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A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Citation:
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. iBook.
Tour of the Book:
A Long Way Gone is memoirs about Ishmael Beah’s life as an innocent civilian, an African boy soldier, being rehabilitated, and his attempts to not be pulled back into the war. Since Beah didn’t separate the book, readers can really imagine how fast everything happened. If Beah separated before the war and the time he was a soldier, readers could start thinking that a month or even a year went by without any action.
Subject:
In the beginning of the book, Ishmael was an innocent 12-year-old boy. One day in January of 1993, Ishmael walked 12-miles to Mattru Jong, a neighboring village. He had heard of the war, but never knew how close it was. While in Mattru Jong, the rebels attacked. Ishmael was forced to run away from the war. He tried to escape and was had to live of off the land around him for more than a year. When Ishmael was 13, he was captured by the soldiers and was forced to join them. As a soldier, he was constantly given drugs, pain relievers, alcohol and watching gruesome war movies to keep him fighting and killing the rebels. Three years after becoming a soldier, his lieutenant chose Ishmael to go to rehab. After being rehabilitated, Ishmael’s uncle took him in. On May 25, 1997, the rebels attacked Freetown. He was able to escaped Sierra Leone and get to New York.
Writing Style:
Serious, Factual, Honest
Purpose:
Ishmael Beah revisited the painful memories of being a boy soldier to describe to try to prevent child soldiers. There were over 300,000 child soldiers in the Sierra Leone’s civil war. All 300,000 of those soldi...
... middle of paper ...
...gh school and collage in New York.
Lesson:
I learned, while reading this book, that revenge is never good. Ishmael Beach says “and revenge will never come to an end…” (Beah 246). I agree with him. If I wanted to avenge my sister for taking a pen, I would take one of hers, and then she would take one of mine, then into a never-ending cycle of stealing pens. Although Ishmael was taking about killing for avenge, the idea is the same. Revenge cannot end. If I had asked my sister about the pen, we wouldn’t be in the never-ending cycle of revenge. Ishmael is trying to tell readers, revenge is not the answer to anything even if it seems like it is the thing to do.
People:
1. Ishmael Beah is described as gentile hearted and sweet but forced to do horrible things. He is one of the 300,000 child soldiers who were victims of their childhood being stolen from them.
Throughout the book the audience has seen Ishmael go through adventure and sorrow. In the novel Ishmael is forced to go to war at age thirteen, but what keeps him going were his grandmother's wise words. His grandmother was the one who told him powerful lessons that he could use in real life. These lesson that Ishmael is keeping him grounded is not only from his grandmother but also from his friends. Lessons that were seen by the readers are “wild pigs”, “Bra Spider”, and the story about the moon.
Soldier Boys is about 2 boys from different places from the world, but they are both fighting for the same thing, and that is freedom. Spencer who is from USA, and Dieter who is from Germany. Both of the boys are from small families,and both of the boys are minor citizens. The book starts of with Spencer trying to convince his father that he want to go the the military, and fight for his freedom. His father and mother does not agree with this, but as the conflict continues, his father signs the contract.
Ishmael was taken from Africa at a young age and was sold to a zoo then a traveling carnival. Ishmael was bought by Walter Sokolow, a Jewish man whom had lost his family during the Holocaust. Not long after being purchased Ishmael learned to telepathically communicate with Walter. Mr. Sokolow brought Ishmael many books so he would be able to educate himself. Ishmael’s studies began with captivity but soon he became more interested in human nature. Upon Mr. Sokolow’s death Ishmael lived mostly independently in the city, with the help of the late Mr. Sokolow’s butler, Mr. Partridge. After all Ishmael has learned through his readings he seeks out students to help spread his knowledge. (Quinn, 1995)
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.
A prominent theme in A Long Way Gone is about the loss of innocence from the involvement in the war. A Long Way Gone is the memoir of a young boy, Ishmael Beah, wanders in Sierra Leone who struggles for survival. Hoping to survive, he ended up raiding villages from the rebels and killing everyone. One theme in A long Way Gone is that war give innocent people the lust for revenge, destroys childhood and war became part of their daily life.
