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, …show more content…
In this adolescent stage of development, children and teens begin to ponder more abstract concepts and relationships such as justice and fairness. At this stage in cognitive development, students also have the ability to think more logically, using symbols to define abstract concepts such as algebraic formulas or scientific equations. According to Piaget, the formal operation stage is the final stage of cognitive development, making it one of the most crucial periods in a child’s mental development. Because Beah saw the most violence at this stage of cognitive development, it is the most interesting time to …show more content…
There was no time for him to be a teenager because he was living in complete survival mode, for example, as a young adolescent, it is uncommon to go days or weeks without sleeping or a filling, healthy meal, but for Ishmael Beah, it was not uncommon, in fact, having a full meal and a good night’s sleep for more than two or three days in a row was a rare blessing that was rarely a reality. He would travel from village to village with his constantly changing companions, and would stay for about a week, eating and sleeping, then he would be up and moving again, often without much warning. Through everything, there are still things that Beah did that remind the reader throughout the story that deep inside, he is still a boy, for example, his rap music was very important to him, it was the only personal possession that he kept track of during the years that he was in combat. At one point, he lost his rap tapes. This time was a time where he was more violent and angry than ever. It was only when he got second set of cassette tapes that he began to calm down and regain his composure. When asked why he was fighting, Beah would say that he was fighting to avenge his family’s murder, giving proof that he had grown into the formal operational stage of cognitive development,
The book is based on actual events and is expressed through a personal point of view. Ishmael wrote a memoir that tells the story of a young boy who is torn from his peaceful life, and then forced into a frightening world of drugs and slavery. In writing about his experiences, he has made the decision to present his experiences in a particular way by missing out details and recounting others. This along with the language used and the order, in which the events are disclosed, all serve to create a particular interpretation and to guide the reader to respond in a particular way.
...ircumstances as he did, believe that revenge is not good and it keeps on going if no one stops the process. Overall, Ishmael eventually learned that revenge does not solve anything and seeking revenge just results in a longer war sustained by the counterproductive concept of vengeance. Additionally, Ishmael learned that by constantly thinking about his culpability, he was just bringing more harm to himself and in the process was unable to create any progress in his own life. Ishmael eventually realized that merely reflecting on his actions did not do anything and to fix and prevent the problems he faced, he would have to take initiative to reach out to the people who could help. By utilizing the idea of forgiveness, Ishmael learned that he could let go of the huge mountain of stress that was bringing him down and prevented him from overcoming the effects of the war.
Throughout the course of this novel, Ishmael Beah keeps the readers on the edge of their seat by incorporating interchanging tones. At the beginning of the novel, the tone can be depicted as naïve, for Beah was unaware to what was actually occurring with the rebels. Eventually, the tone shifts to being very cynical and dark when he depicts the fighting he has endured both physically and mentally. However, the most game changing tone is towards the end of the novel in chapters nineteen and twenty. His tone can be understood as independent or prevailing. It can be portrayed as independent because Beah learns how to survive on his own and to take care of himself. At the same time, it is perceived as prevailing and uplifting because Beah was able to demonstrate that there is hope. Later in the novel, Beah travels to
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.
Most people who Ishmael came in contact with and himself, had a conflict between trust and survival. This conflict became an effect of the war in which many people suffered because they chose to live over a possible death. Beah retells his traumatic experience that gives countless situations where survival is picked over trust. In a world without war trust and survival can be
In A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, Beah tells of his past in Sierra Leone as a boy soldier. As a child in the war, Beah and his fellow soldiers committed many acts of violence, including murder. This raises the question as to whether or not child soldiers should be held accountable for their actions. The answer to this question is no, they should not be, because as children, they are easier to manipulate, and their minds have become addled by much exposure to drug use and sleep deprivation.
This is at core a pitiful story which encompasses of ruthlessness and miseries endured by Ishmael Beah. All the trials in this story are chronologically prescribed and heart sobbing, in which a person who reads can in time weep while interpreting.
Ishmael kept running, and he met Musa, Alhaji, Kanei, Jumah, Moriba, and Saidu. He then started an escape journey with these kids. Children who used to live a normal life until the war completely changed them and transformed them into a whole different human being. No one in the country believed in kindness and love anymore. Children had to escape for their own lives. Sometimes they had no choice but to join the military to keep themselves alive. Ishmael’s life was finally changed by some good UNICEF people. He finally learned to forgive and gained back his humanity. There are few types of brainwashing method used in the military to keep the child soldiers energetic and injecting hate in them. While people believe that military people are the authorities, the Sierra Leone military used drugs, movies, and speech to keep the soldiers
During Ishmael’s time of war, we see a big change in his personality, “We had been fighting for over two years, and killing had become a daily activity. I felt no pity for anyone. My childhood had gone by without knowing, and it seemed as if my heart had frozen.” This is a key passage for two major reasons. First of all this is when Ishmael realizes that he had lost all of his innocence as a child. Secondly, this is the point of the story in which will cause the main conflict later on in the story, which is him in rehabilitation coming back from all the horrible memories of what he did in war. During this passage, the author is trying to inform the reader Ishmael was a child up until this point. At this point Ishmael could kill any rebel he wanted to and he could not care less about the consequences for the person’s family that he killed (nor did anyone else in the
In the beginning of the novel, Ishmael Beah is a scared boy. Ishmael had felt very scared when he was alone. In fact, he felt very unsafe because the air seemed to want to hurt him and
During the war, there were two prevalent groups. These were the army and the rebels, both of which offered Ishmael a questionable future. As we know, Ishmael ended up joining the army. About his experience in the army, Ishmael says “I had my gun now, and as the corporal always said “This gun is your source of power in these times.It will protect you and provide you all you need, if you know how to use it well.”” (p.124). This type of thinking is in short, self-destructive to Ishmael. It would mean that he would either end up dead during the war, or if he was to survive, it would be very unlikely for him to be rehabilitated because he had been so reliant on his gun during the war. In addition to this, it would leave Ishmael in a precarious state when the war ended if he had not been rehabilitated, since the only thing he knew to do for years was to kill. However, since he was able to be rehabilitated, he was able to conform to society once more. This, unfortunately, could have been prompted once again near the end of the book when history repeats itself when the AFRC took over Sierra Leone. “The entire nation crumbled into a state of lawlessness. I hated what was happening. I couldn’t return to my previous live.”. Once again, war comes knocking on Ishmael’s front door, and this time around Ishmael knows what war is like and what he is going to experience again. Ishmael was
Beah then supports this idea with the psychological issues the innocent later encountered due to the trauma they endured during the war. Ishmael’s experience in the war leaves him manipulated by drugs, believing that his victims deserved what he did to them, and with a modified moral compass. “… I took turns at the guarding posts around the village, smoking marijuana and sniffing brown brown, cocaine mixed with gunpowder … and of course taking more of the white capsules, as I had become addicted to them.” This shows how the army manipulated the soldiers into believing themselves to be justified as well as giving them more energy. When UNICEF comes to liberate the child soldiers, Ishmael and the other boys, that were child soldiers, attempt taking weapons with them to their new destination. “… I hid my bayonet inside my pants and a grenade in my pocket. When one of the soldiers came to search me, I pushed him and told him that if he touched my I would kill him …” This quote shows that the children were untrusting of anyone that was not part of their squad. This is also supported by the interaction between the two squads the fought for the government. “ … Where are you boys from? … And who the [expletive] are you? Do we look like we are here to answer questions … Did you fight in the army or for the rebels? … Do I look like a rebel to you? … I
At the beginning of the book I strongly believed that there was no way to be able to have redemption for the actions that these people were making. Some of these actions were very gruesome and honestly just inhumane. Although these times took place in Ishmaels life he proved my thoughts wrong. The beginning of Ishmaels rehabilitation process began when he was chosen to leave the war and was rescued by
When someone kills another person’s family they will get recrimination on that person, with this comes great consequence which can result in long-term suffering or even death. Overall violence and the war have impacted Ishmael’s life and have served a permanent spot with Ishmael, and he may never return to the sweet innocent boy he once was. There is no life to be found in violence. Every act of violence brings us closer to
Freedom is shown through symbols such as guns, rehabilitation and the cassettes that Ishmael has throughout the war. Freedom is something Ishmael Beah is given being a solider in the war and also create an easier life for him. The first symbol of freedom is the Ak 47 that Ishamel Beah is given in the army and it is a symbol of freedom. Ishmael Beah states, “Whenever I looked at rebels during raids, I got angrier, because they looked like the rebels who played cards in the ruins of the village where I had lost my family. So when the lieutenant gave orders, I shot as many as I could, but I didn 't feel any better.” (122) The loss of his family is how he channels his pain by having hatred towards the rebels who killed them. Ishmael channels his anger by the fire of his gun. The gun is freedom where he can kill anyone he wants. He believes if all the rebels are killed he will have successfully achieved freedom, peace and his soul would be healed. Freedom can also be defined as having a sense of security in the world and that is exactly what a guns gives you too. A gun gives you sense of security and confidence. If someone is coming after you and you pull out your gun they will immediately stop and back off. It gives you protection. Ishmael has the freedom to kill. Another symbol of freedom is when he is in rehabilitation. This provides him a chance to be at peace with his new self