Essay Comparing The Mango And A Long Way Gone

703 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on Sierra Leone civil war

The war in Sierra Leone changed many lives dramatically. It started in 1991 and ended in 2002. Between the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the Rebels. For Ishmael and Mariatu both were brought in the war around 1993 when they were about eleven or twelve years old. Ishmael and Mariatu, in the two books, A Long Way Gone and The Bite of the Mango, Both Ishmael and Mariatu have experiences in the War. The two children both have separate stories of their unbelievable journeys through the war and their life after. Although they were both pulled into the war against their will, Mariatu was pulled in as a victim and Ishmael was pulled in as a perpetrator. “ I do not really remember, when suddenly two men put us at gunpoint and motioned , with …show more content…

It was not Ishmaels fault that he killed many people, although that is just how he was brought into the war. He was forced in it as a perpetrator and his two options were to kill or be killed by the rebels. Ishmael was a victim of brainwashing and his childhood was stolen from him. He had a long and tortuous journey before he became an innocent victim of brainwashing. As a normal young boy living an average life, you would expect them to be involved in fun, innocent activities rather than a young boy and having all of that taken away to become a soldier against his will. “It took the boy two attempts to cut off my right hand. The first swipe didn't go all the way through the bones, which I saw sticking out in all different shapes and sizes” ( Kamara 40). The boy that carried out his horrific and gruesome deed was no older than Mariatu was. Mariatu begged them not to cut her hands off. She told them that if they did cut her hands off that she would rather them just kill her, but the small boy soldier did not agree. This boy soldier wanted to see her suffer and almost a trophy for him. Mariatu passed out and woke up realizing that it was not a nightmare, that she really did not have hands. She was in pain for many days until she got treated. Mariatu was clearly a victim of torture and horrendous activities carried out

Show More
Related

  • Strange Fruit Essay

    1232 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday conveys the inhumane, gory lynchings of African-Americans in the American South, and how this highly unnatural act had entrenched itself into the society and culture of the South, almost as if it were an agricultural crop. Although the song did not originate from Holiday, her first performance of it in 1939 in New York City and successive recording of the song became highly popular for their emotional power (“Strange fruit,” 2017). The lyrics in the song highlight the contrast between the natural beauty and apparent sophistication of the agricultural South with the brutal violence of lynchings. Holiday communicates these rather disturbing lyrics through a peculiarly serene vocal delivery, accompanied by a hymn-like

    Read More

  • Ishmael Beah's Recovery

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ishmael was a normal 12 year old boy in a small village in Sierra Leone when his life took a dramatic turn and he was forced into a war. War has very serious side effects for all involved and definitely affected the way Ishmael views the world today. He endured and saw stuff that most people will never see in a lifetime let alone as a young child. Ishmael was shaped between the forced use of drugs, the long road to recovery and the loss of innocence of his

    Read More

  • A Long Way Gone and The Bite of the Mango

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    No one knows what will happen in his or her life whether it is a trivial family dispute or a civil war. Ishmael Beah and Mariatu Kamara are both child victims of war with extremely different life stories. Both of them are authors who have written about their first-hand experience of the truth of the war in order to voice out to the world to be aware of what is happening. Beah wrote A Long Way Gone while Kamara wrote The Bite of the Mango. However, their autobiographies give different information to their readers because of different points of view. Since the overall story of Ishmael Beah includes many psychological and physical aspects of war, his book is more influential and informative to the world than Kamara’s book.

    Read More

  • A Long Way Gone Quotes

    1090 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the book A Long Way Gone written by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael survives and describes his journey while at war. Ishmael was a 13 year old who is forced to become a child soldier. He struggles through a variety of problems. In his journey, he was separated from his family and mostly running for his life. Later on, he has no problem killing people and picking up his gun. In fact, anyone can be evil at any certain time with kids changing, getting drugged, and going back to war.

