Long Way Gone

1084 Words3 Pages

For many years, people have been manipulated into plans without even knowing. One example of why the manipulation occurs is Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, which is a motivational theory comprising human needs. Like in the memoir, a long way gone, written by Ishmael Beah, in 2007. The Sierra Leone army employs a strategy of providing levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy in order to recruit children to become soldiers through misconceptions. The first strategy the army uses to recruit children is satisfying the kids’ basic needs. For example, to live life, a person will need food, water, shelter and good temperature, which the army provided to the children. Upon the soldiers first couple of days on duty, the Lieutenant asked Ishmael, “are you getting …show more content…

Due to the fact, [“Marijuana and brown brown”] (page 121) are the main drugs given to the soldiers every day, and the reason of the drugs, makes the soldiers work harder and eventually become addicted. Drugs took a very substantial toll on the soldiers, and later on, rose the decision making of the children, and the ability to trust one another. As a result, the drugs caused Ishmael to “have no pity for anyone”(page 126), which means to not care or feel sorry for anyone. New perceptions are intact when the drugs kicked in, ultimately, going back to the drugs will have an effect on not caring for anyone. Ishmael was rewarded for the amount of time spent and hard work with the nickname “Green Snake”(page 144) because of “his inconspicuous positions, and ability to take out a whole village from shrub”(page 144). With the new nickname, the Lieutenant awarded, Ishmael felt happy with the way the army was treating the recruitments, and himself. All in all, the self esteem felt by the soldiers may not always be true, on the other hand, the drugs have skewed the mindsets of the children, consequently making the self esteem false. Clearly, the Sierra Leone army knows what strategies in order to recruit children into becoming soldiers through manipulations. For example, a long way gone, written by Ishmael Beah shows the process of a boy being manipulated into the Sierra Leone army, but the world has been corrupted for any years, and needless to say, enough is enough. Ishmael's decision have shown the importance of Maslow’s Hierarchy, and the ability to live life without manipulations and eventually reach the final goal a person

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