In Uzodinma Iweala’s novel, Beasts of No Nation, Agu and many other young are thrust from the comfort of their families and villages into the civil war as guerilla fighters. With political unrest present in Western Africa Agu’s human rights are not protected, making him vulnerable to mistreatment and violation. He is conscripted into the guerilla war efforts at such a young age, before he has become a man in the eyes of his village. His young age causes him to have a different view on the killings and how his actions will affect him long term. After losing his family, the guerilla war group is the only group of people Agu has, so become his family. Though Agu is forced to join the war efforts and kill, he never truly grows into manhood, instead …show more content…
This not only leaves Agu vulnerable, but also with out a male figure in his life. When Agu joins the guerilla fighters, Commandant the perversion of a parent. Commandant takes advantage of his role as a leader and rapes Agu, as well as other young soldiers. Agu discusses his thoughts before entering his superiors tent, “I am feeling that I should not go in because I am knowing what he is wanting to do to me… I should be telling him that I do not want to fight anymore and that he should let me go and become a refugee so that at least I will not have to be killing people” (Iweala 82). Agu is willing to leave the group of fighters and shed the identity of a soldier that is being forced upon him. Agu discusses how Commandant abuses his power as a leader and what it is like to be left with out a choice. Agu claims, “I do not want to be taking off my clothe, but I am not saying so because Commandant is powerful more than me and he is also sometimes giving me small favor like more food or protection” (Iweala 83). In the patriarchal system Commandant contains all the power, leaving Agu with no choice but to be violated. Agu tries to be a good soldier by killing people and following Commandant’s orders but he reveals, “I don’t want to be soldier at all” (Iweala 84). Agu is left without a family at the start of the war, and once the other soldiers become his support system …show more content…
The young men are both just boys struggling to stay alive in the gruesome world. They bond through killing and protecting one another. The army structure is similar to that of a patriarchal structure. Commandant acts as the leaders and all of the soldiers are the subordinates, bonding as brothers. With their families dead, Agu and Strika turn to one another seeking the comfort any child uprooted from their daily life would seek. The strength of their bond is most evident at the end of Strika’s life. Agu describes their relationship stating, “Strika is my brother and my family and the only person I can be talking to even if he is never talking back until now” (Iweala 131). Agu is still a child who needs the comfort of companionship to feel secure. It is uncomfortable for him to be alone with a group of men that pressured him into killing others. After Strika’s death Agu is lost. He describes how, “Nothing is the same anymore. I am not being able to be sleeping at all when it is time to sleep… So many time I am saying to myself that I will be running away, far far away to where no one can be finding me or seeing me” (Iweala 133). Agu is taking a very juvenile approach to his situation, acting as if he would be able to survive if he ran away from the army. Agu is still a child when he is conscripted into the army that becomes like a second family, and is therefore lost when Strika
Ishmael Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone, narrates the story of Ishmael’s life as a child soldier in the Sierra Leonean civil war. Ishmael chronicles his journey from a scared, adrift child who lost his family in the war to a brutal child soldier who mercilessly killed many individuals to a guilt stricken rehabilitated teen who slowly learns to overcome his remorse from his past actions. Ishmael’s life as a child soldier first started when the Sierra Leonean army took him and his friends with them to the village, Yele, occupied by army officials and seemingly safe from the rebels. Unfortunately, within a few weeks of their stay, the rebels attacked Yele, and Ishmael and his friends decided to make the choice of becoming a child soldier in order to sustain their slim chances of staying alive. Ishmael’s interaction with violence was very different as a child soldier compared to as a civilian: while he witnessed violent actions before, as a child soldier he was committing them. As his life as a soldier demanded more violence from him, Ishmael sank deeper into the process of dehumanization with his main driving point being the revenge that he sought from the rebels for the deaths of his family and friends. After a few months as a child soldier, Ishmael was brought to the Benin home by UNICEF officials who hoped to rehabilitate the completely dehumanized child soldiers. With the help of Esther, a compassionate nurse, and other staff members in the center, Ishmael was able to ultimately reverse the effects of the war on him. By forgiving himself and the rebels who took away his close ones from him, Ishmael was able to restore his emotion of empathy and become rehabilitated.
“We did not break down, but adapted ourselves” These soldiers know that modern warfare is extremely complicated and demands knowledge and experience. They learn how the differentiate shell sounds, when to take cover, when it’s safe to take off your gas mask, how to tell shrapnel from high explosives. It is shown through the naive and inexperienced recruits that not knowing and applying this knowledge is fatal. Some soldiers call on their innermost animal instincts to allow them to kill mercilessly on the field, using the assistance of a metaphor Remarque writes “We are dead men with no feelings, who are able by some trick to keep on running and keep on killing.” Granted war is a barbaric affair, ironically sometimes the worst of conditions can bring out the best in people. This is through the form of comrade and mate ship. On the field fellow soldiers would provide mutual support for each other and create extremely tight bonds. This is shown in All Quiet on the Western Front through Paul and his tight nit platoon. Paul’s unique experience with mate ship is how especially close he is with his friend Kat. This is expressed in the recounting of when they stole and cooked a goose together. Remarque writes “We don't talk much, but I believe we have a more complete communion with one another than even lovers have.” This shows how mate ship was
The R.U.F., however, was not alone in servicing children as their own messengers of evil, the military group countering their acts of violence also had children fighting their battles. A Long Way Gone and The Bite of the Mango are eye-opening books because they give various people all over the world a glimpse into the horrors kids in Africa were facing on a daily basis. However different Mariatu Kamara and Ishmael Beah’s experiences were regarding their journeys and disabilities, they both exhibited the same extraordinary resilience in the end to better themselves, create futures they could be proud of, and make the best with what the war left them.
Soldiers, using their instinct alone, must set aside their humanity to survive during their time on the battlefield. When Paul and his friends reach the battlefront, they find that they “become on the instant human animals” (56). Because of their desire to survive, they must surrender their morals and beliefs to their primal instinct. In this instance, they become savage beasts, making it easier to kill on the field. Their former selves effectively die in the war, becoming “insensible, dead men, who through some trick, some dreadful magic, are still able to run and to kill” (116). The war takes a toll on
...adults to achieve his motive. From the experience in being manipulated, he uses it to show his army who is in command and to bring out their full potential, displaying his leadership qualities. Thus, one can say from the experiences that are gained with all the manipulation that occurs to and around the children, it builds potent characters.
O’Brien has many characters in his book, some change throughout the book and others +are introduced briefly and change dramatically during their time in war and the transition to back home after the war. The way the characters change emphasises the effect of war on the body and the mind. The things the boys have to do in the act of war and “the things men did or felt they had to do” 24 conflict with their morals burning the meaning of their morals with the duties they to carry out blindly. The war tears away the young’s innocence, “where a boy in a man 's body is forced to become an adult” before he is ready; with abrupt definiteness that no one could even comprehend and to fully recover from that is impossible.
In Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the theme of perceived masculinity is prominent and portrayed as a critical characteristic which has the potential to shape clans, families, and the safety of others. Because of the emphasis placed on masculinity, women are widely disregarded and downplayed, as they are seen as property. In African culture men are revered due to their warrior-like natures that can uphold the functionality of a clan, but frowned upon when deemed as weak; the result of this fear of weakness led to the dominance of men over women.
Many people have difficulty finding their place in society and Pavlo is no different. Before joining the Army, Pavlo is struggling with his identification, he does not know who his real father is and does not have any friends. Pavlo assumes that the Army will provide him the opportunity to make friends and have a purpose in life. He tries hard during basic
They know what it is like on the front, and therefore have a deeper empathy for each other than anyone else may have. This gives them the ability to practically feel each other's emotions: “Kropp has calmed himself; we understand, he saw red; out there every man gets like that sometime”(18). They have seen gruesome and inhumane things, but they have seen them together, and together they are able to push through them. These men would fake death for each other, or take it on full force in order to keep their comrades alive, for Paul says “we stick together, you see”(249). The longer they stick together, the more attached to each other they become, giving the orderly grounds to ask: “You are not related are you?” and Paul replys: “No, we are not related. No, we are not related” (291), because they have grown to seem as though they are
They become part of the regiment proudly known as General Barlow’s Boys. The war turned out to be nothing like they expected. All ...
Child soldier is a worldwide issue, but it became most critical in the Africa. Child soldiers are any children under the age of 18 who are recruited by some rebel groups and used as fighters, cooks, messengers, human shields and suicide bombers, some of them even under the aged 10 when they are forced to serve. Physically vulnerable and easily intimidated, children typically make obedient soldiers. Most of them are abducted or recruited by force, and often compelled to follow orders under threat of death. As society breaks down during conflict, leaving children no access to school, driving them from their homes, or separating them from family members, many children feel that rebel groups become their best chance for survival. Others seek escape from poverty or join military forces to avenge family members who have been killed by the war. Sometimes they even forced to commit atrocities against their own family (britjob p 4 ). The horrible and tragic fate of many unfortunate children is set on path of war murders and suffering, more nations should help to prevent these tragedies and to help stop the suffering of these poor, unfortunate an innocent children.
“Compelled to become instruments of war, to kill and be killed, child soldiers are forced to give violent expression to the hatreds of adults” (“Child Soldiers” 1). This quotation by Olara Otunnu explains that children are forced into becoming weapons of war. Children under 18 years old are being recruited into the army because of poverty issues, multiple economic problems, and the qualities of children, however, many organizations are trying to implement ways to stop the human rights violation.
The friendships and bonds that formed in the jungles of Vietnam between the members of Alpha Company help them to survive on a day to day basis. Not only while they were in Vietnam, but also in dealing with their lives back in the United States. Without the bonds of friendship none of the men of Alpha Company would have survived mentally or physically the strains and trauma of the Vietnam War. In the end it is realized that the men not only carried their gear and weapons, but they carried with them bonds, friendship and a connection that only the men of Alpha Company will ever really understand.
Throughout the film, viewers witness Gru’s self-concept drastically changing. This is very important to recognize because self-concept influences the “roles we play, social identities we form, the comparisons we make with others, and our successes and failures” (Meyers, 40). In the beginning, Gru collectively characterizes himself as a villain, and as a result, forms a social identity as an evil individual. He does not compare himself to a layperson, such as his next-door neighbor, but rather to other villains and their criminal accomplishments. His self-concept influences the role he plays in society, and hence his behavior and actions. Gru’s behavior can be described as selfish, as he is solely concerned of his own gains and benefits, and very aggressive. He shapes his behavior to emphasize his social role of a villain. For example, in the beginning of the film, when Gru sees a young boy crying because he dropped his ice cream, he makes a balloon animal for him. When the boy begins to smile, Gru then proceeds to pull out a pin and pop the balloon. When he encounters a long time...
The bond that men form with each other in the heat of battle is incomprehensible to those who have not experienced warfare for themselves.