Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The effects of war on children
The effects of war on children
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The effects of war on children
In A Long Way Gone and A Bite of the Mango, two devastating stories are told about the civil war in Western Africa that involves young children. Ishmael Beah is a prime example of what that war did to children. Beah turned from an innocent child and became a killer. Mariatu Kamara, a sweet young girl, became a victim. Though Beah and Mariatu both had different lives, they are linked by their loss of innocence and family structure. The loss of innocence helped to create the amazing human being Ishmael Beah has become more than his family structure or lack thereof did. A Long Way Gone is the true story of Ishmael Beah, a twelve year old boy who is sucked into the war in Sierra Leone at the ripe age of twelve. His fear of the way is exemplified when he states, “I was afraid to fall asleep, but staying awake also brought back painful memories” (Beah 19). As he is on a journey to meet a family acquaintance in a neighboring village with his close friends, he finds out that the rebels have reached his village and his life changes forever. He wanders from village to village pillaging for food and shelter. Eventually, his luck runs out and he is recruited into the army. A drugged up killing machine is what he becomes as the young bright boy he once used to be fades away. His commander gives a few child soldiers, including Beah, over to UNICEF and his rehabilitation commences. Though he struggles with forgiving himself, a nurse who shows him love and compassion helps heal this boy. Luckily, Ishmael is allowed to come and tell his story for the United Nations in a conference held in New York. While attending, he meets a woman named Laura Simms, an author who will soon become his mother. Beah returns to Freetown and once again the war finds ... ... middle of paper ... ...ficult even before the war started. Mariatu, however, has a much more traditional African family. Mariatu was only victimized in the war one time by having her hands cut off. Though gruesome, it is only a few weeks of suffering compared to years of being a soldier. It would not be outlandish to say that Mariatu’s experience does not even compare to the atrocities that Beah suffered. Works Cited "Background Notes: Sierra Leone." Background Notes. March 2011: n.p. SIRS Government Reporter. Web. 14 Nov 2013. Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Print. Kamara, Mariatu, and Susan McClelland. The Bite of the Mango. [Toronto]: Annick, 2008. Print. Rice, Susan. "Prospects for Peace in Sierra Leone." Prospects for Peace in Sierra Leone. 23 Mar 1999: n.p. SIRS Government Reporter. Web. 14 Nov 2013.
This Newberry award nominated book, written by Irene Hunt, tells the story of the “home life” of her grandfather, Jethro, during the Civil War. Not only does it give a sense of what it is like to be in the war but also it really tells you exactly what the men leave behind. Jethro is forced to make hard decisions, and face many hardships a boy his age shouldn't have to undergo. This is an admirable historical fiction book that leaves it up to the reader to decide if being at home was the superior choice or if being a soldier in the war was.
Fear, an emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat, a feeling that no one wants to go through on a serious level. Imagine suddenly waking up to the sounds of gunshots and bombs without warning or constantly being surrounded by formidable men bearing guns. These experiences were not unusual for Ishmael Beah, the author of the book A Long Way Gone, and Paul Baumer, the protagonist of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque. Both books are based off a war; however, All Quiet on the Western Front is based off Paul’s involvement in WWI and A Long Way Gone is about Ishmael’s exposure to the civil war within Sierra Leone. Although the books are different in content, they both show
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Print.
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.
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and
In conclusion, there is a numerous amount of themes in the book, A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah. These themes, along with other morals shown in the book, can be learned by the books readers, and Ishmael problems can relate to other people’s problems, which can help them get through the struggles they are having in today’s
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.
Ishmael Beah was born in Sierra Leone in 1980. He was forced to be a civil war soldier when he was 13. The Civil War was between the Sierra Leone government and a group of rebels called the RUF. As a young child, Beah was forced to shoot, kill, and torture people in the name of warfare. Later he was rescued
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Print.
In his memoir A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah’s imagery is usually affiliated with nature and the world around him. Many times, connections can be made between Beah’s emotional state and the condition of Sierra Leone during its civil war. These vivid descriptions easily reflect on the Beah and his surroundings equally. Silence throughout chaos is a common theme in war, when all is dead in the surroundings and yet, life continues. Beah illustrates a moment while passing through a town on his journey to freedom, “The silence in the village was too scary…Not even a lizard dared to crawl through the village. I could hear my heartbeat louder than my footsteps” (46). Beah uses the non-existing ambience of the village to show how empty war leaves
The story of Ishmael Beah is absolutely heartbreaking. By the age of 15, there was no way count of how many lives he, personally, had taken in a war that destroyed his home, took his family and friends away from him and turned him from a young boy into a terrifying warrior, all under the guise of freedom, liberty, and revenge. He had seen more murders and deaths in his first decade of life than most people see in a lifetime. Beah was a child soldier in Sierra Leone, West Africa during the civil wars of the 1990’s. It can be assumed that Beah did not experience an average childhood because he was primarily focused on survival, but there were still some childlike things that Beah did throughout his trials that remind one that he is still young,
A twelve year old's life was turned upside down. This little boy named Ishmael Beah was running around with all his friends. Then suddenly people started coming into his village sad and scared. Ishmael Beah and his friends started running from the rebels that were at war with the government. He ends up getting caught and killing a lot of people. At the end of the story they go to rehabilitation center to put then back into the community. Never loose hope, people can change, everything bad comes to an end. Ishmael Beah uses imagery to teach us that we should never give up and try our best to the last moment to have hope, and to teach us to have strength in bad times and bad things make us stronger. This is about a boy soldier forced into the line of duty to protect his life and make it without dyeing. The lesson of resilience that Ishmael Beah is trying to teach us, is that you should never lose hope and always stay strong.
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (in italics). New York:
The Sierra Leone Civil War, was a brutal, and in my opinion unnecessary war, that lasted for eleven years. For eleven years, the people of Sierra Leone went through unimaginable pain, and through a memoir written by a boy named Ishmael Beah, we gain a window into the minds of the very people who worked so hard to escape the war. Ishmael like many children, was forced into becoming a hardened and cold soldier thanks to the war. Fortunately, he is saved, and thanks to many people in his rehabilitation center, is able to heal and reconnect with the boy he had been before the war. This is his account and his attempt to educate us all on what exactly it means to grow up in a warring country.
A Long Way Gone is a captivating story depicting how good things can come out of even the worst circumstances. Even when things were not looking good for Ishmael, hope saved his life and the lives of his friends. No matter how bad things get, there is always hope to bring some light into dark situations. Hope represents Ishmael's ability to go forward. The gruesome setting shows how hard life is for Ishmael. The horrors of the war demonstrate how it would be difficult to stay positive while everyone around you is dying. The conflict also exhibits how the war is hell.