    Read More

  • A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ishmael starts his journey with a will to escape and survive the civil war of Sierra Leone in order to reunite with his mom, dad, and younger siblings, who fled their home when his village was attacked by rebels. Having only his older brother, who he escaped with, and a few friends by his side Ishmael is scared, but hopeful. When the brothers are captured by rebels, Ishmael’s belief in survival is small, as indicated by his fallible survival tactics when he “could hear the gunshots coming closer…[and] began to crawl farther into the bushes” (Beah 35). Ishmael wants to survive, but has little faith that he can. He is attempting to survive by hiding wherever he can- even where the rebels can easily find him. After escaping, Ishmael runs into a villager from his home tells him news on the whereabouts of his family. His optimism is high when the villager, Gasemu, tells Ishmael, “Your parents and brothers wil...

    Read More

  • Compare The Bite Of The Mango And Sierra Leone

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    A vivid use of description when discussing stories about the war in Sierra Leone drastically impacts the readers. The war in Sierra Leone broke out in March of 1991, and it lasted until 2000. This war happened because a group of men believed that the recently independent government of Sierra Leone was corrupt (Bah pg. 2-3).The Revolutionary United Front, or the rebels, began to attack villages in attempt to overthrow the government. They typically cut off the hands and feet of civilians. RUF grew, and they took over much of the countryside. Then, they began to attack Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, continuing their attempt to overthrow the government. They killed and wounded thousands, and they robbed

    Read More

  • Values And Choices In A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

    1315 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the rehabilitation center, Ishmael hears that an uncle he never knew about has offered Ishmael a home with him in Freetown. There is Ishmael is welcomed by his uncle, his aunt and all of his cousins and then begins to adapt to finally having a family he cares about and being far away from the war. When living with his uncle, Ishmael makes another acquaintance, Laura Simms, when he goes to New York to speak about the problems child soldiers face. Shortly after returning to Sierra Leone, the civil war reaches Freetown. The entire town is in chaos and no one dares to venture out of their homes for fear the rebels or the military could kill them. It is at this time when Ishmael suffers another loss; the death of his uncle. After his uncle dies, Ishmael decides to escape Sierra Leone, in order to evade the military. If I was in this situation, I feel that I probably would have not left Sierra Leone as quickly as Ishmael did. Ishmael made an impulsive decision that I wouldn’t have made because I am not able to make choices quickly. Furthermore, in his situation, I feel that the thought of fleeing Sierra Leone would have been on my mind but I wouldn’t have had enough courage to go through with the plan. As a sixteen year old boy, I would have been to scared to try to escape the country illegally because of the repercussions I might face if I was caught. Even if I did leave the country, I wouldn’t have left my grieving aunt and cousins by themselves, right after they just lost one person. Ishmael made the choice to escape the country because he was too afraid that he was going to be found by someone who knew him when he was in the military. That would have been a big concern for me too, but I would also feel that I wouldn’t have the strength to leave the family that I had just recently gained. For me, family is

    Read More

  • The Long Way Gone And Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mariatu, at the age of eleven, was raped by a man she knew and feared. “Salieu lay down beside me. I didn’t believe he would do anything to me if I appeared to be sleeping, but he started touching me all over, fondling my breasts and my hair, making his way in between my legs,” (Kamara 69). The young girl was so innocent she had not even understood exactly what happened to her. Not only did she not understand what trauma she had been through, she was also unaware that pregnancy and a child could come from rape, which it did. At the same age, Mariatu was tortured by rebel boys her own age. They cut off both her hands gruesomely. “I had no energy left as a boy took my other arm and held it down on the boulder. It took three attempts to cut off my left hand. Even at that, some of the flesh remained and hung precariously loose,” (Kamara 41). Subjected to torture, she was a victim. One could argue Ishmael was no victim, in fact he was a perpetrator and a killer, however the underlying goodness of this young boy’s heart proves his true desires and regrets. He was brainwashed into killing and committing sins he could not bare. He lost his innocence, something he could not regain. However his morality and values never left his side. In Ishmael’s book he writes a story about a monkey. Summarized, this story states; “There was a hunter who went into the bush to kill a monkey. When he was close enough to the monkey, he raised his rifle and aimed. Just when he was about to pull the trigger, the monkey spoke: ‘if you shoot me your mother will die, and if you don’t, your father will die.’ So what would you choose?” (Beah 217). Beah never revealed his answer as a child, but he always knew he would choose to shoot the monkey, because although he loved his mother and did not wish for her demise, if he shot this monkey, no other hunter would

    Read More

  • Theme Of Revenge In A Long Way Gone

    896 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ishmael’s search for revenge ended when he was taken out of the front lines of the war by

    Read More

  • Analysis Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    Contents INTRODUCTION 2 CHRONOLIGICAL ARRANGEMENT OF EVENTS THAT LEAD TO CONFLICTS 3 CONCLUSION 5 INTRODUCTION An attention-grabbing story of a youngster’s voyage from beginning to end. In “A LONG WAY GONE,” Ishmael Beah, at present twenty six years old, tells a fascinating story he has always kept from everyone. When he was twelve years of age, he escaped attacking the revolutionaries and roamed a land rendered distorted by violence. By thirteen, he’d been chosen by the government, military and Ishmael Beah.

    Read More

  • Emotional Response in A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    The book is based on actual events and is expressed through a personal point of view. Ishmael wrote a memoir that tells the story of a young boy who is torn from his peaceful life, and then forced into a frightening world of drugs and slavery. In writing about his experiences, he has made the decision to present his experiences in a particular way by missing out details and recounting others. This along with the language used and the order, in which the events are disclosed, all serve to create a particular interpretation and to guide the reader to respond in a particular way.

    Read More

  • Papaya Essay

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    Papaya have become a favourite tropical fruit worldwide, being known for its sweet taste and aromatic undertones. It is fruit of the plant, Carica papaya which belongs to the family Caricaceae. Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) is a pathogenic plant virus that’s grouped as ‘RNA viruses’ belonging to the the Potiviridae family and Potyvirus Genus PRSV is known to be rod-shaped and between 760–800 nm long. Studies have shown that PRSV could have originated as back as 2000 years ago , yet was only discovered in Hawaii in the late 1930s. The pathogen is grouped into two classifications , PRSV-Papaya(p) which infects both cucurbits and papaya and PRSV-Watermelon(w) which is limited only to cucurbits.

    Read More

  • A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

    1199 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the author’s life in New York and Oberlin College, he understood that people who have not experienced being in a war do not understand what the chaos of a war does to a human being. And once the western media started sensationalizing the violence in Sierra Leone without any human context, people started relating Sierra Leone to civil war, madness and amputations only as that was all that was spoken about. So he wrote this book out o...

    Read More

  • A Long Way Gone Analysis

    808 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ishmael Beah had a broken family, with divorced parents, living with his younger brother, Ibrahim, his older brother, Junior, along with his mother, and had slim to none communication with his father due to his stepmom. “I had not seen him for a while, as another stepmom had destroyed our relationship.” (10) Before gaining knowledge of any type of war approaching his village, Ishmael, Junior, and they’re mutual friend Talloi left town on a voyage to participate in a talent show in the town of Mattru Jong, where the boys would perform a dance routine set to a track of American rap songs they obtained on a cassette. Once they discovered that their village had been under attack by rebels, who often carve the initials ‘RUF’, which stood for Revolutionary United Front, they quickly scurried back to their village in hopes of coming in contact with their family members. Talloi exclaimed, “We must go back and see if we can find our families before it is too late.” Unfortunately the boys were too late, and their families had fled in attempts to survive. Ishmael, and Junior were accompanied with four close friends whose bond...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Ruined By Lynn Nottage

    958 Words  | 2 Pages

    The war was worsened by the wealthy minerals in the ground and the influence of the mineral was strengthened by the fear and displacement the war caused. The intertwining of these two destructive forces is seen in the story Salima is told by a man who bought her. In this he tells of a man who stuffed”...the coltan into his mouth to keep the soldiers from stealing his hard work, and they split his belly open with a machete”(31). Not only does this story show the harsh conditions the men are exposed to in war, but also it further demonstrates the hold coltan has on the minds of those who live in the Congo. The want for coltan leads to the destruction of the community and individual identities of those involved as it perpetuates a cycle of war that damages men, induces violence against women, and ultimately creates a cycle of lost identity.

    Read More

More about Essay Comparing The Mango And A Long Way Gone

Open Document