am older, I can see the lessons to be learned within them and how they were a major aspect as to how I view situations in the world around me. I cannot pick a favorite text that I have read throughout my grades nine to twelve years, but I will review a few that made an impact on me. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. This is the memoir of Ishmael, who was once a child soldier, reflecting on his
As Ishmael is going on his journey to find his family, he is hopeful and willing to do whatever it takes in order to find them. But once it has dawned on him that his family has been killed, it seems as if his humanity has been turned off. He becomes a soldier; capable of extreme acts of violence, and is blinded by his own thirst for revenge. Once his family has been taken away from him, he goes numb and no longer cares about anything other than his blood thirst. It is painful to experience this, as Ishmael’s once kind and timid personality has become altered into a drug addicted killing crazed soldier. But not all hope is lost, Once Ishmael is taken out of the war, and forced to live in a home until his remaining family has been located, he begins to find himself again. It is amazing to see the transition that takes place within him, as he begins to cope and realize the horrible things he as done and been through. He grows to have compassion, and he begins to trust those around him and learns that everything he as done was not his fault; he was just blind. A persons capability to repair and change is remarkable, and that’s what’s displayed in A Long Way