A long way gone Character essay
Journal #1- Character For my character selection I chose Ishmael Beah. He was like any normal child, he played sports, soccer to be more precise, listened to music, and hung out with his friends. He had heard of the war going on in Sierra Leone, but it didn’t seem realistic to him. until his village, Mogbwemo, was raided while his brother and himself were it Mattru Jong to participate in a talent show. He was hopeful that his family would come, but to his distress, they didn’t show up. “For more than three hours, we stayed at the wharf, anxiously waiting and expecting to either see our families or to talk to someone who had seen them.” ( Quote from A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah)
He waited in Mattru Jong with his brother and friends, until the war reached him there as well. They fled the village, and in their fear, they continued from village to village, never stopping one place too long to avoid the war. Eventually they are separated, and Ishmael fears for his friends and brother. “I thought about Junior, Gibrilla, Tailoi, and Khalilou. Had the escaped the attack? I was losing everyone, my family, my friends.” (Quote from A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah) Along his route from village to village he finds old class mates that he decides to stick with.
After traveling a very far distance, they come to the outskirts of a village where he finds a man from his old village. He learns all of his family is there. He becomes overwhelmed with excitement and anticipation to finally be reunited with his family. Just as they reached the village, it was raided. Everyone in the village was either captured or killed excluding Ishmaels group. He was enraged and sorrowful for his family’s death. “I screamed at the top of my lungs and began to cry as loudly as I could, punching and kicking with all my might into the weak walls that continued to burn.” (Quote from A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah)
He waited in Mattru Jong with his brother and friends, until the war reached him there as well. They fled the village, and in their fear, they continued from village to village, never stopping one place too long to avoid the war. Eventually they are separated, and Ishmael fears for his friends and brother. “I thought about Junior, Gibrilla, Tailoi, and Khalilou. Had the escaped the attack? I was losing everyone, my family, my friends.” (Quote from A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah) Along his route from village to village he finds old class mates that he decides to stick with.
After traveling a very far distance, they come to the outskirts of a village where he finds a man from his old village. He learns all of his family is there. He becomes overwhelmed with excitement and anticipation to finally be reunited with his family. Just as they reached the village, it was raided. Everyone in the village was either captured or killed excluding Ishmaels group. He was enraged and sorrowful for his family’s death. “I screamed at the top of my lungs and began to cry as loudly as I could, punching and kicking with all my might into the weak walls that continued to burn.” (Quote from A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah)