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.…
When people talk about childhood it’s usually a happy conversation filled with lots of laughter, happiness, and remembering the innocence. In the memoir A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, this is not the case. In the beginning it starts off with Ishmael as an innocent child who loves rap music, but it all get destroyed in the blink of an eye. War and innocence are two things that should never mix, but in A Long Way Gone they mix beyond separation. So many children from Sierra Leone got caught up in the war, and were forced to do things that even grown men shouldn’t have to do. They were forced to kill people in inhumane ways and do drugs. Childhood is something that should be shielded from war and destruction at all costs; Beah’s true innocence is lost through forced immoral actions.…
By sharing his experiences in A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah helps increase awareness of the events that have occurred, and continue to occur today. Beah provides an intriguing perspective on the Sierra Leone Civil War. A Long Way Gone depicts the fascinating life story of a real person and is not simply summarizing a series of events. Ishmael Beah’s wrote A Long Way Gone to bring awareness to the many terrors of war, and to acknowledge the numerous people who aided him and he accomplished this by sharing an different perspective and a jarring story.…
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.…
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.…
A Long Way gone is a great novel that tugs at the heartstrings. A long way gone is the story of a boy named Ishmael Beah who is a normal kid with a loving family growing up in Sierra Leone. However, one day while Beah is off with his brother and friends visiting the village of Mattru Jong to perform in a talent show, his home village, Mogbewmo, is attacked and destroyed by rebel soldiers. Because of the attack Beah’s family fled in hopes of finding him one day, but that never happens. This is a story of how Beah is able to overcome adversity and is able to survive in the mist of this civil war happening around him.…
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.…
Cited: .A Long Way Gone.Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone Memoirs of a boy soldier. New York: Sarah Crichton Books, 2007.…
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.…
The book A Long Way Gone is a memoir about a boy soldier named Ishmael Beah, that lived in Sierra Leone, Africa. He lived a normal life going to school and playing soccer with his friends. In his village there was an attack from the Rebels which ended up having him and his family get split up during the attack. He then runs off into the forest and finds some kids that went to his school and they stick together to be a group. They travel for many days to only be captured by nearby Rebels that then take them in as prisoners to their camp.…
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah was one of the most shocking books I have ever read. I knew that there were many problems and civil wars occurring within Africa, but I never realized how much war truly affected the country and its culture. This is not a typical war that we envision here in the United States, this is a dismantling of a country’s way of life. Beah’s story gives detailed accounts of things that seem unimaginable in today’s world. The fact that governments around the world had an idea that these things were going on and did nothing to stop it sooner is extremely upsetting.…
Joining the rebel group, Ishmael receives an opportunity of physical survival yet this accompanies adapting to the cruel reality of guns, drugs and murder to survive the…
The memoir A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is about Beah’s life before, during, and after being a child soldier. After Beah’s village, Mogbwemo, was invaded, he was on the run from the war. Eventually he joined the army and fought against the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The RUF was fighting to free Sierra Leone from their corrupt ABC government. When Beah was sixteen he was taken out of the war and was put into a rehabilitation center. There he had treatment for his physical and mental injuries from the war. Once Ishmael moved in with his uncle in the capital, Freetown, he thought he was safe. The war eventually reached the capital of Sierra Leone, so Beah escaped. Now Ishmael lives in New York. He will never forget the things he witnessed. The war changed his life forever. Despite his past experiences in the war, Ishmael has overcome his physical desires and changed his state of mind which he reflects on by writing this memoir.…
In the novel, A Long Way Gone, there were a lot of acts of violence that revolved around the main character, Ishmael Beah. Much of this violence was similar to the violence in chapter 11 of How To Read Literature Like a Professor. The many types of violence in this book have different functions.…
“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 was going to do with my life, I felt that I was starting over and over again.”…