His uncle and his family always provided him with a welcome and appreciative environment. After leaving the rehabilitation center and moved to his uncle’s household Beah and his cousins had the opportunity to share and spend time together. In Chapter 19 of his personal story, Beah described some of the memories and new experiences lived with his cousin. One meaningful memory was when Ishmael and Allie went to a dance club and were having fun. In that situation, Ishmael met and talked to individuals. Soon enough his life transformed into the life of a normal child. As he slowly moved on from his negative experiences during the war Beah valued and developed a close attachment towards his uncle, aunt, and cousin his new
First, who is Ishmael Chambers? He is the son of a very well-respected and prominent citizen of San Piedro, Arthur Chambers. When Arthur dies, Ishmael takes over the job as the local news reporter. He is introduced into the story as a journalist in the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto and appears to remain aloof, a passive third person eye that would analyze the information impartially. In addition to being a reporter, Ishmael is also a war veteran with a missing limb as a souvenir to boot. The reader gets the feeling that Ishmael plays a small and minor role in the upcoming plot. This, however, is false. As the book gathers momentum, it becomes increasingly clear that Ishmael ties into the fabric of the outcome of the story-from the childhood and young adult romance between Hatsue and him, to the emotional scene where his arm is amputated, to the final climax where he discovers the evidence that can clear Kabuo's name, Ishmael is the crux on which the storyline hinges.
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.
...ploys children rather than men. He is subjected to the violence of the war for more than three years before he is finally rescued by an organization dedicated to rehabilitating child soldiers. Once Ishmael discovers happiness, affection, and a will to survive, he regains what hope he had lost. No matter the circumstances concerning it, hope has always been the trigger for events in Ishmael’s life, thus making hope a theme present throughout the entirety of A Long Way Gone. Hope allows Ishmael to bounce back from the tragic events that marked his teenage years and discover a will to survive.
experiences with revenge what his actions caused. It shows that getting revenge is never the
...ys, they are seized by soldiers and taken to a village engrossed by the military fighting back at the rebels. The fellow children soldiers became Ishmael’s only family at the time, and each of them were supplemented with a white pill, “The corporal said it will boost your energy” says a young soldier. (116) Little did Ishmael and the others know that the tablet was an illicit drug given to them to fight their fatigue and anxiety for a short term to better them in combat with the rebels. Beah unknowingly alters into a blood-craving animal, who kills with numbness and no emotion. “I was not afraid of these lifeless bodies. I despised them and kicked them to flip them.” (119) Ishmael now relies and is addicted to drugs to get through his day-to-day life, including smoking marijuana, and constantly snorting “brown brown” (121) which is a mixture of gunpowder and cocaine.
An attention-grabbing story of a youngster’s voyage from end to end. In “A LONG WAY GONE,” Ishmael Beah, at present twenty six years old tells a fascinating story he had always kept from everyone. When he was twelve years of age, he escaped attacking the revolutionaries and roamed a land-living rendered distorted by violence. By thirteen, he’d been chosen up by the government military and Ishmael Beah at nature a gentle young boy, bring into being that he was accomplished of really dreadful deeds. Few days later on the rampage he is unrestricted by military and referred to a UNICEF rehabilitation centre, he wriggled to re-claim his humankind and to re-enter the biosphere of non-combatants, who seen him with terror and distrust . This is at preceding a story of revitalisation and hopefulness.
Ishmael was taken from the wild and held captive in a zoo, a circus, and a gazebo. During his time in various types of captivity, Ishmael was able to develop a sense of self and a better understanding of the world around him. Ishmael states that the narrator and those who share the same culture are “captives of a civilizational system that more or less compels you to go on destroying the world in order live” (Quinn, 15). He goes to explain that releasing humanity from captivity is crucial for survival, but humans are unable to see the bars of the cage. Using the cage as a metaphor, Quinn is referring to human culture and how they do not see the harm it’s causing. As the novel progresses, it elaborates on how culture came about and why certain people inherit certain cultures. Ishmael refers to a story as the explanation of the relationship between humans, the world and the gods. He defines to enact is to live as if the story is a reality. Ishmael suggest that humans are captives of story, comparing them to the people of Nazi Germany who were held captive by Hitler’s
Ishmael also survives another dreadful event when he goes through the war. While trying to find refuge from the war, Ishmael and his friends ironically end up joining the army, to fight against the rebels. Over the course of his time in the war, Ishmael would be exposed to unparalleled violence day in and day out. During these times Ishmael says “Sometimes we were asked to leave for war in the middle of a movie. We would come back hours later after killing many people and continue the movie as if we had just returned from intermission. We were always either at the front lines, watching a movie, or doing drugs. There was no time to be alone or to think” (p. 124). This quote perfectly sums up the danger that Ishmael experienced during the war. Most of this danger however, was not the fact that he was likely to be injured or killed. Granted, he was on the front lines numerous days a week and snuck behind enemy lines frequently, both tasks which could have resulted in an injury, or worse, death, but the real dangers he faced during these times were dehumanization he faced constantly. Everyday, he either went out into the
The theme of survival/resilience despite great suffering was shown throughout the book. Ishmael’s ventures from village to village while running away from the RUF, going through treacherous circumstances such as burning sand, angry citizens, and even