Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone should stay in Sterling High School’s English 4 curriculum because it teaches the reader that recovering from a horrible situation is possible, also Beah’s complex literal devices he uses to express his situation opens it up to the mind of a more experienced reader. Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone should stay in the English IV curriculum because it teaches the reader that anyone can recover from a bad situation. First off, Beah’s recovery home is being visited by people from the UN, and UNICEF. Mr. Kamara talks to Beah after Beah has caught his eye with his performances of rap songs and Shakespeare monologues. Mr. Kamara says to Beah, “You and your friends really impressed those visitors. They know …show more content…
Starting off, When Beah was a boy he was told many stories by his grandmother; one of these stories included on of a hunter who transformed into a wild boar to lead herds into a the forest and kill them. “ …a small pig saw the hunter biting a plant that enabled him to return to his human form. The pig told his companions… The pigs tore him to pieces” (54). In Beah’s metaphor, the hunter can be compared to the rebel soldiers, who took innocent people and tricked them into thinking that they were the good guys, and then the rebels would execute everyone. On the other hand, when Beah and his friends were in a village that the boys believed their families to be in, the rebels start to attack, Beah sees the atrocities that the rebels have just committed. “ They lay on the ground in different postures of pain, some reaching for their heads, the white bones in their jaws visible, others curled up like a child in the womb” (94-95). Here, Beah’s simile compares the corpses of people who were just killed to children who are in the womb. This statement contradicts itself in a way; the people on the ground have just been shot dead, yet Beah compares them to children who are still waiting to be …show more content…
Also, Beah’s use of literary devices makes you think beyond the words on the page. If none of those reasons are good enough, then Beah’s story is one that is very inspirational, one that should be celebrated due to the fact that not only did Beah survive the war, but also that he has been rehabilitated enough to speak openly about his
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Print.
...ivilian running from war. Kamara’s story is mostly of her own life and how she survived the war, which does inform the world about how the war is to a young child and the importance of morals. However, Beah’s story includes the lives of many people he met that were involved in war. His story left a deep impression on a young teenager. All stories can be informing, but those that contain the true and insightful view of the author can create influences to a diverse audience.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic novel written by Harper Lee. The novel is set in the depths of the Great Depression. A lawyer named Atticus Finch is called to defend a black man named Tom Robinson. The story is told from one of Atticus’s children, the mature Scout’s point of view. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, the Finch Family faces many struggles and difficulties. In To Kill a Mockingbird, theme plays an important role during the course of the novel. Theme is a central idea in a work of literature that contains more than one word. It is usually based off an author’s opinion about a subject. The theme innocence should be protected is found in conflicts, characters, and symbols.
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and
We all experience a rite of passage in our lives, whether it be the time we learned to swim or perhaps the day we received our driver’s license. A rite of passage marks an important stage in someone’s life, and one often times comes with a lesson learned. Three selections that provide fine examples of rites of passage that individuals confront include “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant” by W.D. Wetherell, “On Turning Ten” by Billy Collins” and “First Lesson” by Philip Booth.
Some of the most fabled stories of our time come from individuals overcoming impossible odds and surviving horrific situations. This is prevalent throughout the Holocaust. People are fascinated with this event in history because the survivors had to overcome immense odds. One, of many, of the more famous story about the Holocaust is Night by Elie Wiesel. Through this medium, Wiesel still manages to capture the horrors of the camps, despite the reader already knowing the story. In addition to him having to overcome difficult odds in order to survive for himself, he also had to care for his weakening father. A similar situation occurs in A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, however, Ishmael accepts the situation and is able to defend himself. While
A long way gone is the factual story of Ishmael Beah who turn out to be an unenthusiastic boy warrior throughout a civil warfare in Sierra Leone. In Chapter 1, at twelve years of age, January 1993 Beah’s town is attacked while he is gone performing in a rap group with accomplice’s. Since they planned to come back the following day, they didn’t farewell or communicate with anyone wherever they were going, little they knew that they will certainly not come back to their families. It all started when Gibrilla and Kaloko came home early after school and they brought with them grief-stricken update for the eruption of warfare at the mining area. Amongst the mix-up, viciousness and vagueness of the warfare, Ishmael, Junior and his friends roam from settlem...
In Jonathan Hull's book Losing Julia the main character, Patrick Delaney, was a complicated man. At the age of 18, while still very much an innocent boy, he was sent to Europe to fight in a bloody and terrible war. This exposure to the worst of humanity changed him in many ways. During the war he made some of the best and closest friends he ever had in his life. He also watched these friends die a gruesome death while he was only a hundred feet away, unable to help or save them. His entire outlook on life changed. Before the war he was hopeful and optimistic. Afterwards, life didn't seem as important. He went home and tried to be normal, but he couldn't. He married, had kids, and returned to an everyday job as an accountant, but something inside him was missing. He left an important part of himself on the battlefield. It wasn't until he met Julia, that he felt alive again. Through her he was able to open his heart and his soul. Her presence helped to heal the wounds that the war had left behind. There was a lot that happened to Patrick, love, war, loss, and regret, that made him the type of 81 year old man that he was.
Hesse, in her book, “Out of Dust” highlights The Accident, a poem about a catastrophe that occurred during the Dust Bowl. This book is historical fiction, which is a story made up that is set in the past. Historical fiction can sometimes borrow real characteristics of a time period. Thus, in the beginning, Polly (Ma) and Bayard (Pa) were cultivating the crops again because the dust had blown them away. Then, Polly, who is also pregnant, gets burnt attempting to make coffee when her daughter, Billie Jo, throws fire out of the door. Finally, Polly and the unborn baby dies while she is giving birth to him.
A Wrinkle in Time, Star Wars and The Hunger Games are similar and different in their approach to the Hero’s Journey. Many parts of the Hero’s Journey such as the call to adventure, crossing the threshold, tests/allies/enemies, and the ordeal have many differences as well as similarities.
Fugitive Pieces is declared as a fictional memoir to people who experienced the holocaust. Michaels attempted to display the unimaginable feeling of those who experienced this horrific event; she attempted this through the language displayed throughout the novel. Through Jakob’s memories, the focus on poetry and song, and the descriptive challenges Jakob faced through the absence of language. Experience trauma is not easy, and to be a survivor an individual faces challenges in order to continue to survive; it takes a lot for an individual to find themselves again, to recreate their identity. No one is the same after something so traumatic, and Michaels displayed the inner struggles individuals face when trying to heal.
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...
In “A Worn Path” colors are used to emphasize the depth and breadth of the story, and to reinforce the parallel images of the mythical phoenix and the protagonist Phoenix Jackson. Eudora Welty’s story is rich with references to colors that are both illustrative and perceptive, drawing us in to investigate an additional historical facet of the story.
In Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go, Miss Lucy and Miss Emily set up two contrasting perspectives between rigid reality and the luxury of lies. Throughout the novel, there are plenty of examples where both perspectives show positive and negative effects between lying and telling the truth Its hard to say who is right but exploring both point of views will give insight on what’s best for the children. It is clear that Miss Lucy wants to tell the truth because it is immoral to lie about someone’s most important part of their identity and she believes it is humane thing to do; however, Miss Emily feels as if it is better to lie for the sake of a happy childhood and to ultimately figure out if the children have souls. With this, we perceive
Haley, Alex and Malcolm X. “Saved.” Reading and Writing the College Experience. Huron Valley Publishing: Ypsilanti, 2003. 203 – 214.