Preview

Run For Your Life By Ishmael Meaning

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
139 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Run For Your Life By Ishmael Meaning
This song is about a way to handle your problems. That way is run away from the problems you face. Running away from issues, people, stress, and anything that can present itself as a problem. Some of the lyrics are “If you want to get out alive, Run for your life.” That means when danger comes your, get away as fast as you can. Surviving the conditions he was in by the literal meaning of the song: run for your life. Keeping away from danger was a way for Ishmael to survive. A majority of Ishmael’s time at war spent running or walking. The rebels could come at any moment so it wasn’t safe to stay in a single spot for a long time. The way he kept moving to different places is how he survived for so long.

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
  • Good Essays

    In the song, Tyler Joseph states, “Sometimes quiet is violent / I find it hard to hide it / My pride is no longer inside…”, “I'm forced to deal with what I feel / There is no distraction to mask what is real…”, and, “And now i just sit in silence”. In the book, Ishmael is alone with his thoughts because there is nothing to distract him. He’s sitting in the silence of his thoughts and is forced to deal with it because he has no one to talk to him and be with him. In the book, Ishmael remembers his father saying,“ “If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die.” (page 72) This saying is something that Ishmael uses to remember that he should never give up and that he should have ambition. The lyrics, “There’s faith and there’s sleep / We need to pick one please because / Faith is to be awake / And to be awake is for us to think / And for us to think is to be alive”, also support the theme of having ambition and not giving up.…

    • 649 Words
    • 3 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
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A Long Way Gone Q

    • 274 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This illustrates that Ishmael has a good heart and will do what he thinks is right, under good mental condition. And it connects with the book because when he was a child soldier , he was doing things that made him unhappy and traumatized. All the experiences and images has caused him to be in the position he is in now. But all of this came out fine because of his good heart. He cared for his family. friends, and other children. And it shows that Ishmael will sacrifice his own life for anyone that he loves.…

    • 274 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Long Way Gone

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the beginning of the book, Ishmael had his family. He had his parents and his brother. Then him and his brother left home expecting to return, but because of the civil war…they never got the chance to return. During the hard times, his brother and friends became his only family. They were his support and the ones that helped him throughout the journey. Then as he lost them as well, he took on drugs to be his support. The drugs helped him but also didn’t help him because he needed rehabilitation afterwards. In rehab, he again reunited with his blood related uncle, who was family to him. Throughout the book different people or things took the place of Ishmael’s biological family. After going through a civil war at such a young age, Ishmael realizes that no child should go through such horror. Ishmael had to realize the significance and importance of life early on because he had no time to live as a normal child…carefree. With so many deaths a child is bound to realize that something horrible is going on in the world…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Long Way Gone

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Sometimes, there are situations where people are starving and in great need of food and resources. “One evening we actually chased a little boy who was eating two ears of boiled corn by himself” (30). Ishmael and his friends have nothing so when they have the chance to steal food they take it, even if it’s from a small child. Ishmael does not want to do these things but the situation he’s in forces him to do so. Ishmael feels bad after he takes the food but he realizes that he cannot feel sorry for others during the war. Also, Ishmael and his friends are forced to steal because the vendors are no longer selling food because the fear that the rebels will come and take everything they have. This shows that people will do what they need to do just to survive.…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ishmael Beah’s Families

    • 1233 Words
    • 5 Pages

    they are alone they struggle finding food and a shelter in different villages. While Ishmael is…

    • 1233 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ishmael grew up in Mogbwemo with his younger brother, and mother. In 1993, when Ishmael is twelve he travels to Mattru Jong with some of his friends for a talent school, and discovers that while he was gone, Mogbwemo was attacked by rebels. He evades the rebel and government armies for a long time, but is eventually captured by government soldiers. In 1996 Ishmael is taken to the UNICEF, (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund), where he is rehabilitated and placed with his Uncle.…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On A Long Way Gone

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ishmael and his friends were ushered out to the middle of the village to listen to the lieutenant speak. He mostly talked about how they are running out of soldiers and they need more people to fight and protect the village. The lieutenant was standing on several bricks and stated, “I am sorry to show you these gruesome bodies, especially with your children present. But then again, all of us here have seen death or even shaken hands with it.” He then pointed to two bodies bleeding out, “This man and this child decided to leave this morning even though I had told them it was dangerous. The man insisted that he didn't want to be a part of our war, so I gave him his wish and let him go. Look what happened”(Page 107). There was a choice to join or not to join but, if the choice not to join was picked, Ishmael and his friends would have to leave the village and be off on their own again. Alhaji, one of Ishmael’s friends from his former village said to Ishmael, “We had no choice. Leaving the village was as good as being dead”(Page…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The song starts out with a strang questioning of reality: “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality, Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see”. They first two lines are rhetorical questions. They help establish the state of mind needed in order to continue with the song. The third line is a metaphor. It means everything is crashing down on him, and he cannot escape it. It seems to conclude that he is caught between a dream and awakening. The next couple set of lines are being used as transitions into the main part of stanza one, “I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy, Because I’m easy come, easy go, Little high, little low, Any way the wind blows, Doesn’t really matter to me, to me”. In the third and fourth line repetition is used in order to keep the lyrics flowing. The boy thinks his life doesn’t matter to anyone, his life is meaningless and the Earth does not care what happens to him. He does not care what happens next, he just wants it over; “any way the wind blows” him, he will go and it “doesn’t really matter” to him anymore. The next three lines show intent to kill by the boy, “Mama, just killed a man, Put a gun against his head, Pulled my trigger, now he’s dead”. The boy has finally come to terms of what he has…

    • 1458 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better 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

    Long Way Gone

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages

    War is a devastating event which tears nations apart, and causes death and pain in the hearts of the inhabitants. Whether it is the countries strong males being sent off into the battle zones, or the young children, war scars people. Soldiers are dehumanized, and lose all morals and sense of right and wrong. In the book Long Way Gone, Ishmael and his friends are dehumanized through the war because of the traumatic events they endure, and their time spent in solitude away from civilization; luckily, they were able to regain humanity through the love and hope provided from others.…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A long way gone is about a young boy and six of his friends. Ishmael who is the main character of this book lived in Serri Leona when we were first introduced to Ishmael in the beginning of the book. This book deals with a lot of violence. The author of a long way gone Ishmael Beah, not only plays the main character of the book but he also has experienced the novel first hand. Ishmael was first introduced into the war when he was 12. In 1998 Ishmael moved to the Untied States of America where he would then go on to finish his last two years of high school. After high school he went to Oberlin College and graduated with a Bachelor Arts in political Science.…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Long Way Gone Analysis

    • 1068 Words
    • 5 Pages

    To me this was one of the more disturbing aspects of the war; even if you were to make it out of your village alive, there was a very slim chance that you would ever find your family. Ishmael was a twelve year old boy when his village was taken over by the rebels and from then on he never saw his family again. The traumatizing effect that the loneliness alone would implement on someone of that age is…

    • 1068 Words
    • 5 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